Page 4
1 2 3 4 5 6
Viscousity
Gravity Casting
Air Bubbles
Air Traps
Air Paths
Suction

Chapter 3: Go With The Flow
The physics of fluid behavior in lifecasting.

The Dreaded Air Trap:
Air Traps are very similar to bubbles in their causes but much more serious. Even a small air trap can be very difficult to repair on something as detailed as a lifecast of the human body where every fingerprint is duplicated.
Remember from Gravity Casting that air goes only straight up. If there are areas of your design that prevent it from escaping, like the fingertips in this illustration, then these areas (shown in blue) cannot be filled with cement. The air won't let the cement get in, nor can the air escape because the mold is covering it.
As the photograph shows, this will result in incomplete areas of the lifecast, the fingertips will be missing. These are difficult to repair except by re-casting the missing areas and carefully carving the pieces to fit.
One way of avoiding these traps is to make sure all parts of the lifecast are lower in the mold than the parts above it. For example, keeping the fingers fairly straight and bending the wrist back slightly as the illustration shows. This is required in a beginner's project to be covered by the Successful Creativity Guarantee™ but can be very limiting.
Air traps also frequently happen when holding objects to be captured in your LifeCast™ project.
This is very important to make your model understand since you cannot see what they are actually doing once they are inside the mold. You can however practice with just water looking through our new clear cylinder for potential problems.

How Air Traps Happen:
If any parts of your design are not straight up and down, like the bent fingers of the illustration, precautions must be taken to ensure a successful LifeCast™.
If you simply pour the cement straight in, the result will be similar to those in the photograph far right.
In other words there will be some 'mysteriously' missing parts, in this example the fingertips.
They can sometimes be fixed by carefull unveiling in that area, salvaging the mold pieces, recasting, shaping and glueing on. But its far easier just to do it right in the first place or do it over from scratch.

Tilt, Jiggle and Spin:
Since most hand type lifecasts will have an air trap or two its always best to follow the instructions exactly. To summarize that part of our BODY PARTS™ printed instructions:
1. Make your first pour of the ArtCast™ to only about half way up, but to at least the knuckle area of the palm.
2. Then tilt, rotate, tap and jiggle the matrix to get the fluid cement into all the nooks and crannies and let the bubbles escape.
3. Set the matrix upright and fill the remainder.
4. Finally tap the can with your knuckles firmly all around to remove any remaining bubbles.
This process will usually eliminate the dreaded air trap.
Copyright © 1987 through 2003 by MSWinn. Thank you for visiting www.lifecast.net!
ToP
1/18/03

LifeCast™ & MSW Creative Works Legal Information:

Contents of this web site (lifecast.net) and all life cast materials and other art and sculpture products or lifecast kit packaging, art techniques and sculpture instructions copyright © 1986-2002 by Mark S. Winn. All rights reserved. The terms BODY PARTS™, LifeCast™, ChildCast™, StudioPack™, ArtForm™, ArtCast™, Earthium™, Earthium(f/x)™, ShrinKast™, PolyART™, WaterTrap™, BlendBag™, Successful Creativity Guarantee™, LifeMask™, FastMask™ as well as the phrase "Make YourSelf Immortal!™" and any other art materials product or craft item denoted by a small 'TM' (such as in LifeCast™) are trademarks. The phrases life cast and life casting or the words lifecast and lifecasting are generic.
Our LifeCast™ products or other sculpture, mold making and art materials products are are entirely safe within the context of arts & crafts when used as directed. Other arts & crafts materials shown here each carry their own warnings and degrees of safety. They are available for use as creative mediums AT YOUR OWN RISK and since we cannot control the actual use of these art products, we disclaim any responsibility for damage or injury caused by incorrect or experimental life cast, sculpture, life mask, erotic art or other mold making or creative applications.
NOT FOR USE BY CHILDREN: These arts & crafts materials may be used with children of any age but should never be used by an unsupervised child. A "child" is defined by law as anyone under the age of 18 years. Our art, lifecast or sculpture product prohibitions against unsupervised use by children therefore applies to all persons under that age. "Supervised" by definition means at all times, through each step of any use of our life cast or other art materials. Such supervision must be by an adult over the age of 18 years while using the BODY PARTS™ LifeCast™ kits or other life cast, sculpture and art materials.
Our life cast, sculpture and other art materials should never be used by anyone who cannot read, understand and apply the language in which the lifecast, sculpture or art materials' instructions appear. The terms of said language are exclusively defined in any standard, widely accepted and comprehensive dictionary of that language and are meant to be construed in no other manner.
Purchase and/or use of our life cast, sculpture or other art materials implies your understanding and acceptance of these reasonable terms. If you do not agree, for any reason, please do not purchase or use our lifecast, sculpture, mold making or other arts & crafts products.
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