Plaster of Paris sandcasting

t Darcy of No Monsters in My Bed posted last summer about sandcasting with plaster of Paris and I knew right away we had to try it, where had this idea been all my life? We finally got around to trying it last week, probably because during the summertime, we're too bogged down with towels and drinks and snacks and floaties to feel like lugging a box of plaster of Paris to the beach. This time of year, though, it's still too cold for swimming and there's only so much you can do with sand toys, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. We ended up having a lot of fun and taking home some pretty souvenirs. And finding a new way to spend time in one of our favorite places.

Here's how to do it: mix up a batch of plaster according to the directions on the package -- we used a beach bucket and driftwood stick. Dig a shallow hole in the wet sand, and fill it with shells, sea glass, and all of the treasures you find. Pour in the plaster (make sure it's a few inches deep), wait, and then dig it out and ooh and ahh over your new treasure. (The digging it out is strangely satisfying, I loved how it just seemed to emerge from the sand like magic).



Some tips: the plaster dries incredibly quickly -- it was starting to set by the time we filled our final hole, about five minutes after we mixed it. So keep that in mind. Also, the best designs were the organically shaped ones -- the ones we tried to shape into letters or stars or hearts broke apart easily.

It was a lot simpler and low maintenance than I expected, and the results were pretty cool -- our new plaster objet sits on our coffee table at home and everybody who comes in comments on it. There was something so intriguing about bringing home a piece of the beach, almost like making a sandcastle you can keep. How cool would it be to do one of these at every beach you visit, a sort of memento of the trip?