Plast'r Craft by Pacon Fish Sculpture

Thanks to the wonderful Pacon company, my 6th graders and I were given the opportunity to try out an awesome product! 

Plast'r Craft! 

Plast'r Craft is a plaster impregnated gauze that you have to wet in order to mold.  The students were so excited to try out this new material that we decided to use the Plast'r Craft to help study sculpture and form by creating a fish out of  recycled materials.

On day one and two of our 50 minute class, the recycled bottles were used for the basic structure of the fish.  Bottle caps, cone cups, recycled cardboard, and masking tape were used to create the fins and eyes. 

Once the body of the fish was built it was time to bring it all together with the Plast'r Craft on day three and four.  The packaging was a great design that allowed us to pull the gauze from an opening on the side of the box and then easily cut with scissors.

 Each table of students placed their gauze on a styrofoam tray along with newspaper and scissors for less mess and easy transport.

Newspaper was laid in front of each student to place their fish on while applying the Plast'r Craft.  The gauze was cut to fit the largest areas of the fish first.  Students dipped the gauze into a bucket of warm water that was sat at each table.  Creating very little mess, each piece of gauze was dipped into the water as students used only their fingers to slide down the gauze to cast off excess water.

Students would then place the wet gauze over a section of their fish and rub it with their fingers to set it in place and cover any tiny holes that were left in the gauze. Once the large areas were covered, they continued to cut, wet, and mold the Plast'r Craft to the other parts of the fish.  The fins and mouths of the fish were the hardest areas to cover, but the Plast'r Craft was easy to cut and mold around small areas.  Students made sure to overlap each new piece of plaster and smooth it out to create a nice sleek fish body. 

Most students were able to complete their fish with one layer of plaster.  Some cut small square pieces of gauze to cover any tiny areas that were left.

Day five began the painting process, which took two days.  Acrylic paints were used to create the vibrant colors.  Students painted their fish with at least two layers of paint for the best coverage.  

    

Overall, I am thrilled that Pacon gave me and my students this wonderful opportunity to try this great product. There was little to no mess, it could be distributed easily, the plaster set in about 15 minutes, and was very easy to paint. The plaster fish sculpture has now become THE favorite project! 
Thank you,  Pacon for letting us try Plast'r Craft!


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