Predator mask

[Jonny3777]

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone could answer a couple of questions for me. I'm about to start sculpting a wearable predator mask. I'll be using an armature of a cast of my own head. I'm using medium red chavant clay.
I'm hoping to make a two part mold from the sculpture.
Now here's where it gets tricky, I can't cast it in latex (allergic) so I'm going to cast it as a silicone mask.
So with that in mind I'll need to mold my sculpt in a resin mold. What kind of mold would work best to capture all the detail while giving me a mold to cast silicone in?

Secondly, I 'm going to use platsil 10 to do this, now as you know it cures glossy, which I don't want. I'll be using physco paints and was wondering if that is enough to give me a matte finish? I'm not a fan of gloss finishes on masks.

Thanks for taking the time to read this any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[cckaiser2]

Look up Novocs Matte from smooth-on. It can be used with psycho paint to create matte finish paint on silicone. You may also want to put a layer of baby powder/talc in the mold before casting - this can help cut the gloss. Post pics as you go.

 

[animator]

The Stan Winston school just put out 2 videos on making exactly the type of mold you are talking about. You can view the process in real time which is fantastic. I highly recommend them.

 

[udog]

Silicone cures glossy out of the molld. But when casted in a mold it will copy the negative surface. So if your model was "skin" texture, the silicone will cure matte, or at least that´s my experience.
But the silicone paint will cure glossy. There is a FuseFX product called "matting powder". Once you have all you paint job done, you airbrush a coat of clear silicone. And when this layer is tacky (not 100% cured, you can accelerate with a hair dryer) you softly brush the matting powder on it. Then clean the excess with water and a sponge.
Cab-o-sil can also be used. But it´s so toxic I won´t recommend it, very careful with it, it´s very noxious and brushing it this way is a mess and should be done with all the safety needed and in the proper place, never at home. I use it for large castings, the matting powder is expensive.
I recall, years ago, someone mentioning icing sugar (same method), never tried that. Looks like a nice way of covering your casting with flies. Never tried that.
Novocs looks like a very interesting product. Never tried it.

 

[udog]

As for the mold, it will need a core. The core should be the head you´re sculpting on, and ideally it should be prepared as a mold part prior to sculpting (flanges, reference keys etc...).

 

[Jonny3777]

As for the mold, it will need a core. The core should be the head you´re sculpting on, and ideally it should be prepared as a mold part prior to sculpting (flanges, reference keys etc...).

Hi udog
Thanks for the reply, I'm fairly OK at making molds but have only done one resin Mold. It was epoxy resin straight onto a clay sculpture,backed with copp strand fiberglass. This time I'm looking to use a better quality product and process. The predator piece I'm making will require a two part Mold and if your familiar with his face, there are a lot of under cuts and deep recessed areas to worry about. I want to cast the sculpt mouth open as I will be adding a mechanism internally to open and close the mouth. The issue I'm afraid of is that the mouth will need very thin flaps so they fold away neatly under the bio helmet which will be going on top of the mask. It's a more complex route but it's what I've always wanted from a mask. I was thinking of using epoxamite and a gelcoat. But I'm unsure how this is done as I can't get a straight answer anywhere. Can I put some Mold release on my sculpt and the put gel coat straight on, then back it with epoxamite or epoxy resin?