Using the mold and embedding blood bladder and bones

Now that the reusable mold is complete, it was time to try it out. We learned the hard way that the mold needs to stay very rigid. We ended up having serious leaks around the edges due to the compression of the straps. The hand was mediocre but we learned a whole lot in the process. The next pour should go more smoothly.

The hand is a little off kilter but has an embedded blood bladder and bones. If we can get the mold set up correctly, I think we have a suitable process. Interestingly, when we were cleaning up the damaged hand we realized that the hands will be quite difficult to cut with a box cutter and may even be difficult to pierce. We will have to test them and find out.

Some photos from the latest activities:

The mold from our last activities

We poured a small amount. Since the dragon skin mix sticks to itself, we can pour in stages. Once the first stage started to set, we installed the blood bladder and bones.

Kind of cool side-by-side photo. You can start to see how realistic this really is. The bladder and hosing replicate, very accurately, the Radial Artery.

Once the first layer of dragon skin has cured, we installed the top half of the mold and reassembled part of the plexiglass casing. Unfortunately, we learned later that we should have reassembled the whole box. The syringe is for later pumping a blood mixture into the hand's blood bladder.

The mess. The compression straps were too tight and caused a gap to form in the edges of the mold. 

The disaster. With some cleaning up it wasn't a total loss.

The hand didn't turn out too terribly. It can be used for testing but isnt the prettiest thing. This photo shows pumping blood into the blood bladder.

Close-up of a hand with artery and wrist bone. Not too bad.