Life flows, children grow up, mothers and fathers let them go free, and only touching memories remain in the soul, how small they were ... Parents try in every way to capture their children: they take photos, videos. We offer another interesting way - to make casts of the baby's arms and legs.
Time is so fleeting... It would seem that not so long ago children learned to walk, and today young grandparents are looking at photo albums and souvenirs related to the childhood of their grandchildren's parents. More and more new generations are brought up on such memorabilia. Family histories backed up by "physical evidence" are always much more valuable than those to which there is nothing to attach. One of such cute “evidence” that mom and dad, it turns out, were also small, can be a handmade panel with casts of arms and legs. You can make casts of the baby’s arms and legs with your own hands in several ways, we will tell you about the most accessible ones.
How to make an impression of the baby's hands and feet?
Sand cast of hands/feet
We will tell you about the simplest method that a mother who does not know the art of sculpture can easily handle. The cast can then be decorated with buttons, shells and chains.
For creativity you will need:
- fine sand;
- cookie tin;
- alabaster;
- tassel.
How to do?
1. Sand is poured into the box and leveled. A child's imprint is made in the center.
2. Next, the alabaster powder is diluted very quickly with water to the consistency of thick sour cream.
3. With a thin stream, it is poured into the cast. The thickness of the material above the sand is from 2 to 4 cm.
4. The container is left for 20 minutes or more, a cast is taken out and the grains of sand are cleaned with a brush. Then you can start decorating the cast.
Decorative panel "Casts of the handle of the leg" from auxiliary materials
- We make salty dough from half a glass of salt and a glass of water, add enough flour to make an elastic dough. So that it does not stick to the arms and legs, it must be kneaded and let it stand for a while. If desired, you can lubricate the palms and feet of the legs with vegetable oil, but with a well-kneaded dough, you can do without it.
- If the baby is only a few months old, he can pull oiled hands into his eye, he can involuntarily wipe them on his mother's clothes. It is not always possible to make casts when the child is sleeping, because the handle will have to be pressed, and it is generally better to do the leg while standing for good pressure. After all, all the lines of fate should be imprinted!
3. Don't think that we made too much dough, because it needs to be divided into 4 equal parts in order to take prints from two handles and two legs. Gently press the dry hand or foot of the baby into the resulting thick cakes. If the pattern could not be made clear, the dough can be crumpled and repeat the procedure again.
4. Before taking prints, select suitable containers or boards for pieces of dough, because dough impressions are only the first stage of work. It would be possible to leave them too, but after a few months the dough will lose its shape.
5. We got four cakes with indentations in the form of feet and hands.
6. Now you can dilute dry gypsum or alabaster to the consistency of thick sour cream. Stir them thoroughly so that there are no air bubbles or unmixed clumps. Do not forget that alabaster hardens very quickly, you need to work with it extremely quickly, you can work with gypsum more slowly. The resulting solution is poured into the recesses to their edges and left to dry completely. After that, we clean the casts from the dough, preserving the structure of the imprinted skin.
7. It is best to paint with gold or bronze from spray guns. These materials are much better than other paints, they emphasize the texture and will look great on your panel.
8. On the prepared rectangle or square of thick cardboard, we glue the resulting casts, a photo of the baby, with a special gun with glue or liquid nails, around you can put an ornament of buttons, pieces of plastic, feathers and other beautiful little things. And insert the molds into the frame.
Someone uses plastic instead of salt dough, someone buys special kits for casts, but the dough inspires more confidence because it is environmentally friendly.
Casts of arms and legs from dough - video
Home-made ceramics "Casts of the handle-legs"
- Wet sand can be used instead of dough. But for this you need to find good clean fine sand or thoroughly rinse the existing one. Then pour it into the chosen container.
- Let's say you have chosen a round or oval container, in the center of which the baby's leg can easily fit, and along the edges you can place shells, circles, a chain, beads - everything that can be beautifully and embossed imprinted on wet sand. The entire resulting composition will need to be filled with the same alabaster or gypsum, and when everything is dry, the surface must be cleaned of sand and painted.
