P2 Closed Mouth Build. Raw Latex 1St Pull P24 24/11/11

[Usurper]

Hey Mr E.

Yeah i used this on a dred lug before now on my gen 2 p1 mould,and i just have to check the area has cured ok, the quills are about 15 times smaller so no issues expected

No plug to be made, same principle as my silicone P1.

Brush in my layer of silicone until i am happy.
Pour some fast cast EASYFLO 120 resin, in the crown to create a mechanical lock ( being careful not to come down too far, so it is locked in the mould )
Then soft foam, as the foam will stick to the resin, which holds it in place to fill out the rest.

then carefully demould, and try my own paint mix

 

[A Hunters Moon]

It's gonna be a hell of a mask. Can't wait to see how the paints turn out on your silicone pull.

 

[Double H]

That is one hell of a mould. This mask is gonna be awesome and much awaited. Can't wait to see the first pull of this tomorrow or saturday. Are you gonna do a step by step for casting the silicone? for example, show as the brushing the silicone, the resin pouring and the foam etc till the mask is completely pulled?

 

[kanji]

Incredible job with the sculpt and mold Usurper. Good luck for the S day, even though with skills like yours, no luck is needed Truly inspiring thread!

 

[Usurper]

thanks guys, i will take photos of the 3 stages i guess if you want. not sure my " make it up as i go" technique will help anyone though lol.

 

[Usurper]

Ready ?

OK well i hope you read before you look at the pictures.

Yesterday was S day, and it started well enough i brushed in my 1st layer of silicone, then the 2nd, then............... realised i did not have enough

As it happend that was the least of my troubles, now annoyed at my stupidity i proceeded on. Upon the silicone drying, i poured in my resin crown shell ( to keep the silicone in shape, and foamed, i went to bed last night happy with what i thought was a lucky escape.

( shaking his hand at fate ) This morning i got up and cracked the mould open, all looks great huh.

Then i tried to remove it from the mould......................... to my instant horror i realised that the resin had ran into some of the horns, and further out to the side than expected ( possibly due to my not using as much silicone as i would have liked ) this meant the mask was LOCKED into the mould ........... D' OOH !!!

After about a hr of pulling and squeezing, it was completely obvious this was not going to come out as easy as the P1, and fearing for the mould now, i decided brute force was the only way around it, so........ after ripping out as much foam as possible, i wriggled my fingers down the sides, ( cutting my knuckles on the sharp plaster ) and squeezed with pretty much all my strength until i heard the resin crown shatter !!

the mask came out of the mould looking like it had lost a fight with a monster truck lol.

But as the silicone had pretty much survived being tortured for several hours, i decided i would try to refoam, then i realised i did not have any white foam left............... grrr, getting royally annoyed now. So placed the biggest chunks of foam back in the silicone mask, and held the shape as best i could, then i just bit the bullet and used my black dreadlock foam, some of the foam sept into the crack which is visible on the pictures. but i am hoping the paint hides that,
The BIGGEST down side to this is, it is now that full of foam, it is unlikely it would hold its shape if i ever chose to make it a mask for a P2 suit. so it will be a bust i guess. ( anyway lets face it, its 5 yrs and counting on my P1 suit lol, p2 suit, who am i kidding.)

Anyway, here is my fail ( of sorts ) , i refuse to pretend it all went perfect, so i hope the read of my trouble didnt bore you, but i wanted to show my mistake.

Oh and by the way, if the resin had NOT gone where it did, i would now be showing off wearing a P2 silicone mask.

I will try to mix my own paints next week and get this painted, but tomorrow i am pouring the 1st Latex pull.

thanks for reading.

 

[Darth Pinhead]

Dude, total bummer to read and am REALLY HOPING George has some tricks to making this bad boy wearable. Regardless, it still looks sweet and I am really looking forward to seeing it painted!

