How to mould weird shaped masks

[Shangti]

Hi guys, after all he help with vacuum forming I have got stuck on another project and hoping to glean some advice. I am completely new to this and have done my homework but you know how it goes on your first attempts.

Basically I have some masks that I am making which are unusual shapes and was wondering how to make mother mould. the first is a doom face plate, I will get around to making the rest of the head soon but want to cast a good plater to work from for something else. As you can see weird shape...


I assume i me I need to close up the eyes and mouth, for the first half the mould (I have assumed, maybe wrongly, it would be a 2 part mould). And then maybe take these blanking pieces out for the 2nd half? I am stumped as to how to get around the weird facial shape though, especially depth of the mask as it's not flat or even vaguely square.

The second mask is phantom of the opera style, half mask. Again stumped as similar dilemma.



last bit almost everything I find is for the US, can anyone recommend any good cheap materials, suppliers here in the uk please?

cheers

 

[leviathanworksh]

Okay - so lots of advice to give here so bare with.

Firstly - moulding and casting - what do you want your finished pieces cast in? if you want something that is rigid like a resin or GRP - you will be wanting a flexible mould. say silicone or latex. if you want a flexible cast in latex or silicone you would need plaster or GRP (fiberglass) respectively.

If I was moulding those items I wouldn't be thinking of doing a 2 part mould. For the Doom mask I would build up a clay wall all the way around, fill in the eyes and mouth - mould it. and just slush my material into the back to the mould to make a skin (look up roto-casting online or slush casting - both have videos on youtube)
if your moulding straight off the cardboard your going to need to seal it with something like resin or epoxy, otherwise you run the risk of it becoming one with your mould. especially corrugated edges, fill with plastercine or similar.

Same again for the phantom mask - build clay up around and then do a slush cast affair with it.

Suppliers in the UK are pretty good - there are very few things you cannot get, but occaisionally they exist as we have declared them too toxic to use.
the major suppliers are Bentley Chemicals, Notcutt, Mould Life, Poly Fiber. 4D model shop.

moulding isn't as complicated as people make out - in my opinion. its a very simple set of principles that you adapt to make the more complicated pieces work. a great book to own is the Thurston James moulding handbook - he also has a mask making one. both are a bit old - but the principles are good.

there is loads of free content on youtube on block moulds, matrix mould, mould release agents, GRP and Epoxy moulds.

Or alternatively the Stan Winston School of Character Arts has some great tutorials - but you have to pay a subscription.

Materials are never super cheap - but they worth investing in. don't buy the best of the best to begin with - and don't buy too much. you will learn what is good for you - and watching other people is invaluable


Jake

 

[Shangti]

Okay - so lots of advice to give here so bare with.

Firstly - moulding and casting - what do you want your finished pieces cast in? if you want something that is rigid like a resin or GRP - you will be wanting a flexible mould. say silicone or latex. if you want a flexible cast in latex or silicone you would need plaster or GRP (fiberglass) respectively.

If I was moulding those items I wouldn't be thinking of doing a 2 part mould. For the Doom mask I would build up a clay wall all the way around, fill in the eyes and mouth - mould it. and just slush my material into the back to the mould to make a skin (look up roto-casting online or slush casting - both have videos on youtube)
if your moulding straight off the cardboard your going to need to seal it with something like resin or epoxy, otherwise you run the risk of it becoming one with your mould. especially corrugated edges, fill with plastercine or similar.

Same again for the phantom mask - build clay up around and then do a slush cast affair with it.

Suppliers in the UK are pretty good - there are very few things you cannot get, but occaisionally they exist as we have declared them too toxic to use.
the major suppliers are Bentley Chemicals, Notcutt, Mould Life, Poly Fiber. 4D model shop.

moulding isn't as complicated as people make out - in my opinion. its a very simple set of principles that you adapt to make the more complicated pieces work. a great book to own is the Thurston James moulding handbook - he also has a mask making one. both are a bit old - but the principles are good.

there is loads of free content on youtube on block moulds, matrix mould, mould release agents, GRP and Epoxy moulds.

Or alternatively the Stan Winston School of Character Arts has some great tutorials - but you have to pay a subscription.

Materials are never super cheap - but they worth investing in. don't buy the best of the best to begin with - and don't buy too much. you will learn what is good for you - and watching other people is invaluable


Jake

Thanks for all the info jake. The masks I am hoping to make from resin, silicon/latex. I found a brickintheyard YouTube video to help me with this. My plan with the masks are to seal and finish fronts with body filler so should be all good there. Do I need to apply any type is sealer/varnish to the filler before casting?

I still have a question about the clay walls. Am I literally just following the sides of the mask to allow the silicon to form a flange around the outside?

cheers

 

[leviathanworksh]

So silicone will only adhere to silicone so if your ticking it to that then you will need a mould release. Or if your material is porus. But filler should be fine.

The clay wall is only to stop the silicone or plaster getting under it. Use water based clay as some clays like chavant can have high sulpher contents which can inhibit it from curing.

Just build a wall all the way around and under neath. When you clean up the casting you will have to trim the eyes and edges but thats standard.

 

[Shangti]

Thanks, I should be ordering stuff next week. Will let you know how it goes