Aloha,
I have been trying to get an imprint (with alginate) of my daughter hand for a Christmas ornament. I would like it to be heart shape. I am not sure on what kind of bowl to use and should the consistency of the alginate be more thick than when you take a full mold of the hand. I will be using hydrocal as the medium. I am a novice at life casting and have take a few successful hand and foot impressions. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Mahalo

Much depends on how old your daughter is. After 6 months old they'll want to grab the alginate. and they won't want to sit still until they're probably about 6 years old. To reduce the amount of time needed first mix a small amount and just time it to see how long it takes for it to start setting up. When you mix the batch that you'll use for the actual mold wait until about 30 seconds before it starts to set up to put the hand in. Then the child doesn't have to remain still for so long.