seeking advice on building fake snow sculptures

[Damianzuch]

Hi all,

I'm making a series of life sized figures for a show; they are meant to look like they have been carved from packed snow. The designer has purchased mannequins and would like me to sort out a way to make the clothing stay rigid and the final scenic coat to look like snow. I'm seeking your thoughts and ideas, here's what I have so far:

1) wrap blanket foam and chicken wire around the arms,legs and torso and then put the clothes on the mannequin, cover the clothes in epoxy resin or fiberglass.
2) same as above but use FGR Hydrocal 50 instead of resins.
3) expandable spray foam the body and then carve back to sculpt the clothes.
4) return the mannequins and carve the whole figure out of foam blocks.
5) for the final texture coat use spray glue and flocking

If you have better ideas, tricks or techniques I would love to hear them please!

Many thanks,

Damian.

 

[redbear555]

I have tried a variety of techniques and sorry to say I don't have any good photos to show you of my results.

I would dress the manikins in clothing of choice. One realistic technique for stiffening the clothes is a coating of Elmer's White Glue thinned a bit with water with a transparent mix of white and light blue acrylics mixed in. If you have a fan or blowdryer this will speed the drying process. You can even bend and crack it after thorough drying. If you want to use plaster I would use regular Plaster of Paris due to cheapness and quick set up time.

(There is a material called "Water Glass" which is a silica carbonate compound that dries clear like ice available at chemical supply house.
Clear resin is also a good choice but can be expensive for ice effect.)

You can use the Touch N' Foam expanding urethane foam available at home improvement stores. A heavy look will require a buildup of expanding urethane foam - shape carefully as it is about to set with texture pads or torn up sponges. Color with appropriate scheme as the urethane does not dry pure white.

A good icy/frozen paint scheme that I have used is a light blue paint mixed with pearlescent paint that dries clear and has a glittery suspension - I use Ceramcoat brand acrylics for this and brush on. Various names come to mind like Icy Blue Glaze. Other glitter colors available from Createx for airbrushing. Use powdered tempera of light blue and white mixed with talc for a powdery snow effect. I test the colors on the back of my hand before I buy them. Experiment on scraps of cloth draped over rigid foam blocks.

 

[amfx74]

I agree, thinned white glue works brialliantly. I use it on miniatures, also works great mixed with sand, or any crystal products. Just mix it with the crushed products and it will dry hard and solid. You could mix in polystyrene, micro ballons, talc, glitter, crushed urethane.

Hot glue can work well for icicle effects as does 5 minute epoxy adhesive.

 

[El Duderino]

Buy that fake snow in a can.

 

[woodman]

powdered starch for clothing mixed very strong will give you a completely stiff as a board result. you can mix up a bucket full and dip them and dress the figure then hair dry it to full stiffness. I use spray can Xmas snow for my Kurt Russell costume from the Thing and the effect is perfect.

 

[v3d]

Open cell styrofoam looks very much like snow. And it' very easy to carve.