Ipad Mini Hand Stand

The goal of this project was to create a unique stand for an Ipad Mini. I first thought of this project when i seen the ad photos of the Ipad being held in a persons hand! As I had a mini I looked for creative stands for it but unfortunately I couldn't find anything cool enough so decided to make my own.

Items required

• Exacto Knife (Other cutting implement)
• Duct tape
• Cardboard
• Measuring Jug
• Smooth on Alja-Safe® for hand mold. (Available form http://www.smooth-on.com/ -us http://www.benam.co.uk - uk)
• Smooth on Smooth cast 300 (Also available form http://www.smooth-on.com/ -us http://www.benam.co.uk - uk)
• Water
• Pint sized plastic cups or larger
• Container to make mold in
• Bucket for mixing
• Hand blender or drill to mix
• Wooden or plastic mixing rod
• Sand paper

The first step is to make a cardboard duplicate of the ipad to use during the molding process as I am sure nobody wished to ruin their Ipad. First i cut a piece of card board slightly smaller than the Ipad so  my mold would hold the ipad securely. I then covered it in duct tape so the cardboard would keep its shape while in the alginate. 

Once that was made the next step was making the alginate solution however before I did this I discovered that my container was not tall enough for my hand and the dummy ipad. I cut the dummy down in height so that my hand would still hold it i the correct manner but didn't have the excess beyond my finger tips.

Now that my dummy was of the right size it was time to mix my alginate due to short setting times I could not document this section as well as I would have liked. To mix the alginate I calculated the rough volume of my container, then added the appropriate amount of water to a bucket, subtracting the rough volume of alginate required as to not over flow. In my case the volume of my container up to my wrist was 7 litres so i add about 6.5 liters of water then about 500 grams of alginate then mixed with a hand blender as my battery drill was dead. My mix was a bit too watery and took a long time to set so always follow the instructions for your alginate to get correct consistency. 

Once the alginate has set (3-10 minutes depending upon your alginate and ability to use the correct amount of water) a wiggle of the fingers and hand will release your hand from the mold. At this point I waited about 10 minutes just to confirm it was set. I then took two plastic pint cups and added about half a pint of the A solution to one and half a pint of B solution to the other. Once I had equal parts in each cup I added part A to part B the stirred with a wooded rod then poured into the mold. The reaction from this plastic is exothermic so gives off a lot of heat and some fumes so best to do this out doors or under an extractor fan.

After about 3 hours I came back to my mold and it had set pretty well so i pulled my new hand stand out. In doing so the mold was destroyed as it isn't very strong so this really is a one time mold. Once I had the hand out I gave it a quick sand to remove some bumps on the hand from air bubbles in the alginate. I then placed the Ipad mini in to the hand however because my dummy was smaller I required to use my exacto knife to slice into the thumb slightly to increase the gap for the Ipad. The hand stand looks good now however due to air bubbles within the plastic there are some small holes but at some point I will prime and paint it for a better finish but for the time being I does its job stylishly enough. 

Thanks for reading and i hope you enjoyed.