3. You don’t need to stick anything on cardboard, but you will have to choose a frame for the formed round or oval plaster panel. However, if you immediately decide on a beautiful and neat container and don’t get anything out of it, its edges can serve as a frame, only a hole in the upper segment will have to be drilled in advance so that it includes a self-tapping screw head, on which you will put the decoration.
4. Clay, rather than gypsum, may become a more logical material here. And you get a great ceramic disc. It remains only to figure out where and how to burn it. But this is for those who have experience with clay.
Ideas - baby prints
For every mother, her baby's heels and hands are the most valuable thing in the world. We always kiss them, we call them “sweets”, and we really want them to stay so small and cute longer. But children grow, and so do their heels. To preserve the memory of these tiny arms and legs, you can take as many photos as possible with them, you can make a plaster or clay cast.
And we want to offer the most creative, in our opinion, way. Let's create decorative pictures with prints of the arms and legs of the child. We offer you 7 of the most original options that can be hung both in the nursery and, for example, in the kitchen. By the way, pastel shades of colors look the most harmonious in such drawings.
An owl whose wings and ears are the imprint of a child's foot.
Butterfly wings made from baby footprints.
Rays of sun from footprints.
Flowers are prints of children's little feet.
Family tree of handprints of dad, mom and baby.
A kind whale with footprint fins.
To make a trace of the arms or legs of your baby, that is, the first trace of the crumbs, you must read this instruction.
All materials that are intended for making casts do not cause any harm and cannot cause.
For their manufacture, a small amount is required, this will not disturb the child, because the technology by which the casts are made is innovative, and the composition from which the cast will be made is hypoallergenic.
Specialists have specially developed kits so that parents can create children's casts on their own.
Often, the parents of children purchased kits in stores, but there was not enough molding mass for a sufficient number of casts. But there are kits with which parents have several attempts before the real start. They train and begin to sculpt something really beautiful and neat. It turns out a quality cast. They can create it not only for themselves, but also as a gift to grandparents, godparents of their little one, make casts of children of close friends as a gift to them.
In addition to casts of the tiny limbs of your baby, you can create a cast of the hands of two lovers or newlyweds, a cast of your own hand.
Today, there is a great abundance of such things on sale, with the help of which it is easy to create your own design of casts. 
And on the Internet there are many samples for making casts.
If you want to put the resulting cast on a table or shelf, you need to fill a plastic mold, for example, from under sweets, with plaster, paint it with any paint, then glue the resulting cast of a leg or handle with good glue.
3d impression kits
Watch a video on how to properly create a cast:
Now let's take a closer look at this video: mix the dry gel in the required proportion, beat with a mixer until a homogeneous mass is formed, convenient for use. After that, we lower the child's leg into the mass, take it out. We fill the form with special plaster, after a while we take out the resulting sculpture.
Pretty not difficult, right?
And now let's dwell in more detail on the proportions by which you need to mix water with the impression gel.
Take 100 grams of dry gel, also 400 milliliters of water. Well, to create the hand of an adult, instead of a mayonnaise bucket, they take a two-liter bottle of plastic, cut off her throat. Take 250 grams of gel per liter of water.
For children whose age ranges from and older, it is necessary to calculate the proportions yourself. To do this, measure the amount of water required to completely immerse the child's arm or leg in the container.
In order to fill the form, take a special plaster. To pour one cast, take ten to five tablespoons of gypsum and 0.05 liters of water.
In order to pour one cast of an adult's hand, you will need 20 tablespoons of gypsum and 0.18 liters of water.
2d impression kits
We create a convex cast of any part of the tiny limbs of your baby.
This technology involves a plastic material for reusable use.
It is quite plastic and soft, able to convey every fold and line of the skin, keeps its shape perfectly.
But this material can be used almost unlimitedly.
The main condition for storage is the obligatory presence of the material in a jar, the absence of contact with water, talc and oil.
This kit will help you make casts of children's legs and arms every month. You will compare how the baby has grown.
