best material for porcelain appearance

[efarley]

I'm thinking about going to wizard world Portland dressed as "The Speaker" from the upcoming game Destiny. I saw him during the cut scene on the beta and fell in love with the design.

Now I'm trying to decided what material I should use for his mask which has a very smooth glossy look like porcelain. I've done a clay sculpt and a polyurethane cast before which looked great. However it's very time consuming and that's not something I have a ton of. I'm thinking I might try Eva foam but I'm unsure if I can get that super smooth glossy effect with foam.

What materials would you guys suggest I look into for his mask?

Also if anyone has any ideas about how I can see out of the thing that would be fantastic, the little slits will work but provide very limited field of vision lol

 

[42andeverything]

You might try doing a base out of something stiff like paper mache and covering it with cold porcelain. It's an air-dry clay that's basically a mix of cornstarch and PVA glue which dries to look very much like porcelain. I've never worked with before so I can't speak to its durability, but you can make it at home and it's extremely cheap.

 

[Inkspot]

Another option is possibly a 3D print if you have access to one, or know someone you would be able to reach out to. ( However I realize this can be quite pricey unfortunately.) ABS is another potential option as well, yet again this is also pricey, and potentially hard to get ahold of the equipment. I am not sure what you have, 42andeverything has a great idea. I think that would give you the look you are after without all of the cost, or time.

Unfortunately as far as the slits go, I have no ideas.

This looks like a very fun build and I look forward to seeing your progress. :]

 

[Shipwrek]

It can also be done in finishing. The material underneath could matter less (so long as your finish materials are compatible) as your painting and clear coating. Try different paints and clear coating and maybe call a few places. Most professionsal paint sales places have people who know what products can do what. Auto body supply shops may be more what your looking for if you want a deep colour depth and shine. Hope you find something that works!

 

[efarley]

I'll definitely check out cold porcelain. I was leaning toward eva with auto body paint (I've painted cars before so I'm very familiar with it's properties) I'm just concerned because when I've seen foam armor up close it always looks like, well foam not a hard porcelain, plastic or metal like I want.

 

[DRG]

I'd say look into Xrobot's plastic coating method. Also there have been some good results with rondo on foam on this site, which might be up your alley since you have auto body experience.