Development | clarehedgesmua

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

The first life cast of my model was not very successful as I forgot to alginate his septum. I feel I did not alginate enough of the nose in general as I was anxious and rushed the cast.

When cleaning up the cast, I learnt that all facial hair such as the beard, eyebrows and lashes should be removed from the cast. I did this using a tool and gently exfoliating the mould using a the rough side of a kitchen sponge.

I decided that it was best to life cast my model again. I was much happier with the result the second time round. I focused on the middle section of the face as this is the part that I required for my eyebags and nose piece. This also meant that I did not use any unneccessary materials.

I decided to create clay walls around my cast before pouring the plaster into it. This gave it a much better shape and then made it easier to work on. I then used a scraper to sand down the edges. I think it looks a lot neater.

FLOATING OFF

As I wanted to create my pieces as accurately to my models faces as I possible, I decided that using the 'floating off' technique would be best.

I brushed on the parting agent Scopas to my plaster cast and allowed it to dry. I only applied one layer of Scopas and found that it may have been best to add a couple of layers, as when I was sculpting I found that some of the Scopas was peeling off.

Once the sculpt is almost finished, it is submerged in water which then reacts with the parting agent. The sculpt is then much easier to remove from the cast and can then be put onto a tile for the edges to be blended out.

I really liked this technique and would use it again.

MOULDING & SCULPTING EYE BAGS

I found the eyebags difficult and partly forgot that the project is based on a portrait which is stylized and therefore does not need to be need to look exactly as an eyebag may look.

I initially made my grounding too thick and placed the outer wall too far out which would have been a big waste of materials. This is something that was pointed out to me and I will now ensure that I consider this more when grounding up my sculpts. The inner wall is also uneven and does not look neat.

I made the inner wall much thinner and bought the outer wall further inwards however forgot to take a picture of this.

This picture of my silicone mould shows how far out my original outer wall was and also shows the change in width I made to my inner wall. I used 35 A + 35 B to create the mould.

I created an excessive amount of grounding when creating my closed mould piece which was a waste of plaster. I also did not square off the plaster to a flat surface. I later found this would be useful for after I had poured the gelatin, as I needed to have a flat surface so that I could rest weight on the mould without it moving. Instead, I had to place the mould in a bowl padded with paper to secure it.

This is the nose 'bump' gelatin piece created by my closed mould. I could possibly use less gelatin as I ended up cutting a large amount of it away. I think the edge of this is a good thinness. I applied quite a lot of weight onto the mould with this piece. I created a second gelatin bump, but with less weight on it whilst it set which had much thicker edges.

This bump could also be created using encapsulated silicone however for this nose piece it is much quicker and cheaper to create the bump out of gelatin.

The edges around my second gelatin nose are thicker as I did not put enough weight on it when it was setting.

I practised with applying the piece to myself however once again, I forgot to put sealer on the gelatin. I found this very frustrating as this is now the second time that I have done this. I also feel that I did not apply enough prosaide to the piece as when I started to blend the edges with witch hazel, the edges lifted quite a lot. I still feel I need much more practice with applying and getting a nice blended edge.

I also took pictures with my face painted with natural skin tones of the painting however I took the photos on my iphone which did not show up the paint enough. With my next test I shall use my proper camera and perhaps darken the tones slightly.

DRESSING POSTICHE

I found dressing my postiche difficult as I had not done it since first year and was anxious that I would ruin my pieces. I first tonged my moustache to a point which I felt would be the right length. I trimmed this while the moustache was against my models face during my formative to get it to the right length.

I found dressing my eyebrow very frustrating and really struggled to get the hairs to go in the right direction. I later realised why - I had made the mistake of dressing the wrong eyebrow. This means I will have to add hairs to the other brow so that it follows the initial template.

I used the marcel tongs to give the brow a natural wave. I also put the hairs in the position a light layer of moustache wax I wanted and then used cling film to tightly hold the hair in place. This was a technique that Pete had seen used in industry.

BEARD PAINTING

My models natural beard is light with some tones of ginger in. This may be useful when painting his beard, as there are some areas on my portrait with lighter and ginger hairs.

This was my first attempt at painting my beard on my model. I used too much black in the colouring and made the colour too heavy. I also did not look at the other shades in the beard.

This was my second attempt at painting the beard. The left side is still heavy however I added the warmer tones to the chin and individually painted some of the hairs. I have applied the paint on the right side more lightly and with miminal black. I feel this is more subtle than the first attempt however I still need to practice this.

