I have always wanted to make some good copies of my sasquatch casts and have tried various methods. I had heard that the “dirt” method worked for some, so I decided to try it. Using soil that was free from all small rocks and other debris, I wet it and made it into a clay-like consistency. While it did retain the basic shape of the original cast, much of the detail was lost and I had to rework the mud again after every cast.

Someone suggested that I should try Play-Doh. This method worked better, and captured most of the detail of the cast, but one drawback was the Play-Doh absorbed a lot of the water during the casting process, and turned rather mushy. You had to keep drying it out while not let allowing it to get too dry. If you need to make just a few copies, this method is fairly inexpensive and easy. You just need to be careful not to press your original cast too hard into the Play-Doh, or you risk breaking it. It is better to roll out a small amount of it into a thin pizza-like sheet, and then lay that on top of the cast. Work it down between the toes and such, and then add layers to it, to build up a sufficient and sturdy enough mold to pour. You have to remember to always build up small “walls” or a barrier of Play-Doh at the edges, to keep the cast at a desirable thickness.

I knew of others who were able to make almost exact replicas using silicone, which I had my mind set on doing. This silicone is a two-part mix, the white base and the violet catalyst. It mixes one part of catalyst to ten parts base, by weight. The base is very thick, almost like honey. When you add the catalyst, it thins it the mixture out enough to be workable.

I decided to start with John Green’s “Onion Mountain” cast, originally taken in California in 1967. (Fig. 1)

Figure 1. The original track cast.

There is a question as to whether there are in fact dermal ridges in this cast, or if they are in fact “casting artifacts.” However, this is another story or discussion in itself.