Mask Effect

Thane Bust

2013-10-25T04:59:00.000-07:00

It was time for a new sculpture in hope of making a fantastic overhead latex mask.
The pics show the progression of the sculp up to the casting stage.

I was really pleased with the sculp but yet again it was my lack of concentration and impatients that let me down. I didn't mix the plaster at the correct ratios and it did not set. Yet another lesson learned though. Onwards and upwards.

Iron man mask

2013-05-25T07:28:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed working with foam when i made the armour, so with the remaining foam i decided to make a helmet.
Of course Iron Man was the obvious choice.

Here is the pieces hot glued together, then painted and finally detailed to look battle damaged.

Gears of War C.O.G. Armour

2013-01-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

This is my first costume build. It's a simplified version of the armour used in the video game Gears of War 3. I made it using foam matting, similar to camping ground mats but a bit thicker. I made a few templates with card then cut matching pieces out of the foam. It was all attached together using a hot glue gun.

The great thing about using foam mats is that you can use a heat gun to bend and shape them to get something that fits the contours of your body.

To get the armour to look 'battle damaged' I used a pretty good trick. All I did was spray silver spray paint onto the rough side of a sponge and scraped away at each of the edges. I used a Dremel to add extra detail. This was especially good for creating holes that look like screws.

I glued some velcro patches on the straps under the arms for easy removal ...et voila, one simple Gears of War C.O.G. Armour. Maybe I will try something more elaborate next time. Such as a full set of armour from the Mass Effect series.

Halloween 2012

2012-11-08T05:37:00.000-08:00

Here's the Bane mask on Halloween.

Bane Mask

2012-11-01T09:33:00.000-07:00

I decided to make my own take on the new bane mask from The Dark Knight Rises. The process is the exact one that I used on my Kryten mask in an earlier post.

Here's the clay sculpt,

After casting and molding I had a pretty decent overhead mask. I did decide however, that I would look silly in a bald wig with the cut out Bane mask. So I needed a new plan. I decided on a mix between the new Bane and the comic book Bane. I searched the google tubes but could only really find two examples of this being done. This one is simply a repainted new bane with an old comic Bane mask underneath and this one I think is just an artists impression.

This idea meant I could keep the overhead latex mask intact and paint a design on the front.

Here's the finished product.

I used 'Stretchi Paints' to paint the white detailing.

I shall use red contacts underneath for halloween night.

Death Mask

2012-03-27T08:50:00.002-07:00

Simple death mask made from latex. Using plaster bandages to cast my face. I made this a while ago but have just found it amongst some old stuff.

Steampunk Lego Rings

2012-02-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

I have made these rings from vintage lego pieces and cogs and gears from old watches.

Unfortunately, I didn't make the epic Steampunk corset.

I will start selling these on Ebay soon if anyone is interested? Take a look at my listings here:

"mask_effect"

Cat mane comes to life

2012-02-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of my cat with his lovely lion's mane, having a little maul to mastodon.

LION SLICER!!!!!!

Cat Mane

2012-01-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here is my Kitty cat, Angus.

I made him a lovely lion's mane to make him look terrifyingly fearsome!

You can't leave that lion there!

I love the ears that pop through, making it look "realistic".

Steampunk Zombie

2011-11-24T03:16:00.001-08:00

I was my birthday a while back and I had a steampunk theme night out at a burlesque show. Me being me, I had to zombify the situation.

You can't really see the detail above but there are tiny cogs within the latex make up on my face. This made a great shotgun blasted effect. Cog contact lenses looked great too.

The goggles were normal welding goggles that I sprayed copper and brass and glued some old watch parts to the lenses for a more steampunky look. Other accessories were my arm greave, made from feax leather and old watch parts, giant brass keys on my belt and my lady friend's gun holster.

It was a fantastic night.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

So here it is...Bioshock splicer costumes on halloween,

We each made our own mask in different ways and from different materials.

Bird splicer, Cat splicer, Rabbit splicer, Raven splicer. (Below left to right)

Close up of my bunny splicer,

Bowser Pumpkin

2011-10-26T11:19:00.000-07:00

Halloween time means Pumpkin carving time!

This is my first ever attempt at carving a pumkin so I'm afraid I have been utterly uncreative. I just found a nice template of bowser online somewhere and set about with my carving knives.

Looks good though don't it?

Bioshock splicer mask

2011-10-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Halloween is close approaching and my friends and I have decided to all go as splicers from the fantastic game Bioshock. We are all making different masks and I chose to be the bunny/ rabbit splicer. I had a quick look on the google tubes for any rabbit masks I could purchase and modify but couldn't find anything that would be suitable. So here is what I did....

