Part 2 Making a Latex Prosthetic

The Messiest Step

Okay, so now that you've got your plaster face made, it's time to stick things on it!  The kind of clay you want for this is the kind that doesn't dry at room temperature.  So don't buy the pottery type of clay, and don't waste money on Fimo clay, because it's expensive and you're probably going to have to throw it away because of all the plaster chunks that will be in it afterwards.  Just get the cheap kind that's next to the crayons and white glue, that kind.

I'm also going to just do this for pretend in the photos, since I already made my mold and had to knock it apart with a hammer to get it off the plaster face.

So put your clay on your mask exactly how you want the latex mask to look when it's done.  Make sure you feather out the edges so you don't have a big, dumb-looking ridge around the edge.  And think about whether it will stab you in the eye when you're done with it.  You can certainly cut the mask after it's done, but it might look better if you've got it all planned out ahead of time.

See, around the eye here, where the purple part bridges across between the pointy parts?  That's so the mask doesn't stab me in the eye when it's on.  All these grooves were made with toothpicks, so the kind of tools you need for the project depend on what you want to make.

You don't want to try to glue anything to your face really close to your eye, especially not with Spirit Gum.

Okay, so you have your clay all on your plaster face exactly how you want it.  Now to make a dam around the clay so that you can put the wet plaster onto it.  This will use cardboard, tape, more clay, in order to make the edge around the mask nearly waterproof.

Here's the cardboard layer.

Cut it pretty close to the shape of the face, and make the volume it encircles as small as possible so that it uses less plaster and is more structurally sound.  You will also notice it is inside a cardboard box, and once you have the whole thing set up, you should put the whole shebang inside a plastic tub, including the cardboard box.

Then you have to stick it all together with clay and tape to keep the plaster from breaking loose.

You will be doing this both on the inside and outside of the cardboard, as well as you can.  You don't want the plaster to flow underneath the mask, or inside any indents like the nostril holes, since then it will be permanently attached to your plaster face.  You also want your project to sit as level as possible, so when you pour the plaster, there aren't a lot of thin spots at one end.

I didn't make my original one level enough, so at the nose area of the mask it was really thin.

Any plaster that is still showing after you put the cardboard dam around it, you should put a layer of vaseline on to keep the plaster from sticking to itself.  In the video on the Part 1 post, the videomaker puts a layer of wood glue or white glue on the plaster mold, and I haven't done that on mine, so I can't speak to that.

And now the exciting part!  You should also have extra clay, rags, extra tape, dirty underwear off your bedroom floor that you don't care about anymore, anything that you might use to head off disaster if the mold fails.

Mix the plaster as the package tells you to.  I never mix the right amount to start with, but as long as you mix it at around the same time, it shouldn't cause an issue.  Fill up the cardboard dam so that the plaster comes up above every part of the mask by half an inch/ one centimetre or more.  Anything thinner than that is basically guaranteed to break.

I bought the microwaveable plaster, but I didn't do anything involving microwaves, just mixed it the normal way.  So once your plaster is poured, and sitting in its cardboard tub, in its plastic tub, away from where cats will jump into it, let it dry.

I didn't let mine dry all the way, since it was obvious that some had gone underneath the mask, and I had to do damage control.  So I let it dry until it looked solid, and all the parts that had broken through the dam looked dry, but it still felt damp.

Then I hit it medium delicately with a hammer.  I took off the cardboard dam, and pried it loose from the cardboard tub, and then knocked off the blobs that had gone around the back.  Wear safety glasses for this, since plaster is sharp.  So I knocked off the blobs that were surrounding the back of the plaster face, and then as gently as possible hit it on the front of the mask.  The goal here was just to get it to shake loose from the plaster face without breaking it.  I totally broke it, though.  It only went into a couple pieces, so I taped it back together, and let it dry the rest of the way off of the plaster face.

I'll continue with Part 3 on Friday.

Supplies needed for this step:

More plaster
Cardboard
Tape
Non-drying clay
The plastic tub from before
Rags
Vaseline

Amount of time for this step: 2-3 days
Amount of time for Step 1: 2 days, and shipping time for all the things you ordered.

Part 1:  http://allofthecostumes.blogspot.com/2018/06/part-1-making-latex-prosthetic.html
Part 3:  http://allofthecostumes.blogspot.com/2018/06/part-3-making-latex-prosthetic.html
Makeup: http://allofthecostumes.blogspot.com/2018/07/makeup-for-doctor-strange-villains.html