I have minimal 3-D art experience. When I was younger, I spent some time working with clay, but not enough to claim any skill.

Today I decided to provide an extra set of hands for my friend’s metal casting project, and as a result, I learned a few things.

When casting a sculpture:

1. Make the sculpture you want out of clay first.

2. Construct a watertight box around that sculpture and fill it with plaster. Allow the plaster to solidify in the box entirely.

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3. Once the plaster has hardened, the clay sculpture will provide the negative space to be filled with another medium.

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4. Choose your medium and cast your final sculpture in the plaster mold.

After I helped, I made my own sculpture and plaster mold. You never know when that skill might come in handy.

It is wild how many opportunities for learning entirely new skills surround us every day. All I did today was offer a helping hand and ask a few questions, and I came out of it with a general understanding of how to cast sculptures. Definitely worth it.

The next time someone you know is doing something you are interested in learning, find a way to help them out, and you’ll end up smarter for it.