My first ever silicone mask casting

MAEVE LÉVESQUE

Today, I finally cast my first silicone mask.

I never even imagined that it would come out that good for a first shot. I'm without words. 

I have to say a huge thanks to everybody here at Stan Winston school, and a huge thanks to George Frangadakis, Andrew Freeman, and Mike Cooke from Immortal masks for making those courses. 

I believe I found my path, thanks to all of you!

Now I only have a tiny question:

There are small parts where I can see a bit of the powermesh under the silicone where it's thinner. Do you suggest I thicken those region when patching? Or since the powermesh holds it all I can just paint over it? Is there a minimum thickness I should never go under? 

Thanks a lot again for your help  

Chris Ellerby

Congrats on your first silicone mask, it looks amazing!

If you can see the power mesh there are a few possible causes:
1:  The silicone is too thin in the area
2:  The mesh is too close to the surface, either from the silicone being thin or the mesh floating up towards the surface.
3:  Th silicone is too translucent

In your case, it may be too thin where the mesh is visible on the side of the nose and the recess on the back of the head.  This can be concealed with painting, as you suggested.  You should also be careful when putting the mask on and removing it, as those sections will be more likely to tear.

Fantastic results for your first silicone mask!  

/Chris

Todd Watson

Really nice work! 

Another couple of options are to mix to mix up some smooth-on psycho paint, tinted with your base color, and lightly brush it on in layers over any areas where your power mesh texture shows thru until you’re happy with the thickness. If there’s enough silicone there in the first place that none shows thru, just bump up the opacity of your psycho paint when you base it out. 

You can use upholstery sponges to give a little pore texture once the top layer gets tacky. Just make sure it’s not latex foam, which will inhibit the silicone and prevent it from curing. 

Use naphtha to ‘open’ the pores of the silicone, and do repairs and patching as soon as possible once your mask is out for best paint bonding.

Another option is to sand down your buck at the thin spots. This will affect it for future things like prosthetics, but if this buck is ‘married’ to, or only used with this mold, it’s a way to get back a little more thickness in those spots for future castings.

I’ve used both these techniques and they’ve worked great. 

Also, pin stuck through a little square of paper is an easy way to gauge clay depth across your sculpt before you mold too. Put the paper almost to the end of the pin, then push it into the clay until you hit the buck. When you pull it out, the amount of pin showing under the paper is your clay depth. Anything under 1/4’ is dangerous, even with power mesh.

Good luck, keep it up! 

Todd Watson

Oh, one more thing! 
As Chris mentioned, if your mesh is ‘floating up’ during casting, tacking it to the buck in a few trouble spots with Psycho Paint will help hold it in place against the buck while you fill the mold. Just in spots and make sure there’s enough mesh left open for good bonding with your mask silicone.

Psycho paint is the Swiss Army knife of platinum silicones. It bonds to almost anything you throw at it if you get to it quickly enough before and after casting.