Best way to strengthen PoP is using a concrete acrylic fortifier in replacement for water when you mix. Been using this technique for years. Best imo!

When casting, mix the pva glue into the water, then add that mox to your pop. It strengthens the whole piece vs just the surface.

I recently got into casting and have tried the Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. It works well for casting and is more durable than plaster of paris. Since you have it on hand and like the color, I'd suggest trying that for casting on its own. I also tried ACTIVA PermaStone and Perfect Cast. Out of those three, I would highly recommend Perfect Cast for it's quality and durability. It seemed like it had a finer finish than the other two and has a very slight porcelain quality to it. PermaStone felt similar to regular plaster on the surface, but it's far more durable. The Water Putty felt light and I didn't appreciate the color for what I was doing. Perfect Cast is a little pricier, but for my purposes (trying to make a fine art piece), it was worth the cost.

Wish this dude made more videos this video is one of the greatest videos I have seen in my 30 years hope you come back dude!!!

thats a really good quality video for only 28 subs. great job.

I watched the movie until the end and I have two conclusions. It is enough to change the type of plaster, i.e. use dental plasters of class 4 or 5, they are slightly more expensive, but have very high mechanical strength. The second option is to add dispersed fibers to the plaster of Paris, they will strengthen the interior. Plaster of Paris has poor early strength and is therefore brittle. These are two options that will significantly improve its durability :) PS. Epoxy resin can be diluted with cresyl glycidyl ether and or benzyl alcohol :) Greetings from Poland :)

This is going to sound ignorant as hell, but... the CHEAPEST most effective way to get POP to be stronger (as well as concrete for that matter) is to add about a 3rd to half as much ash to the mix. I know, but seriously... so long as the POP can still set up you can add as much ash as needed. I'm talking the powdered remains of fireplace logs or burnt leaf piles (if you're allowed to do that in your area). It'll add weight & density to the mix, thus making it stronger. Not to mention the cost savings. Only problem is it can be messy as all hell.

Great info! Thanks for sharing. I would suggest staining your rocks before applying the surface protectors, like Polyurethane etc. Just a suggestion. Have a better day!

Any other suggestions? You demonstrated exactly what I am searching for! I have premade plaster ($Tree Christmas) orniments. Several broke on the drive home. Now I need to safely transport & store the unused ones for painting next year! 😮 Also, I'd like to strengthen the painted ones. I am not going to cast multiple orniments for 8 grandchildren & their parents plus the grand parents. I'm grateful to have found cute, affordable, premade orniments, although fradgile. Wish I'd thought of looking this up sooner. I'm grateful to not waste my time on these options. I'm going to experiment with the broken orniments. Maybe a paintable base acrylic primer would work. Thanks again! Good topic, demonstration, explinations, narrative, and summeries.

I just had a conversant this and varnish is what I was told they used back in the day.

If you mix that titebond with your water before adding the dry plaster, I believe you'll get the results you're looking for. The wood glue is the best for the job considering the cost oft he epoxy resin, and it's the acrylic that does it. Once my pieces are dried (I just make planters,) I mix some wood glue and water, sometimes a tiny bit more plaster depending on what I'm after, and brush it over the whole thing. LIke you said, it sponges it all up AND, believe it or not, it'll allow you to burnish your piece better than just the glue/plaster mixture. Gives it almost a Venetian plaster look. ;)

I have perfect casting and I made little angels in a broke easy I read online that you can add glue to the water before you add plaster of Paris and it will make it stronger I will try this technique

I've sometimes seen yt movies where they stick plaster to a ceiling and then move over it with a kind of shaped profile to make a decorative moulding. Do you know what they could have been using for this? I think they were talking about plaster, but that is much to liquid to stick to someting... Thnx

on those flat molds I press strips of gauze or cotton in the back to help hold them together when I take them out. I also adding some glue to the water to help make them stronger

Seems like maybe you could mix the different types of hardners to the plaster while making the rocks & it might make them harder. You should try it & make a video like this one.

is Perfect Plaster Pottery & Ceramic Casting Material better to use?

i used to add glue to the water and fibers for concrete, it sure helped stop the flaking,,, thank you for the tips

I never worked with Plaster of Paris (or any other kind of plaster) before, but I recently bought some costume props from an organisation. The helmets have some damages, and I want to repair them. It looks like the helmets are made of, which I assume, cardboard (or paper machee) and then covered in a thin layer of plaster. What would you recommend I use for those damaged parts for regularly wearing the helmets (inside and outside, with posibility of rain)? Just normal PoP? Seeing that you use water based coloring (and water to make it), I assume rain won't do much harm? It's obviously not the intention to drop the helmets, or use them in combat simulation, so that's why I think they used plaster in the 1st place Also, I'm going to spray paint & then varnish (or maybe lacquer?) when the helmets are finished to my liking

mix fine "aquarium sand" or any other fine sand into the plaster of paris mixture up to 1:1 mix ration to improve strength and ridigity. For bigger pieces use steel wool or small metal mesh as reinforcement.

