"Am Doing the Hirst Arts... Hydro-Stone?" Topic

Yup, gonna build a Hirst Arts dungeon. just ordered Molds 203, 70, 85, 71.

I have heard that Hydro-Stone is a good plaster to use. Anyone have experience with it?

I'll be doing the crawls using Song of Blades and Heroes combined with Song of Gold and Darkness!

Hydrostone is a good choice for Hirst molds if you pick it up locally & save on the shipping. If you need to buy on line, you may as well spend a few extra dollars for Merlin's magic or some other dental stone.

Hydrostone is a porous material & will need a lot of paint for a base coat. Go to your local paint store (Home Depot) and look for cheap cans of brown or grey house paint. A $1 USD quart will last you forever.

Thanks Ran!

I have used it a lot. I found that priming the casting helped to stop the material from soaking up all the paint.

I like the dental stone better, but if picked up locally, hydrostone is a cheaper way to go.

Matthew

I've tried casts using regular plaster, Hydrostone, and Durhams Water Putty. The Durham's was the most durable by far, but took forever to cure. Both the plaster and Hydrostone had the best turnaround time, but they Hydrostone was tougher. That'd be my choice when I get back into it again…

Damon.

I prefer hydro stone, and can get it from a local supplier. You can also get dye (acrylic paint works too) to color the plaster itself, which hides chips. I find that mixing a batch of water to use with plaster is a good way to introduce dye or any other additives I might want to use over several batches, since the amount of additives I would use in a few Hirst molds is miniscule.

I use a dental stone, and get about a 30 minute turnaround per mould and it's very durable.

I wouldn't recommend plaster expect to learn with. Too fragile.

It may take a little while to get substantially bubble free casts. The advice on the hirst arts site about pre-wetting the moulds with water with a surface tension breaker (I use dishwasher rinse agent) and pounding/vibrating the table is important.

I'd also suggest getting or borrowing a digital scale to measure the plaster.

Thanks everyone! Great advice! (I bet I can use a little India Ink to color the water!)

Agree with the above. The main problem I had was just the amount of casting you had to do. You have to cast each one at least 6 times kinda making me wish I bought duplicates.

I use Hydrocal plaster. For sealing it, I use 1.5 to 2 oz Liquitex Gloss/Flat medium in an 8 oz bottle (the rest is water) & brush it on. This seals it for better glue/paint contact and gets rid of the dust on the surface. I usually paint soon after it's sealed, as the plaster is dampened & won't suck up the paint so bad. Also, a watered down paint makes a good base coat, and if you vary the amount of water, you can use it for washes to bring out the detail. (Drybrushing can be done when it's dry. ;-) After everything is painted and glued together (and dried), I give it another coat of the sealing wash to protect the paint.

As far as adding color, I've added black powdered tempura paint to the plaster while mixing it. It dries a light gray (as opposed to the stark white of plaster) and you'd need a LOT of it for a truly dark piece. My advice is to save your money and just paint it on all surfaces with a base coat.

Merlin's Magic is all I use these days.

I use concrete dye found at Home Depot to color my bricks. Only takes a half teaspoon or so to help hide the chips and scrapes. Very pigment dense and water based. I have also used acrylic concrete fortifier to strengthen the cheap plaster of paris to a more durable level.

Another vote for Merlin's Magic here.

Doug

If you want to save money and get near dental plaster detail and great durability, look up Drystone from U.S. Gypsum products. You can find it at better ceramic craft supply houses. I found it here in San Antonio for not much more than a dollar a pound and no shipping costs.

I did the dental plaster and it is great; the costs aren't so great. You can talk to your dentist and ask to add on to his next order too by the way. If you are in a major city, you might be able to get some from a wholesale supplier too (think dental supplies).

Dave picked up 50 lbs (!) of Hydro-Stone for us to use! We are going to put together one HUM-DINGER of a Dungeon!