SMAPHY Hands Casting Kit, DIY Hand molding Kit. Hand Holding Craft for Couples, Adult & Child, Family, Friends. Anniversary, Wedding & Couples Gifts (White)

Product was easy to do

This was so much fun! Honestly love how it turned out! The instructions were overly explained and easy to follow. This photo is before we used the tool to get all of the mold out of the cracks and crevices and pop all the little air bubbles off. It turned out super cool the only thing I would suggest is coming with a small cheap piece of wood or something to stand it on after it’s finished but it does stand itself up without it. My boyfriend thought it would be stupid to do but he really loved the final product as well!

I was second guessing the amount of water for both the mold and the cast. Do not have second thoughts. It's spot on. It was a lot of fun but was also a lot of work. I felt like an archaeologist. :)

The media could not be loaded.  UPDATE: my boy and I were successful. I’m adding some pics of the final product. Note, he had some dirt under his nails that I didn’t realize, which left some dirt in the mold which made the plaster a little dingy in places. Also, I was rushing to get our hands in and forgot to bounce the bucket to get rid of the air bubbles. This is an important step. Don’t forget to do that. My hand ended up with a slew of little bumps all over. I used the included sanding papers to smooth those down, but it leaves my hand not perfect. Overall, though, my boy’s paw looks great. Good texture of fur, excellent detail on his toe pads and this was the important thing for me. A keepsake of my sweet guy who just turned 15.I should start by saying that my goal is a hand cast of my hand holding my senior dog's paw. I am trying to make a keepsake while he's still active and part of my life. So, asking a dog to hold still and not flinch makes it a little more challenging.My first effort, I followed the directions exactly. Cool water to mix the alginate, stir for 90 seconds, wet my hand and my dog's paw (damp, but not dripping), take hold of his paw as I wanted and then plunge. I set the timer for the 150 seconds it says is all it takes to set. Well.... that was not the case. I guess the water was too cold because it took about 7-8 minutes to set. My dog flinched a few times which caused the paw pads to look muddy. The mold also pulled out a few of his hairs as I extricated us from the mold once it was set.I tried again with a new kit. This time I used a very thin layer of Vaseline on his arm/paw/between paw pads and on my hand. I also did a bit of research and found that the warmer the water, the faster it sets. I went with just about room temperature - so as I dipped my finger into the bucket of water without looking, I couldn't feel when my finger went into the water because the temp was the same as the room. This turned out to be a bit too warm. I was doing the swift stir for 90 seconds, but realized it was starting to set while I was still stirring. So I grabbed my boy's paw and plunged us into the alginate. It was an utter failure - but I take full responsibility as I obviously over corrected and used water that was clearly too warm and so it set too fast.I just got kit # 3 (I am determined to make a cast I am proud of ). I will use water cooler than the last time, but not as cool as the first time, and I may not mix for the full 90 seconds to ensure my boy and I can get in and posed well before it starts to set, but then have it set fairly quickly. He will hold still for right about 2 minutes, but longer than that is hard for him. So I'll find the balance this next time. As a crafty friend said, the key is knowing your material and how it sets. the thing that would make this kit much, much better, would be a couple of test packets of the alginate so we could see how quickly it sets using different temps of water as that would have possibly allowed me to get it right the first time with my boy. Oh well.I have also played with the paint. The first effort, I painted my hand and his paw in the silver. The second effort I painted just his paw in silver. That looks really nice. I like that I'll be able to highlight his paw in silver and the contrast of leaving my hand the natural plaster white color.

This was a fun activity for my husband and I. The directions were concise but the time frame was a little off for the time it took for the first part of the molding. Was unsure how it would come out but I followed the directions to a tee and it came out nice! My only suggestion is they said it would take a certain time to start forming and harden but it was a lot longer than it said. We probably had about a 20 -25 minute process for the mold to take shape before we could put the casting liquid in place. But it was a fun craft to do as a momento!!

These are great. Have got 3 of them very easy to use and great for the memories

Got this for a mothers day gift. For my and my two brothers. Easy to mix and set up. My only complaint is how small the bucket was. As my two brothers and I are adult we have large hands and I didnt think of that when setting it up. I should of got a different bucket to use. Regardless it turned out decent and my mother absolutely loves it.

The media could not be loaded.  Was excited to do this with my Dad only to be disappointed before we even started properly. I read the instructions several times and started Step 1. Then all I saw were clumps. Even after seeing all the mess, my father and I still stuck our hands in it only to see pure water starting to settle at the top and the clumps just there not going anywhere. Please see photos and images that I posted with this review. Note too that the photos and video was done after I washed my hands, so that was well over the setting time and yet it was still in that state. This was a total waste of my money. Really disappointed. If there was a no star, I would give it that. Seems they have some faulty ones.

Our hopes quickly faded, followed directions to the letter. Timers. The moulding process didn’t set, caved in. I premeasured water to mix 2 times to be sure it was right then continued as needed. So much information provided it clouded or overwhelmed. We will try again maybe a bigger product, we really want memories of our moms hands.

Super fun to make,bought this for my boyfriend for valentines day because I grew up in niagara falls and no longer live there, I wanted to have an experience with him like the wax store on Clifton hilll that dips ur hands in wax like I grew up doing, this was very similar and very fun! we followed instructions exactly and even read reviews before doing it so we could learn from others mistakes and not make the same ones hoping to have a perfect cast, however...the instructions said to make sure the gel mold was dry on inside and to dump out or dabb excess water with paper towel before pouring cement cast in, we poured the excess water out but it made the gel mold less suctioned to the bucket making the cement cast leak out to the sides of the bucket and the gel mold began floating, we were able to save it a bit by putting pressure on the gel mold to get to sink and hold shape but had to let it dry with weight on top to get our shape to hold because of that our hands are very rough they have potential and will take alot more sanding to get the look we want which is a bit disappointing but I would do it again and maybe use the more gentle paper towel dry method or even last leave the excess water to hope for a better outcome i recommend moving fast while being gentle but all in all super fun and worth the keepsake memory