Wesley Scoggins
Indy Mogul
Wesley's Weekly HOW TO: Basic Mask Making
A lot of people have asked about how to make reusable masks and other various questions about Latex Molding, so I finally decided to try to help all of those budding mask makers out there by showing some basic mask construction techniques.
The first thing you will need that will really make forming your own masks easier is a Styrofoam head. You can easily build basic prosthetics by shaping them out of clay and coating them in Liquid Latex then peeling it off after the latex dries, but a Styrofoam head helps you visualize head shape, and makes it MUCH easier to make face masks.
DIRECTIONS:
You're going to have to seal the pores of the foam because when you put latex onto it, the latex can get into the space between the foam and when you peel it off, foam beads will come with it. I suggest using acrylic craft paint to seal the foam, with some polyurethane on top of that. You can get both of these in little 12 ounce bottles at Wal-Mart or any decent sized art store for about 99 cents.
DO NOT use any spray paint, or spray lacquer on your head, or it will look like your foam head has a horrible case of small pox, and you don't want that. You don't want that at all.
After you've sealed the head and let it dry, you're ready to start in with the clay.
I like DAS Air Drying Modeling Material for this; it has good consistency, it's relatively inexpensive, it dries rather quickly (about an hour instead of DAYS), its sandable, and most importantly, Latex doesn't stick to it. I have not had any problems peeling anything off of DAS, and it gives just a little when you peel and leaves a dusty residue on the inside of the mold. This is good because it keeps you from having to dust the mold with corn starch or talcum powder beforehand.
But just kind of pull it out, and start squeezing it onto the head and shape it however you want it. It's a good idea to have a glass of water sitting nearby so you can keep it wet and shape it easier. You can also carve into this material when it dries. Chip away at it, and sand it, and just work with it until it looks how you want it too.
You can make really big cheeks to create a fuller face, heavy bags and wrinkles for an aging effect, or shape ridges or other face structures to create everything from enhanced zombie to monster to Alien makeups.
The possibilities are nearly endless with what you can shape onto the head. Some really good advice is to get some reference photographs of whatever you are shaping, like if you're making an advanced zombie mask, get some pictures of some Zombies off of Google and print them out and have them hanging up next to your work table so you have something to help guide your progress.
If your mask is less "conventional," make some sketches beforehand, or even get some photos of animals or things that look similar to what you're working with.
With this head, I am doing a very simple "Mutant" mask because it utilizes a lot of the most basic techniques that are needed in mask construction.
After I lightly dried the clay with a blow dryer, I started rubbing Liquid Latex onto the head with a gloved hand. I didn't use a brush because this job doesn't have to be real smooth since it's a Mutant and it's skin isn't really going to be real smooth, but if you want smoother skin use a disposable foam brush. It'll give your Liquid Latex a more even distribution, but it soaks into it real easy and seals it up, so you'll probably have to get a few of them.
Here's a bit of a tangent but you can make bald caps really easily with a foam head, just layer it on with your foam brush or your hand about 2-3 layers. It'll last you a long time because it's so thick, BUT REMEMBER, either get some wet clay and rub the head down, or talcum it before you put it on. With the Polyurethane seal you won't have a problem peeling it off because latex doesn't stick to it, but if it isn't internally AND externally dusted, it'll stick together when you're peeling it off, and that can ruin it.
I used flour for my cap. I dusted it and rubbed the flour into the latex throughly before I peeled it off. Now you can easily create your own bald caps for whatever need you have, whenever you want.
Now back to the face mask, I attached a piece I had made earlier on the mask for the upper part of the face. I wanted the upper part thicker for this mask, because I wanted to kind of blend the brows together, and I had a lot of things I was going to attach onto it.
This arrangment also gives a kind of slit that goes across the cheeks like a heavy wrinkle, and you can use this same effect where you layer pieces of latex to make things like cheek gills if you're making a Gillman mask, or deep heavy scars like Kakihara from Ichi the Killer.
Deeper textures can be added to the face by making a Negative Mold with clay. Just flatten out a hunk of clay and you can use a smooth glass or bottle to flatten it out nice and even, then just carve into it with a pencil, or any kind of clay shaping tools you might have. Poke into it with the eraser tip to make warts, or carve into it to make long scars, lacerations, or veiny bulges.
Anything with a texture can be ran over the clays surface, and you can layer it with latex and make part of a mask out of it. Bubble Wrap, Wire Mesh, anything with a texture can be pushed into the clay, and a positive texture can be created by putting latex onto it and peeling it off.
Latex can be cut up and added to your mask however you see fit, but it's easier to incorporate it into the mask if the edges are very thin, so while it's drying, push the edges of the drying latex into tapered edges.
Just put some wet latex down, and it will stick together firmly. Latex's amazing ability to stick together is one of the reasons it's so easy to add things to masks, or take parts from other masks and incorporate them into your own masks. It's also the reason you should use VINYL gloves if at all possible instead of LATEX gloves, because while you can just peel latex off of Vinyl, with Latex gloves things get a bit trickier, so just try to find some vinyl gloves instead of latex.
But all together with this mask, I have layed down about 4 thick layers with the gloves, letting it dry between each layer, so now I'm ready to peel it off.
The mask popped off pretty easy for me, and it's pretty sturdy and thick. I checked it for strength and to make sure it's not missing anything as I'm pulling it off.
You can also use Spirit Gum to attach the mask to your face, but I'm using Liquid Latex because I want to try to seal the seams, when it meets the bald cap.
Also, I tore the bald cap in places for the mask. Since I was doing a mutant, I wanted my hair to look kind of patchy like I had radiation burns on my head, so I went at it with my swiss army knife and poked some holes into it,
After I made a ring of Liquid Latex onto my face, I squeezed the mask on, and with some help tried to seal the edges of the mask with more latex. I went over it with a blow dryer on low, just to dry the latex, and to get the horrible latex fumes out of my face.
A little bit of cream paint later and I look much more Mutant-y, rawr.
But I'm not loving how this looks. I think I look too Zombie-ish, so I mix up some orange paint with some latex, and I go over it with that. I put some Strawberry syrup in my mouth (You can easily put some green dye or some other color) and I like how this looks a little bit more. Add the rest of the horrible radioactive mutant costume (I would think a raggedy hood and robe) and I would look much more convincing. (Remember a mask is only PART of any costume, to make a convincing character you also need costume, and most importantly be good at acting the part.)
With this mask, it can easily be pulled off (remember to shave first) and stored (preferably on a foam head or the like), to be used next time you need some horrible orange mutant face.
Thank you for reading, and if you have anymore questions about the effect, or how to make a specific mask, ask below, or on the forums, and I will try to answer as best as I can.
-Wes
P.S. - Thank you Forum Member Zabren for assisting me with the make-up on the mask.
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