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Fifth Element Mangalore mask restoration

Mangalore

Mangalore

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Hi,
here i want to show the restoration of an original Mangalore mask.

I own some of the original Mangalore heads which were used and shown in the movie.
I collected them during the past years.

Now i want to restore/repair some of them. The reason why is that foam latex will get brittle after some time
and simply change into crumbs.
If i dont rescue them now they will be lost.

As i still not have jet a good developed Internet site i would like to show this process here and after some time parallel with more pictures at my site
www.moonvisions.com

OK, i will start with a mask from the AKNOT mold which never have been used in the movie but was a backup prop.
The mask was given to a member of the production crew after the last shot and then he used it as a scarecrow in his garden.
When he moved from the UK to Portugal a very friendly neightbor saved the mask and it was given to me and here my part of this masks history beginns....:)


final 1.jpgfinal 2.jpg
 
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Step 1
A good cleaning/wash was needed because the mask was very dirty

Step 2
Now i had to determine the condition. Many stains, holes, rips and it seems this very poor Mangalore ware tortured.
There are visible burning marks .......:facepalm

final 3.jpg
 
Poor mangalore, looking forward to seeing him repaired. Is it foam latex or silicone? Looks like foam latex in the last pic for some reason.
 
You are right, its foam latex and not silicon foam.
For the hero masks they used silicon gel for the skin and the masks for the background characters were made of foam latex.
As i can see now time and the weather (sun, cold, rain ...) made great parts of the mask very brittle.
Every time i touch the mask leaves a little pile of sand (deteriorated material) on the desk.
As this is in general a problem of foam latex masks i recently tried to find out how to preserve old material
but i still have no resolution.
Maybe movie prop restoration companies like Tom Spina knows what to do but i am sure they will not tell me their secrets.
The challenge is not only to glue loosen parts back, its important to stop the process of deterioration for the whole mask.
If this can not be achieved after some time the mask will fall apart again and so on.....
 
Wish you luck in your restoration.

Foam latex appliances are a strange thing, I have a Gorilla appliance that was used in "Battle For The Planet of The Apes" and it looks like the day I got it over what 40 years ago now.
 
Yesterday i saw a couch from the 50ies which is stuffed with some kind of foam. And this foam still feels like new.
And i have some guitar effect pedals from the 70ies with foam inlays for batteries. This foam is fallen to crumbs.

I highly doubt it that heavely deteriorated foam can brought back to its former condition.
A chemist told me to bake the foam latex at low temperatures to restore it to its former characteristics.
But this doesn't work.
It seems there are various formulas of latex foam used for masks.
Some last longer than others.
And of course the kind of storage also effects the "life span".
A life as a scarecrow outside winter and summer will reduce the durability.
 
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Hi, kwalsh0000 i read you have An Unas from StargateOne piece.
Tom Spina restored it and i would ask you if the replaced parts in the face feels like foam or rubber or feel they like
a hard material like resin or a other composite?
I really want to know what material Tom Spina used......:)
 
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Step 3
All Mangalore heads constists of a inner and a outer head.
The inner head provides the general shape and the outer head has all the details.
For the background masks the creature department used foam latex for both the inner and outer part.
For the hero masks the inner part was made of epoxy resin and the outer part was made of silicon gel.
Luckely i have both and so i decided to use a epoxy resin inner shell to give the mask the right shape.
The outer mask is extremly brittle. To prevent that sharp edges or curvatures rips it i had to sand the epoxy inner shell.




3.jpg
 
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Uhhhh,...what a nightmare. The outer mask is not strechy enough anymore to insert the inner skull without heavy damages.
I tried 2 times and it ended up with large rips on the backside of the outer head.
Maybe you know the situation if you want to repair something and whatever you try it gets worse and worse .......
OK, i will slow down the restoring process.
1st .... i have to close the rips and the big gaps on the chin and the throat
2nd ....i have to find a solution for how to put in the inner skull

To make it more easy i will call the outer mask in the furure simply "skin" and the inner parts "skull" .........:rolleyes
 
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Btw.
for the The Fifth Element Nick Dudman oversaw the creature department, for which he won a BAFTA for best Visual Effects.
[/B]
Nick has an outstanding biography

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Mangalore said:
Hi, kwalsh0000 i read you have An Unas from StargateOne piece.
Tom Spina restored it and i would ask you if the replaced parts in the face feels like foam or rubber or feel they like
a hard material like resin or a other composite?
I really want to know what material Tom Spina used......:)
Click to expand...

i shall let you know as soon as it arrives :) I was thinking of repairing the Unas myself initially but I am glad to have went with Tom and his team, worst case if you can't then maybe hit them up? Either way best of luck repairing it :)
 
A long day of work is over.
I closed gaps and reinforced the structure of the skin.
At the throat i had to build a contured wire mesh to glue on the remaining skin parts
and hold them in a correct position.

4.jpg
5.jpg
5b.jpg
6.jpg
7.jpg
 
A first try out to test if i'm on the right way........:eek
of course with correct pouches.
The most of them were destroyed during production
thats why the creature department used goggles after a while.
But i still have no skull solution .....


8.jpg
 
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OK, i think this will solve my skull problem.
I cut the skull in three parts and i will reassemble it then inside the skin.
This will prevent too much stretching.

9.jpg
 
It took a while to place the skull into the skin. I also had to glue it at some places to ensure it stayes where i want it to stay.......:behave

And now the real damage comes out. I have to do something immediately to preserve its condition.

11.jpg
 
Ok, lets face it, there is no "resurrection" fluid for foam latex that i know.
If i do nothing then it gets worse.
If i touch the surface it falls into crumbs or sand ..........
I have an idea for saving it but this can fail or not and if it fails then the mask will be lost ..........:confused
 
I was looking for a solution and what i found is not for keeping something as it was.
Luckely this mask was not painted or so and i can risk it.......

I have to mention..at this point there is no way back so it works or not.....:wacko
IMG_0747.jpg

I used Epoxy and the old foam sucked it like a dry sponge..............
 
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