Polished stainless or chrome plated cake icing spatulas are head and shoulders above Popsicle sticks. The wooden sticks absorbs too much moisture from the plaster making it hard to spread smoothly. Art/Paint spatulas work great for detail work like this as well if you can find stainless ones the steel ones rust too readily to be cost effective. Bonus tip. Don't ever sand your spatula blades. Either wash off while the plaster is wet or if you miss some, just wait till the plaster sets and gently flex the blade to break the plaster off, then rinse. If you sand the blade the plaster grabs into the grooves and again it will be sticky and won't spread smooth. Also the Microplane zester files work nice since they are stainless and don't rust like the surform files.... Love your channel. My experience is in the medical field with #1 molding plaster which is very similar to hydrocal. It is very interesting to watch similar techniques used for prop making.
HOLY CRAP! I have been working with plaster on and of for....decades and I never seen that drywall screen. What a game changer.
A game changer indeed! I picked up that bit of wisdom at a cast stone shop in 1999.
Polished stainless or chrome plated cake icing spatulas are head and shoulders above Popsicle sticks. The wooden sticks absorbs too much moisture from the plaster making it hard to spread smoothly. Art/Paint spatulas work great for detail work like this as well if you can find stainless ones the steel ones rust too readily to be cost effective. Bonus tip. Don't ever sand your spatula blades. Either wash off while the plaster is wet or if you miss some, just wait till the plaster sets and gently flex the blade to break the plaster off, then rinse. If you sand the blade the plaster grabs into the grooves and again it will be sticky and won't spread smooth. Also the Microplane zester files work nice since they are stainless and don't rust like the surform files.... Love your channel. My experience is in the medical field with #1 molding plaster which is very similar to hydrocal. It is very interesting to watch similar techniques used for prop making.
What is the mix ratio and ingredients you have in that cups?