And now the video instruction for creating impressions 2 d:
When analyzing this video, we want to clarify again that the convex layer of the handle is made using a finished impression mass by hand, filled with special plaster. Then everything dries up, the cast is pulled out, the mass is again kneaded. A new cast is created from it.
After this procedure, the impression mass is kneaded again, it is placed in a bag into which air will not enter, in order to take out the mass next time and create a sculpture again.
Casts can be painted in any color you like. This can be done using watercolor, gouache, acrylic. Glue what you got to the photo frame. At the same time, use any decor that you like, some collages, booties, a tag, a dummy, an ultrasound scan, a bodysuit, a vest, a cap. The main thing is to use your imagination.
Time does not stand still, so it is important to remember every little thing about such an important thing as the childhood of your beloved baby. Many parents have a tradition of making prints of a child's hand or foot. But all the old methods are already outdated: for them it was necessary to prepare a solution on their own, which was far from always obtained, and the quality of such products left much to be desired. Over time, they began to crumble and burst.
Of course, there are special workshops that are ready to help you. Such services are very expensive and are only in large cities.
But in the modern world, everything is easier. There is a wonderful alternative to all methods: now you can make casts using a special children's kit without leaving your home.
What is a set?
The Mold Frame is the first set to create with your child to create lasting memories of tiny hands and feet. The set consists of a mass for modeling, an original panel for pleasant wishes, satin and adhesive tapes.
The set is for children, therefore it is presented in two versions with a unique design:
- for a girl - in pink;
- for a boy - in blue.
It is also important that the use of a special set is completely safe for health, since it does not contain harmful components for the skin. The set will be an unusual and stylish gift that you will surprise people with. These things are still new and not everyone knows about them. Do not be afraid to make original surprises. For example, both parents for the birth of a child, and grandparents for the first little anniversary of the baby. This decoration of the children's room will be a great addition to the interior.
To make a cast frame, you do not need to have any experience, the ability of a sculptor, or attend special courses. It is enough to carefully read the instructions, which are detailed on the set.
Mode of application
The mass for modeling is completely ready for use, for convenience, it should be kneaded with your hands for 30 seconds and roll out a layer 2 cm thick. It remains only to attach a tiny hand or foot of the baby. For a successful result, you do not need to rush, however, it should be remembered that the mass dries quickly enough in air.
To create an impression of a hand, follow these steps:
- Press your palm against the material so that a uniform outline remains. But not too much, be calm and patient, even if the child is mischievous. Do not be alarmed if the cast of the pen did not work out the first time: the mass can be re-kneaded and the creative process repeated.
- Next, you should leave the mass in the open air until it solidifies completely (this will take no more than an hour), if desired, the resulting panel can be painted when everything is dry.
- After sculpting, simply wipe your hands with a damp cloth. The mass does not leave marks or discomfort on the skin, so there is no reason to worry about the health of the baby.
Making an impression of the leg will require a little more effort:
- This will require 2 people if the baby is still very small and does not stand on its own. Ask the child to raise and gently, fixing his lower leg with his hand, lower it onto the modeling mass.
- Make sure that the child does not move his leg. If necessary, correct the contours with your fingers.
- Next, wipe the skin with a napkin and wait for the material to dry completely. It remains to insert the cast of the leg into the frame from the set.
Kit Benefits
Compared with a number of its analogues, this tool has the following advantages:
- for him, it is not necessary to dilute the solution, soiling the house and exposing the baby to harmful components that are part of the building materials;
- no special skills required;
- the print of the handle or leg is ready in seconds;
- there is no need to buy additional parts - everything is already in the kit;
- value for money.
How to successfully make a cast?
In order for the cast of the handle or leg to turn out the way you want the first time, you need to follow some steps:
- Take care of the calm state and mood of the baby. Prepare a toy or an interesting cartoon to distract him if you don't want to. But it happens that your fidget flatly refuses to participate in creativity. Just try to do it in a playful way or when he is sleeping. Casts of the whole family would also be a good idea.
