Mannequin with armature help

[T8001]

Hey all!
I'm thinking about starting a full blown Predator head

Funding is a bit low for my hobbies but i have 30lbs of klean klay (which i hope will be enough )
I plan to make an armature to bulk out some areas of the mannequin head so as to use as little clay as possible. As i dont think i can buy anymore right now.
So here's the idea:

I hope to make the mask a bit larger than shown but it all depends on clay.

Has anyone done something similar successfully that could share some tips?
I'm not sure what to build the armature from at this point. Any help would be appreciated

 

[skunk]

you could use expanding gap filling foam...the kind you get in a can from diy stores....just spray it on the back of the head...then when it's cured...shape it with a knife....then give it a coat of resin (just cheap polyester resin will do....then it's done....or...you could just use cardboard and duct tape.

 

[T8001]

Ha ha good old cardboard and duct tape That was my first thought.I'll give it a go and see how strong it is. Tho i'll probably wait till the clay arrives first and just rough it out and see if i come up short first. I was getting ahead if myself a little in the excitement.
Thanks Skunk! The foam sounds like a good idea too. I'v worked with that stuff before and underestimated how much it expands lol.

 

[Uratz]

Card Board Duct tape and Plaster bandages wrapped over the whole thing. It will help the clay grab onto armature and will maintain a hard shape

 

[Elkman]

I suspect that 30 pounds of Klean Klay should be enough. I don't remember exactly how much I used when I did my Predator mask, but I know that my Godzilla mask was bigger, and I didn't use 30 pounds for that. I did have to extend the neck to make it wide enough for Godzilla's shoulders, though. I made a rough outline of the shape I wanted, using a wireform mesh, and then I applied plaster bandages over that. I still had to apply plenty of clay over it to get it to the right shape. It came out like this:

Here are some more pictures of my Godzilla mask process, along with a snarky comment at the bottom about the OpenOffice HTML editor.