Today’s work.
About 3kg of clay to create a wall as a guide for the plaster and to support the head. About 6kg of plaster. Maybe more… yeah.. it was about 6L of water.
I managed to make this as a one piece mold after all, thank goodness. I was worried about seam flashing and how to support the full mold once made and in two parts… I used my hand as a guide. So long as I can get my hand in the neck opening I’ll be able to clean the clay out and also slush easily once casting begins.
And almost ready to mold. I need to get a brush and tidy some areas and also sharpen some of the wart edges.
I will probably look at this in the morning and redo it all. But for now I am happy to leave this to retexturise tomorrow.
Spot (hah!) the difference? Shifting those suckers (hah!!) involved scraping the tops off then smooshing the clay back and then retexturing that half of the scalp. Which is textured differently to the warts which is different to the scales…
The bottom photos show the top fin and ear folds. The fins are still there, the folds not. I need to find my test mandibles and pin them in place to make sure they are placed just so.
@masseffect Nyreen test cast. The jaw still needs to be freed but yay! The thickness of the latex over the nose and brow ridge mean she holds hape even over my pointy nose! You can see how far her lower face sticks out though.
I’ll be resculpting the mandibles as they are a tad too wide (by barely 3mm) on the under side and the pointy ends are about 5mm too long. Looks fine with a cut edge but it looks better with a molded edge.
So, very hapy with how she is going:)
Sorry the mirror has paint on it and my workroom is cluttered. Play spot the past project in the background though 😉 Asari head butts lined up….While I was picking the Pros-Aide off of my face earlier today, I mentioned to Alyssa that a really awesome Nyreen costume would make me drag Aria out for another photoshoot … and then I discovered this beautiful (test!!!) cast.
hnnnnnnnnng
a;lskdfjapwoeirja;sldkfja;sldkjfaweproaisjdf;alksdjf
Can I please do this shoot? I will fly wherever I need to go. PLEASE.
So this is why I suddenly see lots of reblogs 😉 Many many apple-ogies for the bad photos!
Funnily enough I just dragged myself out to the workroom today (it’s summer and humid as heck in NZ at the moment-clay is melty so goes from great to bad to work with) and started work on the warty skull cap 😉
Okay I think I have mentally designated them sensory cell clusters and left it at that 😉 The larger ones for subsonic the smaller for ultrasonic vibrations.. I don’t know! She has a series of pangolan style scales down the back too, Turian biology is crazy 😉
So I’ll figure a way to get the next round of piccies up tonight 🙂
A head cast requires at least two people and the person having the cast made 🙂 And money for the good alginate (plaster heats up very quickly and is not recommend for a full face/head cast.)
I did recently do the tour at Weta Cave (small window into the workshop, omg the CNC machines which are all handbuilt…..) and spoke with well… everyone. 😉 But one artist said what I was doing was fine 🙂 You do need to be able to think in 3D shapes and take your own measurements pretty well.
I’ve been sculpting since I was a kid. Mainly elfy type creatures and then again a few realistic and a few poupee types. So you can in fact make a sculpture taking all that in to account. Even sculpt it underneath in a different coloured clay.
Were it to be a foam piece I would have definitely waited until I had a cast. To mold and cure foam latex you really do need a mold that holds the final shape. With foam that really means having a backing that will match the final shape it will be adhered to.
As she is slip cast I have a little more freedom as I can glue in foam (urethane either cut from sheets or a low shorw two part urethane- which is incredibly fiddly and requires perfect environmental factors for it to go off with good cell structure).
Before the mold dies completely I’m going to cast her in a semi rigid urethane so I can have a permanent display piece 🙂 I’m currently prepping my Asari molds for the last four or five casts I can really get out of them and will do the same. I have my Samara and Liara tentacles for display but I’d like another set that will never degrade;)
For my next project, the Silurian Madame Vastra I will have to have a head cast. Preferably my own because the scales are so very delicate and fine and blend so closely to the eyes. I would ideally then cast them in foam latex and use a mix of paints and gloss to get that lovely rigid scale look. I’m pretty sure the originals are foam latex based on how the pieces move.
