FunWithParaffin

FunWithParaffin intro results Howto just like making a candle removing the glove

intro

My wife's parents have a therapeutic paraffin wax bath. The molten wax warms and sooths arthritic joints and retains its heat. I got to playing with it because who hasn't scalded themselves countless times playing with candle wax. Being the supreme dork that I am I got the idea to try to slide off the glove in one piece rather than just tear it off as most people (presumably) do. The first attempt worked pretty well but was still too warm to hold its shape once I had it off. I turned that one into a rope cause they are easy to make (like pulling salt water taffy), wrapped the 'rope' around my hand and went back for more.

results

I'mm not going to make you scroll all the way down to see these. Although I like this piece on its own it would make a sweet mold to a costume hand. Pour in some pink (or olive/brown in my case) latex and you'd have a perfectly constructed fake hand complete with life line and finger prints. See if a fortune teller can still read your hand if its once removed from you.

Howto

This is literally a 10 minute project if you have the wax heated up. The biggest challenge is to go slow when you remove the glove. They crack easily and need to be hard to maintain their shape. Also the wrist hole has to be big enough to get your hand out through.

just like making a candle

You can make a paraffin bath with an old crock pot or a good crock pot if you can figure out a way to line it so the wax doesn't ruin the crock. As with all hot things be really careful and don't burn yourself. For instance don't set the crock pot in 400F then stick your hand in the hot wax.

I assume everyone has made a candle before on some field trip in grade school. Maybe only us country kids did that kinda stuff (like make butter, maple syrup, yarn, milk cows and the like...). Anyway this is just like making a candle with your hand as the wick. You repeatedly dunk your hand into the molten wax, then take it out and let it cool a bit. After 5-10 iterations you have a decent glove - obviously the more dippings the thicker the glove. You have to keep your hand very still so the glove doesn't crack. This will make the mold look better and the hot wax on virgin sin smarts a bit since the rest of the glove insults it and keeps it hot longer.

removing the glove

Too fully harden the wax I ran cold water over the outside and wiggled my hand slowly to free my skin from the tightening grip of the shrinking wax glove (its getting colder, thus smaller). Then pouring cold water into the glove added weight that helped pull the wax from my hand as well as hardened the inside of the glove quickly. See I didn't cheat (I don't know how I could have cheated to make this easier anyway)

I hear they do this at day spas - my hands are silky smooth and relaxed

as always higher res images are with my flickr pictures. I'll go pro soon (or already have when you read this) so you can get the super high res ones and steal my fingerprints!

-- ChristopherPepe - 25 Jun 2007