I use this all the time for other materials but I would imagine glass fibers would massively increase durability. But it definitely depends on the mold or project.

Where can I buy this mold? Can you show me the site?

I was hoping to find a way to make the plaster stronger, but that didn't come through on this video

io lavoro spesso con plaster of paris e ti garantisco che nessun prodotto dato all'esterno evita la rottura qualunque sostanza non agisce da rafforzante, quindi io aggiungo la colla x falegname dentro il gesso e ti posso garantire che è strong

🔺I expected you to add the product into the PofP mix. Thats the method for gaining a successful greater tolerance. 🔹Ideally you Stain first, followed by the sealer/Polyeurophine. 🔹Over a sealer it is recommended that one use "Chalk Paint", other paints won't adhere, either at all 9r well, over sealer. Thanks

E o hidrofugante, e a caucita? Cadê? Fica igual a resincrete.

Elmer's school glue is my favorite flavor

This is weird. I looked into this years ago, and they were adding the items to the mix, not top coating to make it stronger. Top coating doesn't seem effective. I actually tried the school glue and it worked for me. I mixed it with the plaster and then poured and cured. I don't remember what the ratio was now.

Have you tried adding pva glue to the wet mix?

I know Im 2 yrs late...but I wonder how Mod Podge would have been? ANd there are various types of mod podge to use, but Id just try the matte mod podge. Id also paint it first, then use the MP. It might help with scratches and seal it, but I dont think itd help for breakage. I have mixed Mod Podge in with my paint and then painted the plaster of paris mold (fake food, I made fake Ice Cream sandwiches with PoP, lol!)

Have you tried adding colour before the wood glue or even during casting

I liked and subscribed because of all the trouble you went through with this process, and your presentation. For what it's worth: I am of the opinion that the problem is addressed and not the cause. If one gold-plates a turd, it is still a turd. The solution lies in addressing the plaster, not the coating. I think mixing the plaster with PVA glue (for example) would strengthen it considerably better than any of the offered solutions. Perhaps someone knows more, and can share their knowledge.

If I wanted to make the PoP indestructible could I just mix it with something other than water in the first place? For example just make it a PoP polyurethane mixture and put it straight into the mold that way?

As you should know by now with other comments, you are suppose to add the glue within the mixer of plaster and some add in the acrylic paint in the mixer as well for desired colors in mixer.

Did you let the gypsum cure fully? It takes almost a week..

What if you mixed the wood glue into the PoP? Mixing it into paint makes chalk paint . Also you can make air dry clay.

Im trying to avoid spending money on casting materials, consequently Im desperate for finding a way to make plaster stronger!

try to saturate in water with cement let it soak then dry

PU products is not good when you want to have absorbent nature, that's my experience, several people as well mentioned it regular white wood glue(not the water proof grade, but an interior one should do the trick)

Add strans of fiber glass or some type of carbon fiber or just some clean fibers

A possible option is to strengthen plaster of Paris is to mix in cement (not concrete) 30 to 40 percent cement to 60 to 70 plaster of Paris.

Hi…plaster of paris jual kat mana ye?

Have you tried mixing the glues in with the plaster and water and them pour into the molds? I think you'd have better luck doing it that way.

use stonecast instead its the strongest plaster ... sorta like cement

Could you please put a seizure warning with the flashing in the screen of media offline, I started to become ill and was unable to finish video due to flashing.

It's good to see your experiments but do away with the background music, it's really distracting and difficult to listen to your comments

Just mix p o p with sand

You really need to add the glue to the mix and not just coating the castings with it. One wouldn't really expect coating to strengthen the plaser.

use sulphuric acid instead of water.

Its really annoying that you did your tests and watered down half the things. If you would have cleaned off the molds between the rock it probably wouldnt break the rocks as easily. For the ones you cant paint over the coatings.. then why wouldnt you paint and stain them first? I don’t understand how sealing them before you paint or stain them would make sense. However, i do appreciate the details you talk about with each thing and that you tested multiple things. Just wish you would have mixed things properly before dismissing the product saying it didnt work when it wasnt mixed correctly to begin with.

I beg you not to put music it’s too loud and hard to hear