Wednesday, August 03, 2005

1 year olds and plaster don't mix

Have you ever tried to get a plaster handprint of a 13 month old? If not, let me tell you it's damn near impossible. If you did, you have my deepest sympathies.

When Ava was born, my friend's mom sent us a box from Pottery Barn Kids containing plaster and five plastic molds and tins of varying sizes to make handprints of your child from age 1 to 5.

I thought - what great keepsakes! How cute they will look hanging in her bedroom! What a wonderful idea! Oh, how very wrong I was.

Great keepsake? Maybe (if you can ever get a handprint in it). Cute hanging on the walls? If you like messy, globby-looking artwork that resembles nothing. Wonderful idea?? NO! NO! NO!

Actually in theory it's an excellent idea, but I challenge you to find a 1 year old who will allow you to put her hand in plaster without squishing it between her little fingers.

I've tried doing her handprint four times now. Twice while it was obviously too wet and squishy. Once after I'd waited too long and it was nearly set up so I could barely press her hand into it (which in retrospect is the one I should've kept!). And once after I broke apart the mold, ground it back down into a powder (for the most part), rewetted and mixed it and tried all over again. At which time it was, once again, too wet and she grabbed a handful of plaster. Turns out that when they say, "PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. DO NOT DEVIATE" they really mean it. Apparently plaster cannot be reworked once it's started to dry. ;oP

By this time the girl had had enough and was ready for a nap. As if to illustrate the point, before I could grab the wash cloth to wipe her off, she reached up and rubbed her eyes with her plaster-coated hand. Oy vey!

(Who invented this blasted kit??!)

Leaving the kitchen and dining room covered in spatters of plaster, I took the sleepy girl upstairs for her nap.

After I got over my initial frustration at the whole ordeal, the wheels began to spin in my little noggin. Perhaps I could get a decent handprint while she slept! At that point I was nearly resigned to letting the mold dry as it was (without a handprint, that is if it would even dry after all my reworking it, etc.), and tracing her hand on it with a Sharpie! The Pottery Barn people would surely tut tut disapprovingly at the very idea.

So my last ditch effort was to try to make the impression while she slept. It certainly couldn't be any worse than what I already did. Right? Right?? ;)

I went back to the Pottery Barn Kids box to retrieve tin #2 - "My handprint when I was 2..." for it's plaster contents. (Shhhh, don't tell.) I prepared the plaster and then, considering myself an expert by this point, waited until it had set up enough so that it wouldn't stick to her, but not too much that it wouldn't be pliable. The timing had to be perfect if this was going to work (and not leave a plastery mess all over the bed).

And so I sat and waited, watching plaster dry, which is, I believe, more interesting than watching paint dry.

The time had come. Off to the bedroom I crept, plastic mold of plaster in hand.

Foiled again! The pesky plaster was still too wet. (Can you say pain in the ass??) Thankfully, Ava only stirred ever so slightly before going back to sleep.

I decided to give it one more try and then call it quits no matter what. I pressed her hand into the plaster and she woke up, unhappy to have been disturbed.



After all of that I guess you could say that I got a handprint. It sort of resembles one anyway (or a dinosaur footprint). :oP
I just might have to go buy my own bag of plaster and play with it. Then maybe with enough practice and determination, by the time she's 5 years old we'll have something that actually looks like a hand!

12 Comments:

At 8/03/2005 6:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Babyprints. It's this company that sells all sorts of kits for hand/foot impressions. It is a moldable dough that you press and then bake or let air dry. The thing is that it is more like pressing her hand into Play-Doh than plaster and it can be re-pressed multiple times if it doesn't come out right. We did holiday ornaments and also a shadow-boxed frame-thingy and they were *so* much easier than plaster. Worth a shot, anyway.

 
At 8/03/2005 7:15 PM, Blogger Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

OMG, you are a lifesaver! I knew there had to be some alternative out there, but I had no idea what it was.
Thanks for the suggestion. I will check into it. It sounds much, much, much easier than what I went through today. ;)

 
At 8/03/2005 8:15 PM, Blogger Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

By the way Elizabeth, I tried registering with TypeKey tonight so I can comment on your blog and it's still not working for me. Help!

 
At 8/03/2005 8:21 PM, Blogger Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

Nevermind, it's working now! Yay! :)

 
At 8/03/2005 8:25 PM, Blogger Spookygirl said...

I tried doing that with Danielle, totally not worth the hassle. I ended up taking her to Color Me Mine, and made mugs for the grandparents with cute, pink hand prints, no mess at home, LOL!!

 
At 8/03/2005 8:32 PM, Blogger Ms. Doe said...

Yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing, just put play-doh in a pie tin. Then pour the plaster into the tin and once it dries, you can pull the play-doh off and viola! I've done this before with homemade playdoh, thanks to a local momma, Tina. :) She might have her recipe on her site....fresnofamily.com.

 
At 8/03/2005 8:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

When we pulled out the baby book for the midwife -- upon which she was to place 3 day old Kajsa's lovely hand and foot prints, she just laughed at us. She was more than happy to do the feet, but said she'd already ruined too many keepsake, irreversibly smeared baby books, and that if we wanted to try it ourselves, she wished us all the luck in the world.

So we have three sets of footprints. They were so nice that Chris had them tattooed onto his forarm last year on his birthday. Coolest tat ever, if you ask me.

Now as for hand prints, we waited until she was about 1&1/2 and did this cool little Christmas ornament. We took a black typical style glassish ball ornament, patted Kajsa's hand into white paint and had her gently grasp the ball. We then used sharpies to make her fingers into snowmen (complete with scarves and top-hats). It was quite blobby, but super cute. And I'll always remember the project.

Much as I assume you will!

 
At 8/03/2005 8:56 PM, Blogger Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

Ooooooh!! What great ideas you all have!! Thank you so much! You should all go get jobs for Pottery Barn Kids and teach them a thing or two about how to get handprints out of little ones.
Actually I think I'm going to write Pottery Barn Kids a letter to tell them how ridiculous their product is. If I can save just one poor mother from a day like I had, it will all be worth it. ;) Think I'm kidding? It's hard to tell, isn't it? :)

 
At 8/04/2005 1:04 AM, Blogger Running2Ks said...

Oh, I quit faster than that--I settled for the foot !!!!!

 
At 8/05/2005 1:15 PM, Blogger Katy said...

Play with us Amy. All you have to do is post a picture of yourself eating. Every week is different theme. If you have an idea, just let me know. Once you get your picture up, leave a comment and I will add you to the list. Chow baby;)!!!

 
At 8/05/2005 2:32 PM, Blogger Rambler said...

that is so cute. i didn'y know such things existed... i'll try to get it too.... Yumna might like it :)

 
At 8/10/2005 8:35 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I'm a bit late chiming in on this, but I know how frustrating it is to make a damn keepsake around this house. They always end up with dog hair in them, on top of whatever problems occurred during the construction. We received a non-toxic washable paint kit to make a handprint and footprint with, and she would not stay still for what I thought would make a great first Father's Day card for Steve. I was, however, able to make a bum print with the remaining paint, which was more suitable for this family anyhow.

 

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