Customer Reviews

Child to Cherish Handprints Tower Of Time Kit in Pink

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Such a great keepsake idea! Being able to duplicate my daughter's little handprint for her first 5 years is wonderful and will definitely be something I can look back on and also share with her when she's older. I only give it 4 stars because I found the plaster to be very difficult to work with. I knew going into it it'd be messy but trying to get a good handprint took a LONG time. The instructions say once you pour the plaster into the tin to immediately attempt an imprint...good luck with that! I didn't even use all the plaster (per a recommendation in the directions) and it was still a very sticky consistency. I tried several times to imprint my daughter's hand but each time I pulled her hand away, the mixture came with it and I was left with a horrible elevated blob. Ready to give up, and tired of pushing her little hand into the mess over and over, then washing her hand over and over, I ended up just letting the plaster-filled tin sit on the counter for about 20 minutes until it got firmer, almost like a damp clay. I pressed her hand in for one last attempt and it actually came out really nice! At least I'll know what to expect when she turns 2 and we do it all over again. I would recommend this to everyone, but just be aware what you're in for especially if you've never worked with plaster before.

I received the first set as a baby shower gift for my boy - some 5 years ago now. Bought a second one for my second son - one year left to do. Grandma jumped right in and bought this for my daughter who is turning one soon. The process is simple enough. I did find at first it took several tries to get the consistency correct, but was easy enough to fix. The biggest challenge came with getting the toddlers to coorperate... found those couple of years, with some help, naptime was a good time to make the handprints. My boys would sleep right through the "procedure"...

You definately need to let the plaster set up a bit so that it's easier to work with, especially with the one year olds, they tend to want to grab the plaster instead of laying their hands flat. But the tins stack very nicely and have a place in the lid to put the childs name and date.

This kit comes with five round tins with plastic bags containing pre-measured plaster of paris. For each tin, you mix a certain amount of water (1/4 cup for the 1 year tin) with most of the supplied plaster to achieve a "toothpaste like" consistency. Then you pour that into the tin, press your child's hand in, and you're supposed to wind up with a beautiful imprint to treasure.

Instead, when you follow the directions you wind up with a stick, blobby mess that could be your child's handprint, or might be an interpretive sculpture of a lunar crater, or might just be what's left in the bottom of a bucket of plaster after doing some wall repair. We tried doing what other reviewers suggested: repeatedly taking imprints as the plaster dried a bit; varying the initial consistency (taking the year 2 tin's plaster supply after scraping out the quickly drying failure we achieved with the year 1 supply); and finally even oiling our child's hand before the imprint. All attempts failed to produce anything other that an unpleasing, lumpy mess.

If you plan on using this kit, I suggest going to an art supply store first, getting some plaster of paris, and spending some time learning to work with it. I'm sure you'll then be able to match the results pictured on the product's web page. But then, if you do that, you don't need this kit.

In sum, this product is worthless. Don't buy it for yourself, and certainly don't buy it as a gift.

We have one for each child. They are fun to go back and look at. Relatively easy to do (we use Pam to make the kids hands not stick before the impression).

I am sure that some people were successful with this, however I was massively disappointed! The directions say to tap the tin on a table to level it and then put your child's hand in... in the 30 seconds it took me to tap/level the plaster, it hardened to the point that it wasn't smooth and I couldn't put my daughter's hand in it. And the only option (since it can't be re-moistened) is to send it back to the Child to Cherish company AND pay $5 to have new plaster shipped to you, or buy new plaster. Total ripoff and waste of time/money. Very disappointed.

Very unhappy. I followed the directions to the letter (I do a great deal of baking and I know how to measure ingredients). Water kept rising to the surface of the plaster and my daughter's handpring kept filling in. I just kept trying to get a good impression and the plaster kept sticking to her hand despite a coating of oil, it never created an impression of her hand until finally it was too hard to get any impression at all. By this time I was crying, watching my plans for my husband's first Father's Day gift float away as a dismal failure. To the company that makes this product I have to ask if this medium is the best possible choice for getting a predictably good result.

This is great to have -- my four year old now marvels at the fact that his hand once was so small. It's a great present but may be a better gift for parents who likes to stay on top of things. It turns out to be a waste when parents forget to do it every year.

I was looking all over for a way to make my daughter's handprint in a way that would be easy to keep. My friend found this for me and I love it. I am going to get one for my neice for her 1st bithday. I didn't find the plaster hard to work with at all. I did use all of the mix, and it wasn't sticky for me. I had to redo the imprint a few times because she wouldn't lay her hand flat. All I had to do was tap the tin on the counter and the plaster smoothed out. I think it will be fun for her to look back at how much her little hand changed over the course of 5 years.

A perfect baby or first birthday gift. I received two myself as gifts. I just finished one for my 5 year-old. The last handprint. :(
Perfect packaging, fast shipping.