- Make it a tradition to make these memory frames as your baby grows, for example, in the first month of life and on the first birthday. Then in a few years the already grown up kid will study them with interest. Yes, and you will be surprised when yesterday's baby managed to grow up.
In the set there is a special panel for wishes. Ask close family and friends to leave a few sweet wishes for the future. Over time, it will be pleasant to reread them, gathering with the family. The panel has special holes for ribbons, so it will not be difficult to hang it on the wall.
I wanted to make some unusual birthday present from my son to my grandmother and aunt. Of course, to this gift I also added the usual gift from my mother :) But that's not about that now :)
I came up with the idea to do imprint pens child from dough for grandma and imprintlegs for aunt. Our loved ones loved this gift!
In addition to the fact that such a craft is a great gift and a wonderful educational activity for your child, the mold is made quickly and easily enough. You can also involve small children in this activity. For example, my son was a year and a month old.
So let's start cooking. imprintlegs and arms of a child made of dough.
Cooking dough.
For the test you will need:
- 1 cup of flour (you may need a little more, start with a glass, and then, a little bit, you will add);
- 0.5 cups of salt;
- 125 ml of water;
- 1 tbsp PVA.
- to make colored dough, you can add gouache.
We form an imprint.
The test is obtained for 2 crafts. Therefore you can:
- do imprintone handle and one leg;
- 2 handles;
- 2 legs;
We take the first ball and roll out a pancake of the desired size and thickness from it, as you visually like. The resulting pancake immediately put on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. We take the baby’s arm or leg, hold it tightly and press it into the dough. The dough should not be sticky, but if it is, brush the handle/leg with sunflower oil.
Do not forget to make a hole for the tape if you want to hang the craft.
For me, the most difficult thing was to take my son's hand / foot and make a beautiful print. The son was spinning, moving his fingers, trying to immediately dig into this test ... :) Therefore, we did not succeed in making an imprint from the first attempts. Therefore, do not be discouraged if the first time you do not succeed either, let the whole process become an exciting and fun game for you :)
We decorate the craft to your taste.
I lightly decorated with Easter sprinkles and made the prints with a bump around the edges. When choosing the type of jewelry, you need to take into account an important point - if you dry the cast in the oven, choose materials that are resistant to high temperatures. During drying in the sun, you can choose any materials.
We dry the mold of the child’s arms / legs from the dough in the oven.
I dried the craft as much as possible in the oven, and then slightly dried it in the room.
We send the craft to the oven at a temperature of 80 degrees and dry for about 2 hours. Ovens are different for everyone, so you need to follow the craft. You will feel when it is ready: the dough will be light in color on top, firm and slightly ruddy on the bottom.
The temperature setting in my oven does not work, so I dried it by eye. And another interesting moment. I did crafts in 2 visits on different days: first a cast of the handles, then a cast of the legs. The casts of my legs began to swell. I did everything the same, except that I put the mold of the pens in a cold oven and the temperature was slightly higher. Perhaps the reason lies precisely in this. When I saw that the cast of the legs was slightly swollen, I pierced a couple of holes with a toothpick. Despite everything, the cast of the legs turned out to be pretty too. To hide the flaws, I tinted them with yellow paint.
Last steps.
After the crafts have cooled, they can be decorated with gouache to your taste. I like the unpainted version better :)
We put on ribbons and gifts are ready, and this is also a great memory of the baby. Sign the date or age of the child with paint on the back of the craft.
Here are my options.
Craft "Footprint and child's hand from dough" as an educational activity.
At the time of preparation of the craft, my son was 1.1. He himself could not yet make prints, decorate, etc. But despite this, we got a great developmental activity:
- the son crushed and tore the dough with his fingers;
- touched the flour mixed with salt with his fingers. I also added pebbles, cones, sticks there and got a small sensory box. The son poured the materials of the box with a spoon into the vessel.
- I made a cast of a leg for my son, and he felt the shape of his leg with interest;
- the son laughed when I made prints of his legs.
There was a lot of cleaning, but I do not regret it at all :) We are not afraid of cleaning at all.
