Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

Cast of calk in a latex mold.



I've never gotten one casting ever out of that mold with the nose intact and undistorted.  -And half or more of those flaws showing are in the mold, not just the casting.  It's just no good.

[Buster's Uncle]

This one's going to need a polishing with a drop of vegetable oil...

[Buster's Uncle]

Not a space suit.



The new ken mold needed a mother to hold the seam shut, so I left the front of the head uncovered and cut an opening in front bottom.

It worked.

[Buster's Uncle]

[Unorthodox]

Cast of calk in a latex mold.



I've never gotten one casting ever out of that mold with the nose intact and undistorted.  -And half or more of those flaws showing are in the mold, not just the casting.  It's just no good.

Reasonably close to a good guy doll.  I could see a Chucky candle.  be kinda funny too. 

[Buster's Uncle]

I wonder if it would work feasibly to thin some calk with a more reasonable flesh tone and paint the thing with it, filling in the dents.  I have an even worse first try to practice on...

[Buster's Uncle]

The silicone II molds are slowly firming up...

[Buster's Uncle]

Cast of calk in a latex mold.



I've never gotten one casting ever out of that mold with the nose intact and undistorted.  -And half or more of those flaws showing are in the mold, not just the casting.  It's just no good.

I have an even worse first try to practice on...

[Buster's Uncle]

[Buster's Uncle]

I finished the latex Barbie mold middle of the day yesterday.



It turned out thicker than I expected, and the doll and playdough hair really, really didn't want to come out.  -I'm hoping that's because they were so soft and yielding that pushing the top wasn't helping, and a hard cast will be more cooperative.  I cast it in plaster, and let that sit in front of the dehumidifier for nearly 26 hours to get very dry, most of today since I got up with the shoulders exposed for good measure.



The bottom does seem bone dry, so fingers crossed.  I'm probably going to fix up this casting to make a easier-to-work-with putty mold on...

[Buster's Uncle]

...Snapped her head off already...

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, after several minutes of struggling with it, I cut the mold to preserve the figure w/o further damage.





The facial features came out exquisitely preserved, though the shoulder seams need covering, as of course, does the crack around the neck.  I'd like to add finer texture to the hair, too, so it doesn't look like dreadlocks.  The mold/casting flaws of any significance are all in the hair, and thus, easily concealed.



I don't know how the tilt of the head got in there -it's not from the break- but I think I love it.

 

I was very foolish to do a loose ponytail like that -with the gather resting so low at the base of the neck and hair belling out above it opposite the chin- in a design intended to minimize the demolding bottleneck troubles; I think I made it worse.

-But I believe I can make a mighty fine calk mold on this that will be no trouble a'tall to work with...

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, the Ponytail Barbie mold came out with another $#@! fold right under the chin.  I spotted it as soon as I demolded the master cast - and tried patching it with a small amount of putty.  Dunno if it'll be good enough or I'll have to make another mold.  A plaster test cast is drying now.

I have an even worse first try to practice on...

So even though I only did half a squirt of calk, I had a lot more than I used of clear left over.  I tried filling in some flaws in my first try at the baby doll head.





The stuff was getting too set -I'd spent several minutes on the Barbie mold first- before I got to trying to fix the nose.  -But look at the improvement in places like the top of the head, and that's unprepared without even trying to match the color.

I do believe these orange and pink failures can be rescued, and Momma can make her Buster baby doll...

[Buster's Uncle]

Weellll -


Flaws only photograph well when I don't want them to, but I suppose this meets minimum standards.

I did spend a couple minutes scratching out roughness and finger-smoothing to get this.  I've commenced the first candle - but I'm going to take good care of that master copy, just in case.


Here's the master copy again for comparison.  Note that there's a left ear...

-Gonna look to getting the latex mold into usable condition, too...

[Buster's Uncle]

So before that last post, I'd c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y taped up the latex mold.



And poured a plaster casting in it.



It didn't leak, so I managed to tape it tight.  That was one reason to do a plaster cast in it - the main one was to help hold the mold together from the inside during the next phase of the repair.  (And it strikes me as I type that it's a potential replacement for the master copy, which snapped off the head again when I pressed it into the silicone mold during the repair of its neck.)


Just now, I c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y pulled away part of the tape, wiped it clean, and dabbed a thick streak of latex on.



I'm doing it piecemeal because, you'll note in the pics from yesterday quoted last post, the mold wants to hang wide open at the cut/seam.  I'll probably (carefully) do the same at the bottom right before bed, and get the middle in the morning.

I'm just going to have to cut it open again to demold, so why bother?  Because it needs a mother mold to hold it shut, and this builds a slight ridge on the surface to help orient the mold just right on reuse, and makes it that much thicker around the seam.  with a really snug mother, it'll work same as a thick silicone mold, I think - it won't hurt to build the mother over the Pringles lid I use to suspend the mold during casting.


I just got back from taking this afternoon's silicone mold casting upstairs to show Momma, and that made me feel better about the quality - the plaster casting I gave Mylochka of the big hair Barbie looks like she's got leprosy, by comparison...