Model/Props Making - Final session!

This session was my final chance to cast from my mould and work on the rest of my pieces from the short course.

 

I started the session with casting in latex and expanding foam! This is something I was incredibly interested in doing with my mould as I wanted to try and create a prosthetic style mask with enough rigidity to hold its form and be able to last for a run of performances.

To start, I used a small amount of liquid latex (after spilling a fair bit down myself) to put a two thin coats of liquid latex inside the mould, drying it under the hand drier between coats. After covering a board to go over the mould in a thin layer of vaseline to stop the foam from sticking, I then had to mix the expanding foam. This was a fascinating process but had to be done incredibly quickly and so I did not manage to get any photos unfortunately. To make the expanding foam mix I had to use a two to one ratio of the foam to the catalyst, I then had about 8 seconds to mix it thoroughly before pouring it into mould and covering it with the board.

 

 

I then went back to the fibre glass version while I waited for the expanding foam to propperly set - while it is very fast I wanted to use all the time in the session to get as much as I possibly could done.

 

 

In going back to the fibre glass version, I got the chance to use my new favourite piece of workshop equiptment - the industrual sander! With this I managed to get all the edges sanded down beautifully in just 10 minutes, with the exception of a couple of interior sections that need cutting out. After this I got some wire wool and buffed the rest of the surface.

 

 

 Here it is in the sun, buffed and polished and held up against the wall in the sunlight (the photo has come up dark because of the glare coming off the shinier parts and the camera compensating for it) you can still see a lot of the detailing though despite the glare, and more so on the photo below!

 

 And here they are together - the copper fibre glass version and the silicone version! Just after this photo I cut out the eye holes and scooped a face shape out of the back, it needs tidying and painting before it can be propperly worn, but overall pretty proud of it and not a bad start to props and model making all in all!