Construction - Mask
Before I begin...Special thanks go out to the folks over at Studio Creations. Their tutorial on making an Evil Ash is just great. And is the basis for how I did my Yuuzhan Vong mask.
The first thing that had to be done was I needed a bust of my head to sculpt on. After doing some research of life casting (i.e. Google) I purchased a 2lb bucket of MoldGel - SloSet Alginate from Life Casting. I then had my friend Tom come over and proceed to cover me in the goo. Note: if you are doing this for the first time, DO NOT expect it to come out perfectly, because it won't.
The basic process for making a mold like this is as follows (do more research on this before actually attempting it, this is not a comprehensive set of instructions.)
- Prepare EVERYTHING before hand. You will not get a chance to run around looking for some random thing in the middle of this.
- Do a few dry runs. Practice makes perfect. (But expect the unimaginable to occur)
- Have some music playing, as the victim...er model will be sitting still for quite some time. It'll help relax most people.
- Mix the Mold gel.
- Apply quickly (will only take 5 minutes from the moment you start mixing it)
- Cover one half of the head with plaster mesh strips and let dry.
- Cover the other of the head and let dry (remember to leave a seam between the two halves, or else your subject will look like this forever!)(Also don't forget air holes. I used several tubes to keep gunk away from my mouth and breathed through them.)
- Crack open the two halves and remove the back.
- Cut a slit in the now set Mold gel to allow the model to remove their head.
- Bring the two halves back together.
- Fill with plaster.
Voila! You should now have a perfectly detailed bust of your model's head. Did mine work out? Hell no. The Mold Gel was lumpy and dried too quickly and was basically unusable. The resulting head bust made from the two plaster mesh halves was not very detailed and had to be shaped and re-shaped.
After I had my head smoothed out, and placed on a rotating platform it was time to begin sculpting the face.
I placed about a quarter of an inch layer of clay over the whole head to allow for shrinkage of the latex mask. Then came the creative bit. I used all the images of the Yuuzhan Vong I could find in order to come up with some sort of mid point in the design. I think it turned out ok, especially for my first time doing it. (You'll hear that phrase a lot as you browse this site because this costume really did test my abilities to their limits (and beyond)).
Luckily, my head bust was detailed enough that I could accurately line up my own eyes with the mask's sculpt. Believe it or not that is a very important feature when creating a mask like this. Everyone's head is shaped slightly differently. Had I done this on a generic head it would not have come out even remotely close to what it did.
Sculpting the head took about a month. I used as many varied images of Yuuzhan Vong heads to create the general look and then when back to do the detailed work like scars, skin texture, tattoo lines, etc. As the descriptions in the book can be vague and the official images vary I knew I had a bit of creative license with this project. However, I still had to make the mask believable. I used oil based clay because it does not dry out. That allowed me to return to my work over and over and make adjustments as needed. I found that vaseline could be mixed with the clay to smooth ridges and surfaces, as well as make the clay more pliable. (For all you chemists out there this should have been obvious as vaseline is petroleum based. Petroleum = oil. Oil based clay...yeah you got it.)
After the sculpting was done and I was satisfied then came the plaster casting. I'm going to gloss over the steps here. As I've said before this site is not designed to be an in depth tutorial.
- Give your sculpture and very thin glaze of vaseline. (Be sure not to blend out any detail work) This will reduce the plaster from sticking to the clay and make clean up easier.
- Your plaster negative needs to be split into two halves. This will create a seam. Choose an area that's not too conspicuous. (Seams are hard to get out)
- Place earth clay in a barrier across your seam. The earth clay won't stick you the sculpting clay and will be a solid dam for the wet plaster, thus giving you a molded seam. I added dimples so the two halves would be keyed to each other.
- Mix your plaster. the first layer should be watery. Paint this on with a soft brush. Or even pour it on (beware of bubbles!). This will be the layer that captures all the fine details of your mask. Fill in all the cracks!
- Continue covering the one half of your clay sculpt. I recommend adding some plaster mesh strips for strength. You'll want about an inch of plaster when you're done.
- When the first half is done and totally dry, remove the earth clay barrier. Smear some move vaseline on the plaster ridge left behind. If you don't the two halves will stick to each other and you'll never get them apart.
- Now repeat steps 4 through 5 on the back half.
- When everything is dry you can begin to crack open the negative plaster mold. Beware! This must be done slowly and carefully. Also do not expect your clay sculpter to come out of this unscathed. It will be damaged. If you love it too much take lots of pics (or 3D laser scanning as your budget permits)
- If all has gone well you should have two halves of a mold without too much waste clay inside. Watch for broken plaster details. You can glue these back in place, but not if they've been pulverized.
Next comes the latex. Most latex tutorials have you sealing up the negative mold and pouring in latex. I did mine a little differently. I used a mold builder latex and brushed on the latex in thin layers.
Latex is basically rubber in a water base. To dry it out you need lots of free flowing air to carry away the moisture. But free flowing air is difficult to come by inside a bucket (which is what your negative mold is). This is why: 1. The mold must be clean of all clay and vaseline (vaseline will eat the latex). The plaster of the mold will suck up moisture. 2. Each layer of latex must be completely dry before the next is put on. Otherwise you will have pockets of liquid latex trapped inside the wall of your mask.
Once I had put sufficient layers of latex into the mold, I began to strengthen it by pasting strips of cheese cloth inside with more latex. This has a similar effect to putting rebarb inside concrete, and was very effective in maintaining facial structure. If you want a flexible mask don't do this. (And make sure you smooth over the cheesecloth with more latex. Otherwise the effect is similar to heavy duty sandpaper on your face.)(BTW the pics you see above are from when I made my test face. That's why you only see one half of the mold.)
On to painting. Nothing much to see here. I used acrylic paint with some latex mixed in to reduce cracking in the mask. I highly recommend visiting Latex Mask Central. This is where the pros hang out. They have tons of galleries, tutorials, and tips.
So you see the finished product here. For storage I keep my mask on a styrofoam wig holder head covered in a plastic bag.
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