I do have a back up plan in case I am unable to deal with a head cast (I am very very claustrophobic and do not cope with restricted breathing- this is why you need two helpers to make it go faster and also so there is always someone able to help you breathe/understand what is going on.)
BTW I have made gelatin, slip latex and silicon appliances. All have they pros and cons. Some are more delicate (encapsulated silicon which I haven’t done) some are easier to apply some look great except where glued (slip cast latex, sigh). It’s fun to try out each kind (highly recommend gelatin for those at home and who can do small partial face casts! The molds do eventually go moldy ditto with the casts but they are cheap and beautifully translucent).
So long wall of text is long 😉 But there are ways around a lot of issues with not having a full range of kit but it does take extra work and practice. And I am most definitely getting a head cast asap. But after my sinuses and glands have de-swollen. I really don’t need them captured forever 😉
A head cast requires at least two people and the person having the cast made 🙂 And money for the good alginate (plaster heats up very quickly and is not recommend for a full face/head cast.)
I did recently do the tour at Weta Cave (small window into the workshop, omg the CNC machines which are all handbuilt…..) and spoke with well… everyone. 😉 But one artist said what I was doing was fine 🙂 You do need to be able to think in 3D shapes and take your own measurements pretty well.
I’ve been sculpting since I was a kid. Mainly elfy type creatures and then again a few realistic and a few poupee types. So you can in fact make a sculpture taking all that in to account. Even sculpt it underneath in a different coloured clay.
Were it to be a foam piece I would have definitely waited until I had a cast. To mold and cure foam latex you really do need a mold that holds the final shape. With foam that really means having a backing that will match the final shape it will be adhered to.
As she is slip cast I have a little more freedom as I can glue in foam (urethane either cut from sheets or a low shorw two part urethane- which is incredibly fiddly and requires perfect environmental factors for it to go off with good cell structure).
Before the mold dies completely I’m going to cast her in a semi rigid urethane so I can have a permanent display piece 🙂 I’m currently prepping my Asari molds for the last four or five casts I can really get out of them and will do the same. I have my Samara and Liara tentacles for display but I’d like another set that will never degrade;)
For my next project, the Silurian Madame Vastra I will have to have a head cast. Preferably my own because the scales are so very delicate and fine and blend so closely to the eyes. I would ideally then cast them in foam latex and use a mix of paints and gloss to get that lovely rigid scale look. I’m pretty sure the originals are foam latex based on how the pieces move.
I do have a back up plan in case I am unable to deal with a head cast (I am very very claustrophobic and do not cope with restricted breathing- this is why you need two helpers to make it go faster and also so there is always someone able to help you breathe/understand what is going on.)
BTW I have made gelatin, slip latex and silicon appliances. All have they pros and cons. Some are more delicate (encapsulated silicon which I haven’t done) some are easier to apply some look great except where glued (slip cast latex, sigh). It’s fun to try out each kind (highly recommend gelatin for those at home and who can do small partial face casts! The molds do eventually go moldy ditto with the casts but they are cheap and beautifully translucent).
So long wall of text is long 😉 But there are ways around a lot of issues with not having a full range of kit but it does take extra work and practice. And I am most definitely getting a head cast asap. But after my sinuses and glands have de-swollen. I really don’t need them captured forever 😉
@masseffect Nyreen test cast. The jaw still needs to be freed but yay! The thickness of the latex over the nose and brow ridge mean she holds hape even over my pointy nose! You can see how far her lower face sticks out though.
I’ll be resculpting the mandibles as they are a tad too wide (by barely 3mm) on the under side and the pointy ends are about 5mm too long. Looks fine with a cut edge but it looks better with a molded edge.
So, very hapy with how she is going:)
Sorry the mirror has paint on it and my workroom is cluttered. Play spot the past project in the background though 😉 Asari head butts lined up….
Nyreen prepped for molding.
So my photo of her front on didn’t actually happen, yay camera phone for randomly not working!
You can see how I built up the back of the head a bit, once molded I’ll put a thin layer over that to create the ridges as a separate piece.
Pretty happy with this. You may be able to spot some other changes to proportions. Those wings have been removed entirely and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they matched just by eye. I do test for symmetry regularly but also as an organic form some asymmetry helps keep it looking real. But you need to find that balance between being real and being lazy 😉