I'm hopefully going to be getting weight loss surgery within the next 3 months and am hoping to be ready to do body casts for costumes by this time next year. I was wondering if there are any really easy ways to do it. I need to do my head and main body (not so much the arms or legs for most of the costumes i don't think). Then i may use hot glue to make the costume, some sorta of rubber, or vaccuform the armor pieces. I heard you can do it on a dummy your body size but i'm not even sure where to find one. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Body casting questions
- Thread starter Wes R
- Start date
fettster
Sr Member
first off, good luck with the surgery.
a body cast is quite easy, depending on the detail you want it to pick up, i would just use plaster bandages. make sure you ue plenty of nivea or vasaline all over teh body as a release. you want to do a font and a back. lay down the bandage over the front half keeping teh dividing line as neat as possible. i tripple up the bandage and give it 2 layers so essentially its 6 layers of bandage. once its set, put wooden supports across the shoulders, arms and legs.
then put more nivea/vasaline along the dividing line and proceed with the back as you did the front..
when fully set, carefully remove the font and step out of the back.
thats a very brief description and i would search for life casting videos on youtube as there is a wealth of info there
a body cast is quite easy, depending on the detail you want it to pick up, i would just use plaster bandages. make sure you ue plenty of nivea or vasaline all over teh body as a release. you want to do a font and a back. lay down the bandage over the front half keeping teh dividing line as neat as possible. i tripple up the bandage and give it 2 layers so essentially its 6 layers of bandage. once its set, put wooden supports across the shoulders, arms and legs.
then put more nivea/vasaline along the dividing line and proceed with the back as you did the front..
when fully set, carefully remove the font and step out of the back.
thats a very brief description and i would search for life casting videos on youtube as there is a wealth of info there
I hadn't thought of that. I found one tutorial online. Depending on how well i lose weight i may go with a dummy that way i don't have to track down helpers lol. this is mostly going to be for the chest pieces and the heads, i really would rather find a dummy head my size for that plus if its a little big that won't hurt either. I wish i lived closer to the Art Institute in Pittsburgh, they used to always be looking for folks to practice bodycasting on for their one program (well 12 years ago when i was there anyhow).
Riceball
Master Member
For a quick and dirty way of doing a body cast without plaster is to use tape, either duct tape or paper packing tape over either a t-shirt or saran wrap. This is good for making a dressing dummy because it gives you the basic dimensions for low cost and mess at the expense of detail, but this works for something that doesn't require a detailed cast of your body.
For a life cast of your face/head you'll probably want to use something like a dental alganate, like what they use at the dentist, because it's non-toxic and (I think) relatively easy to work with. But you'll definitely need good, reliable help and be prepared for some discomfort because in order to your entire head or face you'll need your entire face or head covered in the alganate and you'll only be able to breathe through straws stuck in your mouth and/or nostrils.
For a life cast of your face/head you'll probably want to use something like a dental alganate, like what they use at the dentist, because it's non-toxic and (I think) relatively easy to work with. But you'll definitely need good, reliable help and be prepared for some discomfort because in order to your entire head or face you'll need your entire face or head covered in the alganate and you'll only be able to breathe through straws stuck in your mouth and/or nostrils.
Similar threads
