Hands Project

For this project the goal was to use alginate molds to create two plaster hands to represent a social or political issue. I knew I wanted to do something in support of Black Lives Matter. The hand in a fist represents the movement so I did both my hands in the shape of a fist. First I had to make alginate molds of my hands. I mixed the alginate powder with water in two big yoghurt containers. I put my hands in a fist and stuck my hands in the alginate. After waiting about five minutes I removed my hands. What was left was the imprint of my fists. Next, Ms. Medsker mixed up some plaster. I poured the plaster into the alginate and let it sit. That night I shook the containers so the alginate came out and peeled the alginate to reveal the plaster. There was a lot of detail on the hand, including the bandaid was wearing that day.

I decided I wanted to do something along the lines of “Asians for Black Lives Matter” I’d recently seen a post on Instagram with a person who held a sign saying that. I go a camp every year for Vietnamese adoptees and this year we talked about the Black Lives Matter movement and how we as people of color are connected to it and how important it is that we support them. I used light gray paint to create the subtle detail of the hands breaking from the foam core. I then cut the board to be in the shape of an oval and I hot glued the hands to the foam core. Before I had painted the hands two different skin tones one to represent black people and another to represent Asians. I painted the fingernails light pink to contrast the skin tones. I recently purchased the book “Rest in Power” written by the parents of Trayvon Martin. I photocopied pages from the book along with articles about Asians for Black Lives matter to create paper flowers. I tied the flowers with red string to create contrast with the black text on the white paper. I created flowers because you put flowers on the grave of loved one and I wanted to create a tribute to the black people lost to police brutality. Next I used sculpy to create a vine with flowers to contrast the harshness of the black and white. I add pink flowers on the vines to create contrast. Next I printed out the text “Asians for Black Lives Matter” and used toothpicks to create a sign. I then propped the circular vine up to create a bridge over the hands. Next I looked up the list of black people lost to police brutality and typed some of them up and printed them out. I glue them to the foam core as a tribute.

Overall I am happy with the work that I created because it is appealing to the eye. Texture is something I’ve struggled with in 3D and I really like the texture of the paper flowers.