![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pockysquirrel When we last saw our hapless heroine, she had successfully completed the first half of a two-part head mold as phase one of creating an Aquitian head mask.
...Sort of.
You see, even after allowing for extensive drying time, the thing simply refused to maintain structural integrity. So I scrapped it.
Alas, poor headmold. We barely knew ye.
But as they say, if at first you don't succeed...try again, dammit.
This weekend saw attempt number 2, and overall, things went better.
Save for the fact that I lost my wig cap, couldn't find a bathing cap at the first THREE stores I went to, and ultimately wound up taping half of a plastic shopping bag over my head.
No, I did not take a selfie this time.
Anyway.
Since I was out of plaster strips and also because the tutorial guy had retroactively recommended against it due to the safety concerns around putting plaster on your face, I used paper mache for my second attempt. For anyone (foolishly) thinking of trying this themselves, I highly recommend this method. The paper mache is MUCH easier to work with. You don't have to spend any money (I used a bunch of free sales circulars for the paper, and a flour/water mix for paste), it's easier to get the strips to stick where you want them to stick, they conform to the curves of your face better, and I made MAYBE 1/8 as much of a mess of both my bathroom and my person. I also only needed to wash my face once, and weirdly enough, my skin felt GREAT afterward.
Vaseline, flour, water, and newsprint = the next trend in facials? If you're reading this and you also own a posh day spa, call me.
Having learned from my previous experience, I also layered the FUCK out of this thing. Which resulted in it taking longer to dry completely, but it also has MUCH better structural integrity than the Mark I face mold.
And speaking of drying time. "10 minutes under the hair dryer should be sufficient" is, once again, a statement made of fail and lies. I made both parts of the mold this weekend, both of them dried quickly outside while the part against my skin stayed a sticky mess forever. I ended up taking both off prematurely, and both very nearly collapsed on me.
Consequently, the front half of the mold almost-but-not-quite fits my face at this point. I've therefore come to the conclusion that there is just no good way to do this, and what I've currently got is going to have to be good enough.
Onward and upward to head mold part 2. At least I managed to find a swim cap for this part.
Having decided that molding the front half of my head on my own was difficult enough, I enlisted assistance. My platonic life-mate Buggy was kind enough to come over today and offer her assistance! YAY. Reinforcements arrived, the swim cap went on, and the paste came out:
Oh yeah, we're dorks.
After all the paper mache was where it needed to be, I sat down in front of the fan and waited.
And then put the hair dryer to it for a few minutes for good measure.
And waited.
And waited more.
Bored Pocky is bored.
Finally, after roughly half an hour and two sessions with the hairdryer, I decided it was dry enough to take off.
LOL NOPE.
As was the case with the front, the outside was dry and the inside was a wet hot mess, and immediately I had a collapse on my hands. This resulted in me bolting from one end of my apartment to the other, mold in hand, chanting "Shit, shit, SHIT!" all the way, and finally plopping the thing down on my wig head so it would hold its shape for further drying.
I will probably add more layers for strength before I attempt to move it again, but I have the sinking suspicion that since, in my haste and desperation, I neglected to lube the styrofoam first, the wet paste on the inside of the mold may have glued itself to the wig head.
Fuck me sideways.
Anyway, here's the sum total of my work for the weekend:
Yay. :|
What I keep trying to tell myself is that this doesn't HAVE to be perfect. I'm not making something that requires the exact dimensions of my face. Really if wig heads resembled AT ALL the actual size and shape of a human skull, I would just use that to sculpt on and bypass this whole mess. But they don't, so the purpose of the mold is to provide something that's as much like the size and shape of my actual head as possible, so that the mask will actually FIT when it's done. Which I think - HOPE - I've accomplished. So if the face is a little wonky , that's okay because it's going to get a bunch of clay thrown on it anyway. And if the back of the head has lumps in it...well hey, so do Aquitians.
Speaking of, in preparation for the sculpting phase, I've embarked on a rewatch of MMAR for the sake of collecting reference screencaps. The good news is, I fucking love these episodes and watching them again is great. The bad news is, screencapping MMAR - which is hardly HD quality to begin with - from fucking Netflix on my laptop is NOT resulting in the image quality I had hoped for. They've been somewhat helpful, but there are some things...like I STILL can't tell what the hell the brooch-thing holding her sash on is supposed to be. Is it a seashell? Does anyone know?
If anyone knows where I can find HQ screenshots from these episodes, you will become my new favorite person.
I've also realized that the headpiece is going to need to do some things that latex alone flat-out can't - up to and including holding its shape with her ponytail sticking out the back of it - and that I'm going to need to do something to stiffen the piece once it's finally made, while somehow also allowing it to maintain enough flexibility to fit over my head.
AUGH.
Nevertheless, in optimistic anticipation of the day when the mask is DONE and I don't have to fucking worry about it anymore, I've done a bit of preliminary costume stuff as well. Including:
- Searching for appropriate boots on ebay
- Buying some craft-store seashells for use as the belt buckle and POSSIBLY the brooch-thing
- Ordering the first contact lenses I've ever worn in my 30 years of life because wearing my glasses with this thing on my head will be fuckall impossible and I'd rather like to be able to see the convention
Contacts are expected to arrive this week and will deserve a post of their own, I'm sure. Sculpting begins this weekend. Stay tuned!
