Well, after the initial fitting and adding the silicone padding and tweaking my check socket a little bit, I filled it with plaster and set about creating a new mold to base my final socket on. After getting the new mold as smooth as possible, I pulled a really flexible material over it to create an inner liner for the final socket. It is thin and easy to manipulate and goes inside the final socket. This provides more freedom and definitely more comfort, mainly at the top of the socket where it meets the skin. It enables me to lower the trim lines of the hard outer socket and provides the patient with the same amount of support, but with more flexibility. We treated this inner liner the same as any other socket made out of plastic and had to cut it off the mold once it cooled. I left the flexible inner liner on the socket because the next step was to laminate the socket to create a hard and durable outer socket. We have only done this one other time this semester and I feel like that was ages ago so it seemed a little bit intimidating!! We were also encouraged to use fun fabrics in our laminations this time because it is our final big project and the one that most people take home with them as a little souvenir.
You will be shocked to find out that I chose to use an Indian themed fabric print for my socket :) It was total coincidence that this was one of the fabrics that happened to be at school and I actually really thought it was cool looking and different. Laminating is always a crazy time, you only have a certain number of minutes before the resin you pour into the bag over the socket gets hard and there is a lot to remember. I took the original mold with the flexible inner liner over it and then there was a long set-up process involved to get it to the point of lamination. I used a different fabric print on my first layer, so when you look down into the socket, it is also patterned. Then we alternated between nylon and fiberglass (for strength and support) until we had 6 layers of nylon and 3 layers of fiberglass before adding the final outer layer of pattern. Once it is set up and ready to go, mix the resin and then pull a bag down over the socket. You pour the resin into the bag using a funnel and draw it down into the bag with a string or your hands...once it covers the entire socket, you just have to sit back and wait and let it get hot and then set off and get hard. Seems fairly straight forward, right??
The room is always a little nuts and a lot crowded when everyone is trying to get their socket laminated at the same time before the end of the day deadline...this always makes things a little more stressful for me, but I have to remember that in real life, I will not be competing for space with 17 other students! Almost everyone managed to get their sockets laminated and done by the end of the day - always a huge relief for me when I make the deadline...makes going into the next day so much easier and less stressful.
Respirators are a must when you are laminating - fumes and whatnot...I think it certainly does not hurt to protect all of my insides! And like I have mentioned before, they just look so dang good on me :) Now that the lamination is done and complete, I just had to wait for it to set off and then the next step in the process is to trim out the socket and smooth it down and get my flexible inner liner out and smoothed as well. Once those two things are done, it is time to gunk and attach my knee and feet and hope my patient can walk in this leg!! If he cannot...at least it looks really cool and gives off an air of peacefulness and harmony. I figured a few meditating gods on the socket could only help me in having a good patient visit on the next day! 
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