PLASTER CAST TECHNIQUE

Making a plaster cast is a two step process. First you have to make a hollow mould that imitates the shape of the object you want to duplicate, a mould that has the surface details on its inner surface. Then you have to fill the mould with liquid plaster of Paris and stabilize the mould until the plaster solidifies.

One way to make plaster models of human body parts is to use a wax that melts at just above body temperature. If it is applied in a thick enough coat it is stable enough to form a mould. It does a beautiful job of capturing surface details, and it is relatively cheap but there are some tricks to the technique, which I will describe here.

Making an accurate plaster cast of a penis is much easier than making a cast of a finger, for example, since once the finger is coated with wax there is the problem of how to get the finger out without destroying the wax mould. A penis does not pose that problem, since it can be repeatedly dipped into the liquid wax while erect and then, when the wax coating is thick enough the wax can be chilled by dipping into ice-cold water and that will usually cause the penis to shrink so that the mould can be removed without distortion or loss of detail.

The low melting temperature wax is available from Edmund Scientific. It melts at 120 degrees F. (49 C.) and in order to avoid being burned use an accurate thermometer to check the temperature before putting anything precious into the melted wax. Skin will stand 120 or a little above, but the melted wax looks the same at 120 as it does at 140, so be careful and always check the temperature with a thermometer.

The wax is called Flexwax and is sold in 5 pound blocks for $27.50, part number S34,840 from Edmund Scientific Company, 101 East Gloucester Pike, Barrington, NJ 08007-1380. Their phone number is (609) 547-8880 and their FAX line is (609) 573-6295. They are open 9AM-5PM EST Monday-Friday.

The solid wax is white, like paraffin. The liquid wax is clear and thick, like mineral oil, and it does not transmit heat easily. This means the solid wax can be difficult to liquify and if the liquid is not stirred well before checking the temperature it is possible to be burned by a "hot spot" in the wax.

You can melt it on the stove in a pot, but you run the risk of over-heating it and causing a fire, in which case be prepared to put a lid on the pot immediately! The stove may liquify the wax quickly, but then you are stuck with a pot of over-heated wax, which can take quite a while to come down to the right temperature.

To solve this problem of temperature control I prefer to use a "crock pot," popular a decade ago for slow-cooking beans, spaghetti sauce, etc. I have the wax in a tall cylindrical container, about 3 inches in diameter and maybe 8 inches tall, three-fourths full of wax. I put this into the crock pot and pour in enough water to surround the part of the cylinder that contains wax. Then I turn on the crock pot and leave it for several hours. If I am going to do some castings when I get home from work, I might turn on the crock pot when I leave in the morning.

It is handy to have a small amount of hot wax and a paintbrush on the stove, handy in case a little extra is needed. It is important to have a tall cylindrical container of ice water handy also, to solidify the wax before attempting to remove what you're casting. Also handy in an emergency if you feel you're getting burned!

The process can be messy and the wax sticks to counter tops and linoleum floors (and don't even think of getting it off carpet!) so be sure to put down newspapers or an old shower curtain to protect the floor.

When the time comes to make the casting, in order to get good results you need a way to get (and keep) a reliable erection. How you do it is up to you. A light coating of oil on the skin won't hurt the quality of the casting, and you or a friend can apply it in a thin coating, and that might help. Once you're "up," putting a fairly tight but easily removable tourniquet around the base of the penis can help maintain the erection. Your mind will be on getting the technical details right, and it's easy for the erection to lose interest in what's going on....

Check the temperature of the wax one last time, and then start dipping! Dip quickly and remove, to allow the wax to turn white and solidify. Dip again, a little deeper, and remove and solidify. Keep this up and you will build a good coating of wax. If necessary, make a quick dip into the ice water and that will be a big help in getting the wax to harden. Then you can dip some more into the warm wax. When you are happy with the amount of wax that has built up, dip into the ice water long enough to get the wax really hard, and release the tourniquet. I find it helpful at this point to lie on my back on the floor and think about something that has nothing to do with sex, and the combination of removing the tourniquet and the ice water and the body position results in a loss of erection and the wax mould becomes free.

Once the wax mould is removed, be careful not to squeeze it with your fingers. Handle it very gently until you can drop it into cool water and let it sit there long enough to get really solid. Then all drops of water must be removed from the inside of the mould. I usually put it in the freezer of a frost-free refrigerator and leave it for a while, which will not only remove drops of water but will really make the wax hard.

If there is still a good supply of liquid wax, consider making more moulds, since you only get one casting per mould and getting the casting situation ready takes a lot of time and effort, so if possible make several wax moulds. Here's one place where the liquid wax from the pot on the stove is a help: add it to the cylinder in the crock pot, to bring the level up to where you want and then check with the thermometer before sticking anything into it!

Once the mould is hard and free of droplets of water or ice, you are ready to do the casting. Mix the plaster of Paris according to directions on the package. It should be runny, like cream. Not as watery as milk, and not a sludge like catsup. It has an unfortunate tendency to develop air bubbles, and if the air bubbles stick to the insides of the mould there will be defects in the final casting. The place where bubbles tend to hang up is along the back edge of the glans, so when you pour the liquid plaster of Paris into the mould, only fill the mould halfway at most and then tilt it in all directions, as though you were going to pour the liquid plaster back out: this will help the bubbles to get un-trapped and they will come to the surface where they don't cause any trouble. I found that applying a vibrator to the outside of the wax mould at this point is a wondeful way of shaking the bubbles off the sides of the wax and allowing them to come to the top.

As I was learning how to do this I ran into a puzzling problem. Several of my plaster casts came out with a flat spot on the head end. It took me a while to realize that plaster of Paris gets warm as it sets, and the heat was enough to soften the wax and let the model sink in the drinking glass I had it in, resulting in a flat spot. The cure was easy: put some water into the drinking glass, and that will help support the weight of the wax mould and its cargo of liquid plaster of Paris, as well as absorbing some of the heat that is produced as the plaster solidifies. Use pieces of cloth or sponge to keep the wax mould vertical within the drinking glass, and you will end up with a nice flat top surface that is perpendicular to the shaft of the model, so it will "stand up for itself" when it is done.

Once the plaster turns into a solid, give it a few minutes to be sure and then take the wax mould out of the drinking glass. Wrap it in a towel, which will retain the heat that is being produced by the setting of the plaster: now that the plaster is solid, we will take advantage of that heat to soften the wax so that it can easily be peeled off. If the wax sticks in some places, gently remove it with a toothpick. Once the plaster is good and hard, if there are defects caused by bubbles they can be filled with a little vinyl spackle compound.

Plaster of Paris is soft, and surface detail will quickly be lost if you handle it much. A spray coat of plastic film or a coat of shellac or varnish will make the casting more durable. For the ultimate in durability, get some "dental stone" from a place that makes false teeth and use that instead of plaster of Paris. It comes in flesh tones, which is an added advantage. You might try Lincoln Dental Supply Co., 616 Hollywood Ave., Cherry Hill, NJ 08002. Phone 1-800-269-6678. The type I like is called "die-stone peach," number 9203-32. Mix it thicker than plaster of Paris and be sure to use the vibrator to knock the bubbles off the inside of the mould, since it's pinkish and you can't touch up defecs with white vinyl spackle compound.

Give the technique a try, and I think you will have a good time going through the process and you will end up with a permanent record of your proudest possession!