Meaningful Casting: Try This Yoga Hand Cast
With the swirls of your fingerprints and the ridges of your nails faithfully replicated, your hand cast will always be unique to you. But have you thought about how your choice of hand pose can inject even more of your personality into your finished sculpture?
We've seen sake bar owners, Lucy and Tom, create a hand casting with sake cups, and we've had a young swimmer celebrate an amazing win at the English Nationals by casting her hands holding a trophy!
Inspired by these highly personal castings, a yoga lover in our studio has made a brilliant cast showing her hands posed in the most recognisable hand gesture in yoga and meditation: the Gyan Mudra.
Creating a Yoga Hand Cast
She used a Couple Hand Casting Kit, as her hands are petite, but you might need a Family Hand Casting Kit if you have larger hands, or would like to stretch out your fingers a little more. She practised her pose, pinching thumbs and first fingers together to create a circle, wrists held together. Plunging her hands into the empty bucket for a dry run, she made sure that she found a comfortable position, with hands clear of the edges and bottom of the bucket.
She's a dab hand at casting, so she and another member of the team whipped through the process, mixing alginate, creating a mould, filling it with stone mixture, waiting for it to set, and... finally... enjoying the 'big reveal'. No matter how many times we do it, though, the end result still takes our breath away!
Easy, Fun, Great Results!
Anyone trying hand casting for the first time at home can rest assured that the booklets in our kits have been written and re-written many times by experts in hand casting. We're pretty sure they cover the whole process clearly. We like to think we're 'holding your hand' throughout your casting, so that you get great results, and have a lot of fun!
Soothing Sculpture
Back to that 'big reveal'... As the last few chunks of alginate were pulled away, we saw a beautiful cast emerge... full of personality and meaning! We especially love the intricate detail of the mandala pattern of the ring. The sculpture seems to radiate peace and calm, and would make a great feature in a living room, or yoga studio.
If you're a fan of yoga, you will probably know that mudras are a set of meditative exercises that have been practised since ancient times, and are thought to balance the flow of energy within the body.
In Sanskrit, Gyan roughly translates to “consciousness,” “wisdom,” and “knowledge”, and the Gyan Mudra symbolises a willingness to soak up knowledge. It is used in meditation to improve focus, intention and awareness of breath.
If you're feeling restless or bogged down by day-to-day stresses, we think a Gyan Mudra hand cast in your home may give you a gentle reminder to get your mind back on track!
Get Creative with Hand Casting
Can you think of a creative casting you'd like to do that reflects your personality? It could be a hand hold with a special person in your life that captures the fun relationship you share... maybe a fist bump, or a pinky promise?
If you want expert advice from our studio, please get in touch! We'd love to see your unique hand cast in pride of place in your home, so please send us your #HappyCasting photos and videos!