Latex casting

[Andy.tom]

I was just wondering if any one has any experiencing with latex casting. I wanted to make a latex cast of some skin has any advice to offer?

[eidde]

hello

yes Ive done this
What do you want to make?
Ive used plaster of paris, and cast a face, and then created a latex copy of their face with this.
Also made a large rubber mask from a clay/paper mache sculpture, much the same process.

What is it your making?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 20, 2005 05:29 AM: Message edited by: eidde ]</font>

[Andy.tom]

An arm or part of an arm for a self harm scene.(I tried to get the actor to do it on them self but they weren't having any of it)

[untamed_aggression]

Originally posted by eidde:
Ive used plaster of paris, and cast a face, and then created a latex copy of their face with this.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Did the castee loose their eyelashes in the mold? In that what I've heard happens [img]tongue.gif[/img]

For FX info, I return to place I've linked to many a time on many forums: The Monster Lab

[eidde]

Hi There

I guess it also depends on how much self harm the
person is doing.
You could either make an entire false arm, or just an area of skin. Obviously the bigger and more complex the cast, and the longer the shot the more difficult it will be to make look real (ie: a hand is very hard to make effectivley).

In any case an arm should be pretty easy.
Buy some plaster of paris.
make a cardboard or wooden box to sit around the actors arm - to hold the plaster.
Mix plaster to a creamy consistency.
and pour it over the area you want to cast, in layers.
Pull it off gently, (eyeballs and all -)
paint with liquid latex- paint as many layers as you can be arsed to - or whatever the effect calls for. Ive found the more the better. Its also best to leave it to dry before applying the next layer - but you needthe patience of a saint.
leave it for a couple of days to dry
peel it out.
Use professional make up to paint it (Ive found that skin tone actually has a GREEN in it, which suprised me. And looked a hell of a lot better than just the flesh colours.....)

Thats the absolute basic.

But it you want to show someone say cutting their arm, you have all sorts of options - depending on how much money you have.
You could make the cast.
then cast a positive from a rubber powder you can get.
Then build up the positive a bit in the area you want to wound.
Make another plaster cast of that and a latex skin.
This will make like a bubble of latex in the skin patch that you can stick on their arm and cut.

Latex doesnt cut very well (being rubber) so if they are razoring their arm, try pretty thin latex - just one or two layers. You may need to experiment.

Im not explaining this very well, but there are loads of sites (google search) that describe the process with photos etc.

And no he didnt loose eyeballs, but he lost nasal and bit of beard hair - which actually got transfered onto the latex model....which was pretty gross.
Mind you when I blew a fake head up the eyeballs did shoot out. You can just make it out.

Made me laugh anyway.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 24, 2005 05:18 AM: Message edited by: eidde ]</font>

[Andy.tom]

Thanks for the help I ll have a go and try to get some pics up when i get round to it.