Trustleaf2kg Stonecast Casting Powder

This is an excellent hard plaster for casting, which gives very good detail.I found the plaster solution itself easy enough to make, though you do need to add a fair old bit to water when making the plaster solution, (just keep adding the powder to the water, carefully, like you were added sifted flower, without stirring, until you start to see little mountains forming on the top of the water without sinking. Getting rid of all the air bubbles in the casts was a bit tricky.I eventually found a combination of; (1) not stirring until all the powder had been (carefully) added to the water and leaving it to soak for about a minute, (2) stirring in a way that minimised adding air to the mix (a flat wooden stick, stirring in one direction, not removing it from the plaster while mixing), (3) allowing the mixture to stand for a minute or so after mixing + tapping sides of container firmly to help bring any trapped air to the top, (4) half filling a mould with plaster (and by pouring as close to the top of the mould as possible and letting it "slide in" down one side, (like pouring a beer into a glass) to minimise air bubbles) then squeezing it to remove any air pockets, before carefully filling to the top and (6) once full tapping the sides of the mould or its flange, together, pretty much irradicated bubbles altogether. (Took me a few goes, mind!)Doing a bit of homework, I also decided to test out a few other plasters and see how they behaved.I looked at three others; "plaster of Paris", "crystacal-R" and "cassini" plaster. I found plaster of paris too soft, light and chalky (the pieces would off break while I tried to remove them from the mould). Cassini was the hardest when fully cured and the most dense (giving pieces cast from it a nice weighty feel). I had no problem making detailed pieces in moulds, including chess pieces, and no issues when demoulding. It cures to a very attractive, stone like, ivory colour. I think pieces made from this look very good without any further detailing, beyond a simple lacquer finish, but they can easily be painted or dyed too. The fully cured plaster seems a pretty water resistant, so I suspect this could be used for outdoor work.Overall, I found stonecast and crystacal-R, in particular, good for general casting and painting. If you want something with a bit more "presence", Cassini works well. (I also found that other "alpha plasters" like "Herculite LX", "Alpha K" or "Prestia Expression" are all very hard, dense, alternatives, so there are lots of options to choose from).Just to give a sense of the different densities of some of the different plasters, I cast the same zombie piece in plaster of Paris, stonecast, crystacal R and Cassini plasters (see photo). I also cast the figure in fast cast polyurethane resin, for comparison. After leaving the plaster figures to fully cure and to a steady weight, I found the plaster/resin figures weighed the following;Plaster of Paris - 149gPolyurethane resin - 160gStonecast plaster - 190gCrystacal-R plaster - 210gCassini plaster - 240g

I have bought this cast to use for moulds for mandala painting. It works absolutely brilliantly, so easy to use and the measurements that they give with the moulds are exact. It sets pretty fast, and if you tap the sides gently, you'll see all the little bubbles coming up which gets rid of them. When I took it out of the mould, I was so impressed, the 'stone' was so smooth and perfectly round, it was exactly what I was looking for.Very happy with the product however there are cheaper products out there that might be a bit more pain to use, but the final result is exactly the same. If I could afford this one, I would go for it every time.

Great product easy to use and sets quickly. Captures fine detail extremely well. Like previous reviewer better packaging required. Posty not impressed with the dusting of white powder he recieved.

excellent product BUT the packaging was inadequate and the postman wasnt too pleased to have white powder all over him and his mail on a wet day. Stonecast powder and water do tend to make a terrible mess.

A+ product! I'm very happy with it.

Really good stuff

Great product for making chess pieces robust and durable.