Face mask made with cheap plaster bandages...Oh and vaseline. Lots of vaseline.
My work space!
Rough clay sculpt with lines of detail drawn in. These will be where I build up with more clay.
I added standard sized units of measurement where the horns will be glued in seperately. (tp rolls FTW!)
Smoothed surface with brush for fine detail sculpting later.
Tonights progress. Got the really big details in. Will hone it from here as long as my interest keeps up.
I will be sculpting the horns seperatly and glueing them into position later.
Detail losely drawn on will be smoothed out with a brush. For this mask I want big deep details that paint can settle into.
Drawn details smoothed out with brush.
Filled in sockets and horn holes in preparation for casting.
Before the crystal clear coat.
After the crystal clear coat. Shiny! This protects the silicone from anything in the clay that might prevent the silicone from curing properly.
Part A silicone measuring. So thick, this took 15 minutes!
Part B pouring. I got annoyed and tried to speed things up by scraping part B out with a stick. It helped.
Using a big disposeable brush I applied the face coat to the model.
It's 1 am and I am drunk trying to pour a plaster mold and document the process. See, can't be that hard!
I made a clay dam with nobs punched in with the back of a brush to make a two part mother mold with registers. The nobs keep the mold in the right place when put together later.
Plaster hasn't begun to set so is quite liquidy!
I ran out of plaster on this half, so need to pick up more.
Second half of mould poured using plaster of paris because I ran out of hydrocal. Plaster is plaster on a mother mold so it doesn't matter much.
I popped the mold off my lazy susan and am digging out the clay. The original sculpture is destroyed.
Pulling the silicone off the sculpt. You can see the face has been torn apart.
Empty mother mold. Two parts separated. I used vaseline on the parting line to make sure they didn't bond together.
Half of the original sculpt came out perfectly. I chucked it in the trash can. This sounds insane, but I've got a great mold to make an army of these!
I'm slush casting using a fast curing plastic, Smooth-Cast 300
I've been rocking the mold to coat it with plastic. This will make a light weight hollow casting. Great for masks!
Pulling off the silicone mold. It's very flexible and can be reused many times!
Unsafe! Poking out the eye holes. I will sand them smooth later.
Rawr!
Yes, I poured a casting in my pajamas. I don't recommend this!
Time to prep this baby! I need to cut out the eye holes, horn holes, trim flashing, and smooth off sharp parts. I shall use my dremel!
To cut out large holes drill lots of tiny holes to make it easier.
I used the circular sander bit to cut through the tiny holes easily. If I hadn't made those little holes this would have been really hard.
drilling little holes between teeth where I want bigger holes to help ventilate my face.
Grinding down the eye holes into the shape I want and also sanding the edges so they don't poke me.
More shaping of the eye holes.
I'm sanding the horn holes until my toilet paper tube can slide into them snugly. This way the horns I sculpt will fit in place.
I will cut some cardboard out to use as a template for the horns.
I just drew some shapes on the cardboard until I got a horn I liked best.
After cutting out the shape I lay it in place to double check that I like what it looks like.
Time to prepare my template to sculpt on.
I duct taped wire and some extra cardboard to the horn template for support. Armature wire is really important!
Rechecking my shape to make sure I still like it. I crammed the end of the armature wire into a cardboard tube and also put newspaper in the tube for stability.
I coat the template in foil to protect the cardboard from moisture. Wet cardboard isn't very sturdy and the horn wouldn't stay in shape.
I put clay on the surface and roughed in some lines.
Horn after being smoothed with a coarse brush.
I drew in some dimples to give the horn more texture.
More details drawn in, lots of little cracks.
Details smoothed with a fine brush.
I stuck my horn to the board with plaster. Then I sprayed crystal clear on it. Now I'm coating it with silicone mold rubber.
To make good plaster dump in plenty until a little hill forms and won't go away. Let this soak up water for a moment and then mix it with your hand.
I've built a clay dam with registration marks to pour my plaster onto.
Clay dam and model covered in plaster. Side 1 complete!
I smoothed out the plaster while it was still wet enough to work with.
I took off all the clay and flipped the model over. I will coat side A with vaseline so the next plaster part doesn't weld itself to the first.
As you work have tiny molds around to pour extra plastic into. Conserve!
Two halves of mother mold separated.
I'm cutting the silicone open with scissors to take out my model. Silicone seals up pretty well and is flexible so I can do it this way.
I've rubber banded and duct taped my molds back together. Time to cast!
I did 3 layers of slushing and then popped out my first horn. So happy! I was really worried this wouldn't work well.
Because of the cast part of the toilet paper tube my horn sticks in the head perfectly!
Also, I can swivel the horns around any way I like to make lots of different looking masks.
I used a 2 part epoxy to fill the gaps and affix the horn to the socket. Initially I put super glue in the gap to keep the horns in place while I epoxied.
I haven't trimmed the back of the horns yet. They poke my forehead. Ow...
PINK!
Added a layer of brown and blackened nose hole.
Added black striping.
Added a layer of light pink to the jaw.
Bringing in a thin grey layer to knock back color. Color still shows through and gives it something extra.
Added thicker grey color.
Added a thin layer of brown.
Added a black dry brush coat.
Painted teeth yellow with white tips.
Added brown grime to teeth.
RAWR!
Straps made of velcro and elastic attached with 2 part 5 minute liquid epoxy.
I taped in some foam bits to make the mask a little more comfortable and sit just the way I want.
Rawer...
Adding light up eyes with LEDs.
I taped the wires together to make sure everything is working the way it should be.
The tape isn't quite cutting it to keep the batteries and wires together. I'm holding it with my fingers to light it.
Good ol' metal clip is keeping my batteries in place now. I'm using two 3v lithium batteries.
The back of the LED has been painted black to keep light from shining in my eyes.
I've epoxied the wire to the mask to hold everything in place. The batteries, on/off switch, and extra wire are tucked into the horns.
I cut off some sturdier foam and am glueing it into the mask. This lets me breath better by holding the mask away from my face, keeps the mask in place, and keeps the eye sockets a good length away from my eyes so I won't get poked.
