Plaster of Disaster

EDIT: I started but never finished this post until 5/25/09.

Had a very busy, but productive, weekend. The title to this post alludes to the fact that I created the mold for the keel bulb. Eventually...

All told, I went through 75lbs of plaster and two 5-gallon buckets. One batch of plaster kicked-off in the bucket before I got into the trough. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back to the beginning: I started out by creating a plug for the bulb out of lightweight green floral foam. It's super easy to carve and shape. A detail palm sander w/ 220 grit paper works well---not too aggressive, but takes the material down reasonably well.



From there I wrapped the plug in saran and started to mix the plaster. It cures wicked quick, especially when you are working with 5 gallons (25lbs) worth of material. The lesson is: get everything ready an don't even think about pausing until your mold is done. You will definitely need a paddle mixer to attach to your drill (my first batch kicked off while I tried to fabricate one) and you will need a plan to weigh down the foam plugs while the plaster cures.

After a fair amount of spitting and swearing, the mold turned our reasonably well. I still need to add a dab of plaster here and there and try to fair the plug just a touch. But not bad overall.