...Sort of.
You see, even after allowing for extensive drying time, the thing simply refused to maintain structural integrity. So I scrapped it.
Alas, poor headmold. We barely knew ye.
But as they say, if at first you don't succeed...try again, dammit.
This weekend saw attempt number 2, and overall, things went better.
Save for the fact that I lost my wig cap, couldn't find a bathing cap at the first THREE stores I went to, and ultimately wound up taping half of a plastic shopping bag over my head.
No, I did not take a selfie this time.
Anyway.
Since I was out of plaster strips and also because the tutorial guy had retroactively recommended against it due to the safety concerns around putting plaster on your face, I used paper mache for my second attempt. For anyone (foolishly) thinking of trying this themselves, I highly recommend this method. The paper mache is MUCH easier to work with. You don't have to spend any money (I used a bunch of free sales circulars for the paper, and a flour/water mix for paste), it's easier to get the strips to stick where you want them to stick, they conform to the curves of your face better, and I made MAYBE 1/8 as much of a mess of both my bathroom and my person. I also only needed to wash my face once, and weirdly enough, my skin felt GREAT afterward.
Vaseline, flour, water, and newsprint = the next trend in facials? If you're reading this and you also own a posh day spa, call me.
Having learned from my previous experience, I also layered the FUCK out of this thing. Which resulted in it taking longer to dry completely, but it also has MUCH better structural integrity than the Mark I face mold.
And speaking of drying time. "10 minutes under the hair dryer should be sufficient" is, once again, a statement made of fail and lies. I made both parts of the mold this weekend, both of them dried quickly outside while the part against my skin stayed a sticky mess forever. I ended up taking both off prematurely, and both very nearly collapsed on me.
Consequently, the front half of the mold almost-but-not-quite fits my face at this point. I've therefore come to the conclusion that there is just no good way to do this, and what I've currently got is going to have to be good enough.
Onward and upward to head mold part 2. At least I managed to find a swim cap for this part.
Having decided that molding the front half of my head on my own was difficult enough, I enlisted assistance. My platonic life-mate Buggy was kind enough to come over today and offer her assistance! YAY. Reinforcements arrived, the swim cap went on, and the paste came out:
Oh yeah, we're dorks.
After all the paper mache was where it needed to be, I sat down in front of the fan and waited.
And then put the hair dryer to it for a few minutes for good measure.
And waited.
And waited more.
Bored Pocky is bored.
Finally, after roughly half an hour and two sessions with the hairdryer, I decided it was dry enough to take off.
LOL NOPE.
As was the case with the front, the outside was dry and the inside was a wet hot mess, and immediately I had a collapse on my hands. This resulted in me bolting from one end of my apartment to the other, mold in hand, chanting "Shit, shit, SHIT!" all the way, and finally plopping the thing down on my wig head so it would hold its shape for further drying.
I will probably add more layers for strength before I attempt to move it again, but I have the sinking suspicion that since, in my haste and desperation, I neglected to lube the styrofoam first, the wet paste on the inside of the mold may have glued itself to the wig head.
Fuck me sideways.
Anyway, here's the sum total of my work for the weekend:
Yay. :|
What I keep trying to tell myself is that this doesn't HAVE to be perfect. I'm not making something that requires the exact dimensions of my face. Really if wig heads resembled AT ALL the actual size and shape of a human skull, I would just use that to sculpt on and bypass this whole mess. But they don't, so the purpose of the mold is to provide something that's as much like the size and shape of my actual head as possible, so that the mask will actually FIT when it's done. Which I think - HOPE - I've accomplished. So if the face is a little wonky , that's okay because it's going to get a bunch of clay thrown on it anyway. And if the back of the head has lumps in it...well hey, so do Aquitians.
Speaking of, in preparation for the sculpting phase, I've embarked on a rewatch of MMAR for the sake of collecting reference screencaps. The good news is, I fucking love these episodes and watching them again is great. The bad news is, screencapping MMAR - which is hardly HD quality to begin with - from fucking Netflix on my laptop is NOT resulting in the image quality I had hoped for. They've been somewhat helpful, but there are some things...like I STILL can't tell what the hell the brooch-thing holding her sash on is supposed to be. Is it a seashell? Does anyone know?
If anyone knows where I can find HQ screenshots from these episodes, you will become my new favorite person.
I've also realized that the headpiece is going to need to do some things that latex alone flat-out can't - up to and including holding its shape with her ponytail sticking out the back of it - and that I'm going to need to do something to stiffen the piece once it's finally made, while somehow also allowing it to maintain enough flexibility to fit over my head.
AUGH.
Nevertheless, in optimistic anticipation of the day when the mask is DONE and I don't have to fucking worry about it anymore, I've done a bit of preliminary costume stuff as well. Including:
- Searching for appropriate boots on ebay
- Buying some craft-store seashells for use as the belt buckle and POSSIBLY the brooch-thing
- Ordering the first contact lenses I've ever worn in my 30 years of life because wearing my glasses with this thing on my head will be fuckall impossible and I'd rather like to be able to see the convention
Contacts are expected to arrive this week and will deserve a post of their own, I'm sure. Sculpting begins this weekend. Stay tuned!
