Sculpture Progress

We are gaining traction with the development of the sculptures. The life casting of faces, hands and ears is complete. As described previously, we added a thin layer of vaseline as a release agent and used Oddbod for the life casting. Oddbod is great for capturing detail and is safe for skin application. To ensure the silicon mould retains its shape, we added a plaster bandage scaffold.

We used Easycast to cast the forms. It has a quick cure time which is well suited to this application. You will note that we needed to ensure the nose noles were closed to avoid resin seepage. Plasticine was also a must to concentrate the resin in the shape and avoid spills. On a WHS note: while Oddbod is skin safe, Polyurethane resins such as Easycast do require careful application - so wear gloves (nitrile), safety glasses and ensure you’re undertaking the process in a well ventilated area ;)

Once the life casts were complete, we needed to work on a strategy to attach them to the mannequins. Ideally, we should have left a concave shape in the ‘Bill’ face mould to allow the form to slot tightly into the estisting face. It’s been a while since we have done casting, so hindsight is hindsight and we needed to carve out the interior of the face with a drill and router combo. The underlying mannequin face also required ‘adjustment’ (i.e. the removal of prominent features resulting in a ‘Voldemort’ appearance).

My mannequin needed additional work as it was facing the wrong way and we wanted the figures to look like they were conversing. To make the necessary adjustments, we needed to cut off the head and add an elongated foam neck to slot back into the body. Again: safety first for all these activities - full PPE (face mask, gloves, overalls, glasses and extraction). And…shout out to UTAS tech expert Nic Randall for helping us with these solutions…

Once we had the mannequin and face mould prepared, we used a two-part epoxy glue (Megapoxy) to attach the form. Epoxy glue is pretty amazing stuff and produces a very strong bond after a 24 hour (or min. overnight) cure.

With the face attached, we then needed to move on filling in the surrounding area and then adding the ears . To create the basic shape, we opted for standard builder’s bog as a lower cost ‘filler’ option. Once the main form was established, we added a smooth top layer of two-part epoxy clay (Apoxie Sculpt and/or Free Form Sculpt). This was a good option as epoxy clay is strong and durable, but has a longer working time and can be sculpted to retain good detail.