Firstly I casted the upper half of my face with plaster bandages, which are quite cheap from craft shops.

I made a small ridge at the top over the hair so I could attach some ears later. A great advantage of making a mask this way is that it will fit your face perfectly and snuggly when you wear it later on.

I cut some cardboard in the shape of rabbit ears and attached them with more plaster at the back of the mask.

Next, I built up the mask with plaster bandages to make it smoother and more rigid. I trimmed under the nose to make it look more bunny shaped and added three elastic straps to the sides. Three was needed because the plaster can get heavy after a few layers.

Finally I added the detail using some gold paint I had lying around. All I have to do now is add lots of blood splatter and maybe draw on a few fake cracks...I'm still undecided.

I am pleased with the result considering the small amount of time I used on this project. I will post pictures of me and my splicer buddies after halloween.
Sooooo excited now

Kryten Mold

2011-08-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

After securing the two halves of the plaster cast with duct tape, you can begin to fill it with latex.

Four or five coats later the mask was carefully removed.

I am very pleased with the result. Although, after a few days the colour of the mask darkened to a sickly orange. I would have prefered it to have kept this light flesh colour as this is close to the actual colour of the character.

The excess Latex is trimmed with scissors and eye and nostril holes are created before wearing.

Although this has turned out better than expected, there are still many imperfections and discolourations to the mask. This gives me the idea to create some sort of zombie Kryten costume. Possibly even a zombie version of the entire cast of Red Dwarf, if I could get some friends involved.

Kryten Cast

2011-08-02T04:04:00.000-07:00

Time to cast the sculp properly this time.

Spray the entire piece with 'Krystal Clear' which is a sort of varnish. This is to ease the removal of the plaster later on.

Next, make a dividing wall. I put three keys in as well (the nobbly bits of clay on the wall) to help when the two halves of the cast need to be put back together.

Then slop on the plaster, making sure to cover the whole surface AND the dividing wall.

I think I put three thick layers of plaster on, with the second and third layers I added 'Jute Scrim' to strengthen the cast.

When this dried I removed the wall, covered the exposed plaster with copius amounts of vaseline and casted the second half.

After drying, gently prise apart the two halfs using a srewdriver or similar.

Remove the mannequin head and the clay et voila a cast for a Kryten mask.

Kryten Sculp

2011-08-02T03:03:00.000-07:00

So here's the attempt at a simple mask....

KRYTEN from RED DWARF

Again, this is oil based clay which has been built up over a mannequin's head, which has been wrapped in cling film. This is to stop the clay ruining the polystyrene head.

This was a process of refining the basic shape of Kryten's head and smoothing the clay carefully. This took a long time to get to something I was happy with...

Behold Kryten.

If at first...

2010-11-23T13:16:00.000-08:00

Ok so I finally manage to get a free day in my diary to try out my first mask. I had already been working on the clay sculp for a month or so. I built it up one tiny piece at a time until it looked something like this,

Some of you may recognise that this is the character Garrus from the Mass Effect games.

To create masks that will cover the entire head you need to cast it in two halfs. So first I made a dividing wall out of clay like below,

Next I covered one half in plaster and let it set,

When it set I removed the dividing wall carefully and covered the other half with plaster,

....and then, when that side had dried, I carefully pulled the two halfs apart reveiling a perfect cast for my mask..

But unfortunately

lifes not like that....

The plaster cracked and crumbled through my hands whilst also destroying my beautiful clay sculpture.

sigh.

Next time I'm going to create something much simpler and put a lot more plaster in the mold. Stay tuned.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

What do you get if you take half a bald wig, half a dentists lip retractor (or Harvey Dentures LOL), one bloodshot contact and a whole bunch of corpse paint and liquid latex....?

A pretty tasty two-face.

Halloweens from my late teens

2010-11-09T11:03:00.000-08:00

From these pictures you can chart how my interest in make-up effects has progressed year by year....

2007: Corpse paint and contact lenses.
I modelled the face on an Uruk-Hai from LOTR. I used Snazaroo face paint (and will continue to due to its immense quality) and found out how awesome contacts make any costume.

2008: The Outfit.
Combining the corpse paint and contacts with a full outfit. This is me as the spirit of jazz from the Mighty Boosh. My hat's on fire!

2009: Just add friends.
Use all of the above and make your friend do the same. Twice the awesome! Also notice Im using tooth blackener now omnom.

God I love Halloween!