Sunday 27 March 2011

Mold making

I finally got the time time to make the mold for the head I posted previously. I wanted to try making the mold slightly different as the way I did it before is a little tedious with taping copious amounts of cardboard around it so this time I thought I'd try out a way I had seen in a few videos on you tube.

Instead of cardboard for the mold walls I used small sheets of perspex and sealed the corners with a glue gun.




This actually worked out great! I would like to make a mold properly, like how Ron Cole does his or how Kathi Zung shows you how to do it on her Dvd but I really don't have the space to get that messy. So this way will have to do for the moment.

I also would really like to try out a different material like the same material that Mackinnon & Saunders use. But i will have to do a bit more research on that to try and find out what it is they actually use as nobody seems to know.

Anyway, The first half of the mold came out great and I was super chuffed at how clean I  managed to get it. Now the second half didn't come out as well which I think could of been for two reasons
1. Too much plaster in the mix or 2. Not enough petroleum jelly for mold release

This resulted in some of the mold breaking inside and cementing to the other half of the mold. This was not too much of a problem as the mold still closes nice and tight and also the other half is the most important as it is the face of the head.

So all in all not a bad few hours work, it could of been better but could of been a hell of a lot worse. One bonus was that the head came out of the mold without too much damage which means I can strip the face off and reuse it.





I also thought I would do a wee timelapse of the process, just for laughs.

5 comments:

  1. Hey Ben. What you got planned for this head? You gonna give him a body? And what did you sculpt the head from? I scanned through the previous posts but I didn't catch it. Cool time-lapse.

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  2. Easy Dean! I may give him a body at somepoint in the future but he is specifically for practicing facial armatures on, I have kind of sculpted him with this intention. I sculpted him out of Chavant Soft. Tis really nice clay just a bugger to smooth out.
    Hope all is well with you matey!

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  3. Thanks Ben for sharing that. Very useful post. I'm gonna do these steps too in a few days (first time). That's reinforce my confidence, because i have the same match plan.

    I was wondering, what did you put behind the head before doing the first part of your mold ? WED clay ? Supersculpey ?

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  4. Hey Vincent. I'm glad you found it useful!
    I have used Klean Klay as the base for this mold.

    I went on a mad mission to get some imported but then realized that It's very similar to plasticine over here.

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