Two part Ultra-Cal mold help

Tesseract

New Member
I'm casting hand prosthetic for my shoot this weekend and wanted to know the best method for casting them. They're to be gloves that go over the actress' hands and the sculpts are 8" tall x 5.5" wide; there are two methods I've seen and wanted to know the best for my project.
I prefer the method used in the ligthsaber video since it doesn't involve me jamming sheet metal into the clay. Buuuut...which do you think? I used WED clay (EM-217) to sculpt and will be casting in RD-407 mask latex, the mold itself would be from Ultra-30. I'm including photos of the sculpt and link to the videos. Thanks guys.


1.JPG


This is the lightsaber casting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEVi0mEaJJQ

And this is the predator Mask sculpt video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8hYA0zV4qI
 
Well you don't want to go the route tested does, latex doesn't do well in silicone.

If your mold is going to be Ultra-cal, I would assume all you need to do is put your cast of your actress' hands (the positive) into your mold of your sculpt (the negative) and have the latex fill the cavity. I've not worked with mask latex so I'm not sure if it needs to be baked to cure. In any case, this sounds like a question for @Mr Mold Maker
 
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear!

For starters I'm assuming you have an armature under the clay, correct? Your best bet would be a simple two piece mold.. same theory as in the tested video, just with a hand instead of a lightsaber and Ultracal instead of silicone. You'll want to make sure you seal the piece adequately with crystal clear. What this does is creates a thin plastic film on your sculpture. It will help provide protection from the mold wall and mold making process. Lay the piece down, make a wall, and make the first half. Flip it over, remove the clay wall, release the stone so the halves don't stick together, and repeat.

To make it as simple as possible, I would recommend you watch part 3 and 4 of this video for the basic concepts. I know it can be difficult to understand over text. https://youtu.be/HJFu5atOpSY

You also seem to have your terms mixed up a little. Molding is the process in which you make a negative (the mold) of the piece to later cast a positive (the casting, or in this case, prosthetic). Casting is when you "cast" or pour material (latex) into the negative (Ultracal mold) to pull a positive (latex prosthetic). I hope that makes sense.

@PoopaPapaPalps If you're interested in the latex casting process, our friends at Tested actually cover that too! Skip to about the 8:00 mark. https://youtu.be/ZY6k6foXEN8
 
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@PoopaPapaPalps If you're interested in the latex casting process, our friends at Tested actually cover that too! Skip to about the 8:00 mark. https://youtu.be/ZY6k6foXEN8

I fiddle with doing prosthetic work from time to time, but nothing complex, and so far I've only played with regular ol' liquid latex. Foam latex and mask latex and everything in between is still out of my reach at the moment. The work associated with making good pieces, and all the investment that goes with it, intimidates me but it is something I'd like to try my hand at more in future.

Baby steps, I guess.
 
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