zoal
Member
I've been a long time lurker of the RPF; trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible from everyone here. This year for NY Comic Con my friend wanted to be batgirl and I thought this was the perfect chance to try to actually make something. To save on costs we decided to make the cowl out of latex instead of the usual Urethane that I see here. I want to try Urethane next but I need to learn how to work with it first. Seems to be a lack of details on working with it. Gotta look harder.
I went with Monster Clay for sculpting, and used the Alana head as a base - also from Monster Makers. This was my first time working with any oil based clay and I really enjoyed it! We used the Batgirl from the Arkham Knight DLC as inspiration for this cowl. Though we didnt want it to be an exact replica - she didnt like the "ear muffs" on the Arkham model, for example.
I did some basic smoothing as i went and got the shapes I wanted. I didnt know how thick I should make the sculpt since I always read about latex shrinkage. Now that I am done I think I would thin it up a bit in places.
Once i got all the shapes I started the smoothing process, trying to find dents and bumps and fill or remove as needed. I found sand paper really helpful at the end to get it as smooth as possible.
I brushed on mineral spirits to remove the rough sanded surface. I gotta be honest, i added the clay over the mouth cause i've seen that done here on the RPF before. I assumed it would help with the molding process since it covered up the folds and details of the mouth and nose but I was just guessing since i've never sculpted or made a mold before.
Sprayed down the surface with some Krylon clear coat and molded it in Ultracal-30
We had gotten way more latex than we needed and cast a bunch of them. Experimenting with how much latex to use, how to increase/decrease thickness with how long we left it in the mold or applying new coats.
Doing the seam work was a major learning experience. Searching multiple threads here on the RPF on various techniques to try. Naphtha, dremel, the only thing i didnt get to try is the cabopatch bondo filling the seams. We werent going to paint the final product and I didnt know if the "bondo" would look right unpainted. Going to experiment with that later.
Overall we were both very happy with the final product!
Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who contributes to the RPF. This forum has been the greatest resource for me to learn how to do something I've always wanted to do. I hope to contribute more in the near future.
I went with Monster Clay for sculpting, and used the Alana head as a base - also from Monster Makers. This was my first time working with any oil based clay and I really enjoyed it! We used the Batgirl from the Arkham Knight DLC as inspiration for this cowl. Though we didnt want it to be an exact replica - she didnt like the "ear muffs" on the Arkham model, for example.
I did some basic smoothing as i went and got the shapes I wanted. I didnt know how thick I should make the sculpt since I always read about latex shrinkage. Now that I am done I think I would thin it up a bit in places.
Once i got all the shapes I started the smoothing process, trying to find dents and bumps and fill or remove as needed. I found sand paper really helpful at the end to get it as smooth as possible.
I brushed on mineral spirits to remove the rough sanded surface. I gotta be honest, i added the clay over the mouth cause i've seen that done here on the RPF before. I assumed it would help with the molding process since it covered up the folds and details of the mouth and nose but I was just guessing since i've never sculpted or made a mold before.
Sprayed down the surface with some Krylon clear coat and molded it in Ultracal-30
We had gotten way more latex than we needed and cast a bunch of them. Experimenting with how much latex to use, how to increase/decrease thickness with how long we left it in the mold or applying new coats.
Doing the seam work was a major learning experience. Searching multiple threads here on the RPF on various techniques to try. Naphtha, dremel, the only thing i didnt get to try is the cabopatch bondo filling the seams. We werent going to paint the final product and I didnt know if the "bondo" would look right unpainted. Going to experiment with that later.
Overall we were both very happy with the final product!
Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who contributes to the RPF. This forum has been the greatest resource for me to learn how to do something I've always wanted to do. I hope to contribute more in the near future.
