To mould or not to mould

An update on the creepy chap is in order.

I finished off the sculpting. He just needed a neck and a bit of cleaning up.

Now it was time to make the mould. I made the base using Klean Klay as usual then hot glued the acrylic walls together making sure there was not gaps for leaks. I also wanted to try out a technique I had seen in Nick Hilligos's videos where he puts some wire in the eyes so that when you come to cast in silicone you have great registration spots and don't have mess about trying to line them up in the mold or attaching them to your head armature.

One thing I did notice whilst investigating the sculpture was that there is a few spots on it that are going inwards quite deeply such as the holes in the nostrils and a few spots around the eyes and inside the mouth. This has made me a bit cautious that when making the mould out of plaster that it would leave these parts very weak and will most likely break when pulling out the sculpture and even when pulling the cast out.
This has led me to investigate some harder and more durable mould materials and started a quest for finding out what the professional studios use.  this has proven quite a difficult task. Mackinnon and Saunders have told me that they use something called 'Formite' which is a mix of aluminium powder and epoxy resin and can be baked even for casting foam latex. I need to contact them again as I'm having a bit of a hard time sourcing on the internet. I also have been in contact with on e of the head model makers at Aardman to find out what they use. I'm still waiting on this info but hopefully it will be easier to find an online seller for it.

So this creepy chap will have to wait until my quest of the mould is complete!