Arts and Crafts...The Third One

 So a couple of weeks ago while I was working at the Museum in town they taught us how they make models with plaster and molds.

It's actually a surprisingly easy process. You just take a rubber mold that houses the plaster and a couple of hardened plaster mold casings that give the model its shape. You then use some tape to tie the whole thing together then wait about 30 minutes for the model to dry. Then you can just peel the rubber casing off and you're done.

There is a pretty interesting chemical reaction that occurs while the plaster is drying. While it's still semi-wet the plaster gives off heat as if it was just recently pulled out of an oven. Then during the first hour after that its finished drying it feels cold to the touch, like you just pulled it out of a refrigerator. Makes it easier to tell when the drying process is complete I guess.

The model I made is of a T-rex tooth, and its so detailed that if you look at it closely you can see serrations running along the edges. Which is also seen in real fossilized T-rex teeth.