After completing the plaster cloth scenery, it was time to make some cliff faces using latex molds and plaster.

Here are a few tips:

• Mix the plaster in approximately a 2 to 1 ratio of plaster to water. It seems that I have more problems with air bubbles if the plaster is thicker rather than thinner. I use regular old Plaster of Paris obtained from Home Depot or Lowes but Hydrocal is often claimed to be superior for this purpose.
• Use a shallow box with styrofoam peanuts to provide an adjustable base for the initial pour.
• I highly recommend the flexible rubber bowls from Micro-Mark for mixing plaster as cleanup is a snap. Just wait until the plaster is set and flex the bowl to break out te residue. Combined with silicon spatulas from Walgreens, I don’t have to use the kitchen sink to clean up the mess.
• Spray ‘wet’ water into the mold before pouring the plaster to reduce air bubbles. Wet water is water with a few drops of detergent to break surface tension.
• Tap the mold after pouring in the plaster to reduce air bubbles.
• Wait until the plaster sets enough to cause the plaster to show cracks when flexing before applying to the plaster cloth hardshell.
• Use a dental pick to pick away at overlapping castings and blend them together.

Some people create the castings on the workbench and hot glue or plaster them to the hardshell. I find in most cases that the rock appears more natural when cast in place. There are a few places where I think I will need to tile the castings into place due to fitting the rocks into a smaller, irregular space.

Casting rock faces and blending them together takes some time, be patient.