First time mask making:

[askernas]

Looking good...unlike your thumb's nail

Yeah... well.. I had to pry off a 3d print that was REALLY stuch on the print bed..
Evidentally, prying a sharp putty shovel and grabbing hold of the print bed from the other end with the left hand was NOT the way to go...
the print came lose in a millisecond after being stuck like a rock and I pushed the damn thing straight through my thumbnail into the flesh below.

Not recommended..
Anyway, it was for a good cause. I've built a Star Wars Trench Run Cornhole game for the upcoming ComicCon in Stockholm.
It will be used to raise money for child cancer research..

 

[askernas]

After feeling happy about my ears, I went into my workshop yesterday to mold them.

I've never molded anything, and this was exciting.
I made my molds, used release spray and mixed up (a few) batches of Compat 45.

I molded both my ears, and five of the teeth I made.

A couple of things learned:

Have more things to mold in case you make too much.
The Compat 45 REALLY expands to 5 times its volume in the vacuum chamber!

Then today: Time to demold!

First off, everything looked great.
I prited off the bottoms and cardboard edges:

I started demolding one of the smaller fangs:

It came out without any issues and I got the clay out without problems.

Next up: The teeth.

The deep teeth were a bit tricky, and mostly so because I made a big block with 4 teeth in it. This was a mistake as I could barely bend or squeeze the big block to manipulate the clay out. I ended up cutting the mold in 4 parts to make it a lot easier to get the clay out. The mold is still 100% intact, but I could squeeze and twist the mold to get the clay out.

Then the ears: Getting the clay out was not easy at all, but after using wooden sticks and squeezing and pushing, I managed to get the clay out. The ears did not look as good once removed..

I cleaned the molds to get rid of any excess clay and was left with this:

I also had to try casting something, so I mixed up a small batch of Dragon Skin 10, tried my first time to colour this into something that could be a base for the mask and ears. Possibly. I still need to find a good mix for this.

It was way more than the ears, so I just cast one of the big fangs to test it out.

After75 minutes where I made some final glueing and some weathering of the Death Star Trench listed above, I demolded my pieces.

The fang came out directly without issues, but I really had to work hard to get the ears out. It took easily 20 minutes to get them out of the mold.

Mostly good, but had some issues on the back:

I'm not to worried as this is a test pull. I have drilled an air hole in my mold since, and who knows, these might be salvageble. It is towards the head with hair around them so chances are it will never be seen,

All in all: VERY happy about my first ventures into molding and casting, and these look better than I hoped!

 

[kickman88]

Yes, those ears are totally salvagable. If you still have some of the left over gel 10 from the pour, cut a piece to fit the voids and Silpoxy it into place...works like a charm.

 

[kickman88]

Is it safe to assume to you used release agent on the ears? Those were the "stickiest" part of my Grogu since it is a task getting release agent in all the nooks and crannies.

 

[askernas]

Is it safe to assume to you used release agent on the ears? Those were the "stickiest" part of my Grogu since it is a task getting release agent in all the nooks and crannies.

As I used Compat 45 for my mold, I had no release agent this time around…

 

[joberg]

Yep, ears are salvageable for sure...

 

[kickman88]

As I used Compat 45 for my mold, I had no release agent this time around…

Smooth-On recommends...Ease Release 200

"IMPORTANT: If casting platinum silicone into Compat™ 45, only use Ease Release™ 200 when making your mold, DO NOT use Universal™ Mold Release."

 

[askernas]

For dragon skin 10 it does day that release agents are not usually needed, so that’s why I went without

But Yeah, demolding would have been a lot easier!

 

[askernas]

So ... this happened:

As I'm closing in on molding the sculpt, I had some work to do.

In the long recess of not working on him, there were a few things I was not happy with, and now was the time to fix it.

I started by adding some clay to add more wrinkles in the nose, change the shape of the nose, and I ended up redoing the entire jaw.

I was semi happy with it, but it was too much.

I started cutting away and see if I could just remove material and blend in the rest, but .. It soon escalapted to this:

Full jaw reconstruction. Including upper lip.

First attempt to make it better looked indeed better... but no way I could fit the lower fangs.

A little more reshaping and using the temporary casting I made with my excess Dragon Skin I built up a better jaw.

This pic is a little montage, same tooth on both sides, just to get an idea of where I am.

Of course, I'm back to making more skin texture and all that, but I think this looks better.

I think I want to close his mouth a bit more, but I'll wait until my proper casting of the teeth (which is curing as I type this and will be ready tomorrow) so I can insert the teeth and model the lower lip and have the mouth close at least somewhat.

Still some things I want to tweak when I see this pic with the lower teeth in...

 

[askernas]

 

[joberg]

This is major surgery When I see the image you've posted in you first post, I see that his lower jaw is really protruding more toward the front as to fit his big teeth. Yours is not forward enough.

 

[askernas]

This is major surgery When I see the image you've posted in you first post, I see that his lower jaw is really protruding more toward the front as to fit his big teeth. Yours is not forward enough.

Ok, so you think I need to push out the jaw even further than now? Even though the teeth fits?

The jaw prior to surgery was a little too ridiculous I felt and was too wide.
I'll test extending it outwards about 1 cm tomorrow and see how I like that.

I like this current version of the sculpt better as a base though. There are still some things I need to change, obviously, but I am really starting to like working with monster clay =)

 

[askernas]

Not quite there.... but better.

 

[askernas]

Now he is starting to appear:

 

[askernas]

Update:

 

[askernas]

New batch of DRagon Skin 10 arrived, along with some more colors for Silicone.

After the ear test pull I realized I needed to add a bit more yellow to the color mix, and also needed a little more working time for the full mask.

Wet clay is also in the package so I can prepare a jacket mold.

First off, I will tone down the cartoonish tendencies a little and finalize the sculpt, but first, vacation!

 

[joberg]

Yep; the jaw seems better now. The fangs are not touching the upper lip as much as before. Good work