Mask Mold help

[JSteed69]

Hi all!
First post from a newbie and requesting advice - so be nice (which everyone on here seems to be)

Helping nephew trying to make latex masks. We had some success with air dry clay placed upon a papier mache mask, and then brushed liquid latex over the clay. (I'll try and find some pics to post). I'm happy, as a complete beginner, we even got that far from someone who had no idea on what he was doing at first!
As the mask was only half a head it was fine, but now looking to do more 3/4 or full head type masks. We have a mannequin head (from monstermakers I think - it;s not foam but more some type of plastic), and we still have a lot of air dry clay left to use.
My question really is how to put the clay over the mannequin head and then remove the clay later once dry, without damaging the mannequin, so we can reuse it for other masks later? Is there anything we coat the head in first before applying the clay etc.? Would we need to make a separate mold from the clay after it dries then break the clay after to remove it from the head? (I'll have to look into the separate mold thing as not done that before either!)
Thanks in advance, and apologies if a similar post is on here (I just haven't found it).

 

[udog]

Air dry clay is not the way I'd say, at least to make a plaster mold (what you need to cast latex).
Plaster molds are rigid, so sculpting with something that ends up hard is not an option in first instance.
You can sculpt with plain water based clay, WED clay or oil or wax based clay. I you choose plain water based clay you´ll have to take care that it doesn't go hard by pulverizing water on it and covering it when not sculpting. The other options don't dry.
Once you have your sculpt finisdhed in any of these clays, you can make your mold with plaster (Hydrocal would be a good option), and then remove the clay from the mold as it will be soft to do it. But yes, you will most probably ruin the sculpt when getting the clay out of the mold, but that's part of the usual process in this case. The clay you use to sculpt is a transition material to obtain a mold.

 

[JSteed69]

Cheers! We had so much clay left over but I've got other ideas for that so at least not wasted. Will let you know how it goes.