Family Photographs Belly Cast

A D.I.Y. and How To guide.

 

Before.

Remember over a year ago when I posted this?

Well, I decided that a one year deadline should be put in place and I should finish this cast in time for Sonja's Birthday this weekend.  

So I did...

Casting Stone for making the cast harder and more durable.

Step 1.  Once the cast is dry, mix casting stone according to directions and dampen the cast before applying.

Step 2. Apply and Smooth over cast.

Step 3. Let Dry. 

Step 4. Once dry, apply Acrylic Primer a.k.a. Gesso  

Above and Below: left is casting stone, right is gesso

See the difference? 

Step 5. Allow Gesso to dry, while waiting, print old family photos with the "mirrored" setting on a LASER printer, this will not work with inkjet, you must use a toner black printer or copier ONLY! 

Step 6. cut out images, coat with acrylic gel medium or mod podge on the image side of the paper then place face down. DO NOT PUT ANYTHING ON THE BACK OF THE PAPER! 

If you'd like you can lay out the images where you want to put them so you remember how they fit, but do not glue them down or collage them face up! 

Step 7. After the gel medium or mod podge has dried overnight, use a sponge to get the paper wet, rub the paper fibers off with your finger and expose the photo transfer.  

To watch a video on photo transfers click here. 

This is in progress some images have transferred and some are waiting to be transferred. 

Step 8. After completing all transfers and adding paint or designs, I like to epoxy my work to make it shine.

I use a two part epoxy mix and combine, then pour over the piece.  Make sure to have a trash bag under the project, the epoxy will NOT come off once dried and is toxic to touch when wet. 

I've blogged about Epoxy before here.

After.

Here are the detail shots of the finished belly cast...