Made a gel-10 head cast today. My first time doing anything like this. With the help of my son, we got started.
Latex bald cap. Originally, I was going to use this:
A cheap, easy way to form a bald cap. I lacked spirit gum, so I thought tape might work. Latex bald caps inhibit curing of the silicone, but those wrinkles would have been a big concern in the final cast.
So, this:
You can see I am covered liberally with large amounts of Vaseline. When I purchased the Vaseline, I made sure to buy enough. 5 jars. The cashier looked at me funny... I didn't bother explaining.
The video I purchased blabbed on and on about the importance of covering up the hairy areas with liberal amounts of petroleum jelly. Eyebrows, eyelashes, nose hair, you get the idea. Bla bla bla... let's get to covering my head with gel 10!
First coat applied. Man, that stuff is runny as heck! It was about 55 degrees F in the basement... a detail I should have paid more attention to before sitting down and gooping up my head. Gel cure time for this product is 5 minutes at 70 degrees F. This coat, at 55 degrees, took nearly 15 minutes. You can see the patience and calm in my face. I had a small pad of paper and a pen, and my son and I had worked out some hand signals since I couldn't speak.
Second coat of the "thickened" gel 10. The stuff was running off my face big time. The cold, apparently, also inhibits the thickening of gel 10. I wrote on my pad of paper, "WTH is taking so long!" as if my son could do anything about it.
Third coat, still runny. I had no idea at this point the cold would have this effect. I had learned, by briefly watching the instructional video that cold would slow down the curing... but come on!
Derp son, and final coat of gel 10.
Fast forward...
I had no idea derpy son was taking photos, but I'm glad he did.
Finally, gel 10 has cured, and we begin removing the plaster mother mold and the cured silicone from my noggin. Came off pretty easy, until we got to my eyes.
Let me pause here and state, no, overstate the importance of liberally applying the Vaseline to the hairy areas. Everything else was free, but my eyelashes. I was stuck, holding a silicone mold, which was pulling mightily on my eyelashes and eyebrows.
Finally free. My eyelids were sore. Weird. I set the silicone back in the mother mold, and took a break.
Later that night, I decided to create a resin copy of my head. It was hollow, but I figured that was a close replica of my own head.
I had plugged the nose holes with gel-10, and figured I was good to go. I mixed three batches of resin and slush casted them into the mold.
TIP: Wear gloves. I am still picking dried resin (bonded to my skin) from my hand.
It was very difficult pulling the resin from the mold. Apparently there were several holes that I never saw, the resin leaked, which bonded with the plaster, effectively ruining it. I could hear the resin cracking apart, and eventually I said screw it, and yanked it from the mold.
Here is the result of the resin head cast:
Notice the accurately placed eye lashes. I have to say, had this worked, the detail is pretty incredible. I had no idea I was so porous. Or bumpy...
If you look closely, you can see eyebrow hair along the top edge. That bump in the corner of my eye is a tear from the loss of dear friends... and wishes wasted.
My EYES! Lacking in the eyelash department. I had a lot of them anyway.
LiBErAL amounts of Vaseline was applied, in fact, when I blinked, my eyelashes stuck to my face! Lots. On the upside, that is quite likely the most accurate eyelash placement in the world. You can't find a makeup artist to create that kind of work!
My next lifecast will be done in a properly warmed room, with even more Vaseline over the hairy parts. I will make sure everything is covered completely. I will also be purchasing some polyfiber to thicken that stuff up. The good news is the eyelashes will grow back. In the meantime, I'll be using covergirl mascara to accentuate what I have left.
Good luck with your own lifecast!
Latex bald cap. Originally, I was going to use this:
A cheap, easy way to form a bald cap. I lacked spirit gum, so I thought tape might work. Latex bald caps inhibit curing of the silicone, but those wrinkles would have been a big concern in the final cast.
So, this:
You can see I am covered liberally with large amounts of Vaseline. When I purchased the Vaseline, I made sure to buy enough. 5 jars. The cashier looked at me funny... I didn't bother explaining.
The video I purchased blabbed on and on about the importance of covering up the hairy areas with liberal amounts of petroleum jelly. Eyebrows, eyelashes, nose hair, you get the idea. Bla bla bla... let's get to covering my head with gel 10!
First coat applied. Man, that stuff is runny as heck! It was about 55 degrees F in the basement... a detail I should have paid more attention to before sitting down and gooping up my head. Gel cure time for this product is 5 minutes at 70 degrees F. This coat, at 55 degrees, took nearly 15 minutes. You can see the patience and calm in my face. I had a small pad of paper and a pen, and my son and I had worked out some hand signals since I couldn't speak.
Second coat of the "thickened" gel 10. The stuff was running off my face big time. The cold, apparently, also inhibits the thickening of gel 10. I wrote on my pad of paper, "WTH is taking so long!" as if my son could do anything about it.
Third coat, still runny. I had no idea at this point the cold would have this effect. I had learned, by briefly watching the instructional video that cold would slow down the curing... but come on!
Derp son, and final coat of gel 10.
Fast forward...
I had no idea derpy son was taking photos, but I'm glad he did.
Finally, gel 10 has cured, and we begin removing the plaster mother mold and the cured silicone from my noggin. Came off pretty easy, until we got to my eyes.
Let me pause here and state, no, overstate the importance of liberally applying the Vaseline to the hairy areas. Everything else was free, but my eyelashes. I was stuck, holding a silicone mold, which was pulling mightily on my eyelashes and eyebrows.
Finally free. My eyelids were sore. Weird. I set the silicone back in the mother mold, and took a break.
Later that night, I decided to create a resin copy of my head. It was hollow, but I figured that was a close replica of my own head.
I had plugged the nose holes with gel-10, and figured I was good to go. I mixed three batches of resin and slush casted them into the mold.
TIP: Wear gloves. I am still picking dried resin (bonded to my skin) from my hand.
It was very difficult pulling the resin from the mold. Apparently there were several holes that I never saw, the resin leaked, which bonded with the plaster, effectively ruining it. I could hear the resin cracking apart, and eventually I said screw it, and yanked it from the mold.
Here is the result of the resin head cast:
Notice the accurately placed eye lashes. I have to say, had this worked, the detail is pretty incredible. I had no idea I was so porous. Or bumpy...
If you look closely, you can see eyebrow hair along the top edge. That bump in the corner of my eye is a tear from the loss of dear friends... and wishes wasted.
My EYES! Lacking in the eyelash department. I had a lot of them anyway.
LiBErAL amounts of Vaseline was applied, in fact, when I blinked, my eyelashes stuck to my face! Lots. On the upside, that is quite likely the most accurate eyelash placement in the world. You can't find a makeup artist to create that kind of work!
My next lifecast will be done in a properly warmed room, with even more Vaseline over the hairy parts. I will make sure everything is covered completely. I will also be purchasing some polyfiber to thicken that stuff up. The good news is the eyelashes will grow back. In the meantime, I'll be using covergirl mascara to accentuate what I have left.
Good luck with your own lifecast!
