Association of Lifecasters International Library

1. ALI Constitution and Bylaws Our Preamble: The purpose of the Association shall be (a) to promote the general and professional interests of life casting artists and sculptors; (b) to promote awareness of the art form of life casting among the general and art-buying public; (c) to build relationships within and between the life casting and sculpture communities; (d) to sponsor and promote effective legislation.
*2. ALI Pages of the Art Casting Journal* Each month ALI publishes articles of interest to lifecasters in the Art Casting Journal This sections contains those monthly articles. To view this kind of file, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, you can go to the Adobe website and download it for free. Click here to download NOW!
3. The ALI Model Release Form Every lifecasters needs a signed model release. This release was distilled from member contributions. Feel free to use it as model to construct a release of your own. However, it has not been reviewed by legal counsel. We strongly advise you to have your own legal advisor in your home state or province review it before using it. A special thank you to M. Gainer, the Ords and E. McCormick.
4. The Most Controversial Art Form? “What is lifecasting anyway?” That the question that I hear most often when I mention the type of art I produce. Since I respond to it so often I learned conserve my words – “ taking a mold from the human body is” is usually my abbreviated retort. But in fact it is much more than that . . .
5. Some Historical Information on Lifecasting. . . . He also gives us directions "how to take casts from the face of man or woman." which is much the same as our modern process, and was doubtless that of Lysippus; but he quaintly remarks that "when you take the cast of a person of high rank such as a lord, a king, a pope, or an emperor, you should stir rose water into the plaster, but for other persons it is sufficient to use cold water from fountains, rivers or wells.
6. A Brief History of Plaster and Gypsum The oldest traces of plaster renders are 9,000 years old, and were found in Anatolia and Syria. We also know that 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians burnt gypsum in open-air fires, then crushed it into powder, and finally mixed this powder with water to make jointing material for the blocks.
7. Lifecasting: Fine-Art Or Cheating? David Parvin, internationally listed sculptor, life casting artist and master instructor provides a conclusive case for life casting's place in the world of fine-art.
*8. The Surprising Benefits of the Forton MG Casting System* What do you get when you marry the best parts of plaster casting to the best parts of epoxy and fiberglass? An ultra strong, very hard, weatherproof, odorless, and most importantly a non toxic material casting system that one can sculpt like plaster called the FORTON MG Casting System – sometimes referred to as FMG as Ed McCormick explains.
*9. Classic Plaster Casting for Lifecasts* The classic technique of using inexpensive plaster for lifecasting is brought up-to-date by master-plaster-caster Dan Spector. Though direct plaster casting remains controversial in lifecasting circles, Dan reveals the secrets to his success cautioning "newbies" to first practice on a partially inflated balloon. No kidding. Dan warns, ". . . read the whole thing, fool. What I am doing when I make a lifecast mold looks quite simple, but isn't easy in practice."
10. *SAFETY: The Risk of Contracting Asthma Is Real from Plaster Bandage Isocyanates* Duane Hanson, a leading lifecaster for our time succumbed to the caustic effects of his casting materials. The resins he used were highly carcinogenic. Many of us understand such hazards and are very sensitive to the issues of safety in our art form. We lifecasters wear the dusk masks, respirators and rubbers gloves when mixing, molding and casting call for it. However, according to a recent study in Demark those rubber gloves may not be enough when handling plaster bandages.