 

[Usurper]

There is not alot that can be done really brad, its down to the silicone beig so soft, and needing support.

but as i said, what are the chances of me making a P2 suit lol. i am happy to have a P1 and P2 silicone head display thingy

 

[ptgreek]

well ..if you can keep the foam in the supported areas ..then buy some caulking silicone ( like shinitsu) thin it just a bit with naphtha ..then paint it over the foam ..encapsulating it into the silicone head, it could be salvageable as a mask..But a bust that will last forever is pretty nice too.

The casting itself looks great!. Lee..if you want to try silicone again in that mold, clean the **** out of it with Naphtha.. while its not recommended to run silicone in a mold once latex has gone in, we have done it more then once

 

[Usurper]

Thanks George, but again this is a one off silicone thing.

the rest are latex. which oddly enough i will be happy to get back to lol.

 

[Termokk]

Hey lee,
Sorry to hear about you misfortune. Im still fuzy as why you used resin inside there though? IS it for support? Would just expanding foam have done the same trick? IS the mask very heavy?

 

[Usurper]

The resin idea came about with my P1, with the foam i use being VERY soft, i was concerned about it flexing and pushing the mask out of shape when being worn. Also nothing sticks to silicone. so i figure the resin would create a mechanicl lock into the crown, which worked 100% perfect on my p1, and would have here if not for my stupidity lol.

i dare say i could remove some foam and make it a mask, but for now i am not really that botherd. just frustrated that i made the initial error. ( pride and all )

 

[Termokk]

Well the moulds and the sculpture and everything looks awsome. Good luck with your future castings.
How much does the mask weigh?

 

[ptgreek]

Either way, I love it ...Silicone is very cool ..but really expensive to play with ...im glad you have at least that one casting ..but ya ..get that bucket o'latex out

 

[Usurper]

yeah thats why i am only doing one, i think this weighs well over 5 kilo now with all the foam, so wouldnt want to use it as a mask lol .

As fr latex..................will do sir

 

[Darth Pinhead]

Alright, damn it, I'm bullheaded and still hell-bent to make this wearable, if not for you, at least to know if it's doable. Now, if the error in question is as I read it, a mechanical lock per the resin going too far into the silicone, why can't you just rip all the foam out, clear out the ******** resin, put the mask back into the mold, and fill in all the pestering voids with silicone caulk like the one George recommended, and smooth it all out with a spatula? Then, upon having a smooth, non-locking surface on the inside, pour a new resin/skull cap and boom you're back in business!

I'm just irritated I'm not gonna see this on your head. It's just too awesome to not be wearable, cool as bust or not...

 

[Mr Fett]

Speaking of resin, my blue Predator mask was made over 8 years ago, and to support the back side of the mask (without expanding foam like used on the modern masks) he brushed some thin layers of resin into the back side along with the latex on the inside of the mask where the dreads are. Has held up and worked great for that many years. Very unorthodox, but it obviously works!

 

[kanji]

Well Lee, it still looks like really great piece. I read your mask casting story on my toes and when you wrote that mask was stuck, I got so many flashbacks to fiberglass moulding where gelcoat had soaked in to the plug and it was obvious that both the plug and mold were going to be cracked if you try to force it out. I'm so happy that you mold survived and you can proceed with materials you know. I think it eases future pulls if you break the mold in with latex pulls and then try new silicone cast. At least with fiberglass molds, couple first ones are the most pain to get out of the mold but with more pulls it comes cakewalk

 

[Usurper]

Brad, i dare say i could cut out some foam and try , but i am really not that botherd, and its not like i am selling the silicone pulls so .............

Yeah Andy the resin works a treat, i just made a small error.


Once the mould has been used to Latex the amonia in the stone will inhibit the silicone curing, unless scrubbed or coated like George says, but as i said i have no need/intention of making another silicone p2

I mean i could have got away without telling you guys, but id rather be honest about my short comings, and hopefully it helps someone in the future who also does silicone pred masks.

 

[ptgreek]

im glad you shared Lee ..its trials and errors like these that really help not only others, but yourself in future projects. Plus I just get a kick out of somebody pulling silicone pred heads!