Reverse Mold of Child’s Hand

Instructions for Reverse Mold in Clay

Hand prints in clay are always loved by those who receive them as a gift. I often do a newborn’s print not only so mom will have something to remember, but also so she will be able to make awesome reverse prints. Those tiny hand prints make awesome Valentines Day gifts! (There’s always next year for Christmas too).  Imagine pulling them out every year to hang on the Christmas tree.

Begin with Clay

• Once the first print is fired and back in your possession, you’ll take some
• clay that has been rolled out to 1/2″ thick and all the bubbles have been pressed out.
• Lay the flat clay onto the whole fired print and push extra in the area of the recessed hand print only. If you let this
• dry about 10 minutes, it will shrink away from the sides of the print as the water absorbs into the fired hand print.
• Pick up both pieces still together and then carefully shake loose the wet clay from the fired hand print. Now you have a raised ‘reverse mold’ of the first fired piece. The neat part about the new print is that it’s like the real palm of the hand. You can see fingerprint ridges, tiny crevices and hand lines all over it! At this point you can
• make the hand print be in the center of a heart that you will cut in the clay around the wet clay hand print. Again,
• put in two holes at the top and write on the blank space the name and age of the person.
• Or you can have just the print itself, no extra space around the print, by pushing clay into the fired print. After the clay sits awhile,
• turn the fired hand print over and gently tap the back of the fired print. The wet clay will fall out into your hand. This way you have just the palm of the hand that can be fired.

Ideas for Use of the Hand prints

These are great for hanging from rear view mirrors in the grandparent’s car, on a Christmas tree, laying on a table near photos, putting in a scrapbook near the baby’s photo, putting in a shadow box with other mementos such as a lock of hair, first binkie, the baby’s wristband from the hospital, etc.

One more suggestion:

Be sure to read the previous blog on hand prints for more information.

Some interesting facts about clay:

• There will be shrinkage of usually 10-12%. Just remember that your baby’s hand really was a little larger when you made the hand print.
• Don’t paint inside the hand print after it is fired or you will lose all the interesting lines and wrinkles.
• If you choose to use terracotta low fire clay versus white low fire clay, take into account that the color of the terracotta will get on clothes, etc. until it is fired. It’s full of red iron which may take extra washing to get out of your clothes.
• Always have good clean up practices as the little chunks and pieces of clay dry quickly. Letting scraps sit around only invites it to float up into the air you breathe which is not good for your lungs.
• Cleaning it up with a wet sponge helps to keep the dust down.

Now go make art!!

If you have any questions, I’d love to answer them.  Just leave a comment.