EXPERIMENTING WITH COLOUR

I experimented with putting on my eyebag however I accidentally folded over the edge when applying it. I used skin illustrator on my eyebag which I feel worked well. I also wanted to see the impact that lighting could have on my face. Although my face is inverted in comparison to my portrait, I feel that the lighting has created a similar darkness on my face. This was before I had painted the rest of my face with the orange tones of my portrait. I do not intend to add excessive shadow to my model however I do want to accentuate the natural shadows.

I found the illustrator was too transluecent to use on its own and would not simulate the oil portrait well. I also found that it was not very smooth looking and became quite patchy when I tried to layer on the colour.

Patchy skin illustrator test

Combination of skin illustrator and grease paints

I feel that the illustrators would work well as a base particuarly the Krystan Mallet pallet as it has several good flesh tones. I then used the natural colour grease with some light browns to keep the subtlety which is found in my portrait. In my first attempt, I used far too many dark reds, browns and blacks. This time I am accentuating natural shadows and I intend to use heavy lighting to create the heavy shadows.

I applied olive and orange based colours to the cheeks and forehead however these have been bleached out by the natural light. This is something which I shall consider and will practice with heavier natural colours to ensure that the colour is not lost when photographed.

Although I ruined one of the edges, I am quite happy with the application and painting of the eyebag. I feel this has worked much better than my first formative attempt.

MAKING OLD AGE STIPPLE

Place 90 grams of Schram Foam Latex Base in an 8-oz paper cup.
In another paper cup mix together 10 grams of talc U.S.P., 6 grams of pulverized cake makeup of whatever shade you want for the makeup, and 1 teaspoon of plain Knox gelatine.
Stir 3 tablespoons of hot water into the powders, one at a time, until they are dissolved.
Stir the solution slowly into the latex, then pour the mixture into glass jars.
Place the open jars into hot water for 10 minutes, and stir occasionally
Cap the jars and keep them refrigerated until needed.
To prepare the mixture for use, heat a jar of the mixture in hot water until the contents becomes liquefied.
To use the latex mixture, stipple it over the stretched skin, and keep the skin stretched until it is dry and has been powdered.

Dick Smiths recipe:

We tested the stipple however did not dry the eye lid properly and also did not immediatlely powdered which resulted in my eyelid sticking together. This definitely creates a better edge than when I have tested latex to use in a similar way in the past.

TEST

I am happy with the placement of my eyebag although initially thought it may be too low. I am happy with the edge of the piece.

This picture does not show the true colours of the make up. I did not organise my time as well as I could, as I should have made sure that I had scheduled a time to do a make up test in the make up studios. The lighting in my house is very orange and it made it difficult to see the make up in a true light. The moustache is not yet fully dress and will need to be trimmed slightly more on the day. I am happy with the dark painted beard looks.

I experimented with using skin illustrator and grease paints combined and prefer using them together. I feel illustrator alone is too transluecent and greasepaint can be too heavy. I like the combination however I am not happy with the colours and will need to keep experimenting.

DELAMINATING - FLAT PIECES

I kept having the same problem with my flat pieces, where my cap plastic would not adhere to the silicone and therefore would not encapuslate it. I tried again and once again found the same problem.

I soon found out this may be due to the fact I had been forgetting to vaseline the mould each time. Other factors may be that it was left too long under heat.

TEST

In my formative assessment, I struggled with the edge on my gelatin nose. Although my placement is not right in this test (piece should be higher on nose), I feel that the edges are better. One side is still much better than the other. I found that I would get the edges neat and then once it was painted they would lift again.

I did not place the eyebags in the correct place as they do not sit into the natural eye socket. I also stuck part of my lower eye to itself, this glue when painted looked messy. I am however happy with the edges on these eye bags. I intend to buy some mattifying cream to take away the shine on my pieces.

With these pieces, I also experimented with different ways to apply my flat pieces as I was unsure which would be the best method. By this, I mean that I was unsure whether to remove the flat piece from the sillicone grounding or apply it still in the grounding. I found it was much easier to remove the piece, particuarly around the eye as it is a delicate area and I wanted to avoid any discomfort.

I experimented with using the old age stipple that I had made, I found that it worked well on my upper lid. I had wanted some wrinkles around the eye bag however I found this usuccessful - I feel this is because there was not much wrinkling/movement in that area to start with. I have decided from this test that using the stipple would be beneficial for my portrait.

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These pictures are a little ridiculous however I wanted to re-create the shadow and I did not have the hat I would be using for my model at this time. However a laptop case recreated the shadow well. I had felt that the shadows under the eyebags had been too dark however once under the light I feel they work well. I think they should still be a little lighter. This reinforced to me that the lighting will create the shadows.

I have organised a photographer and have a studio booked after my assessment so that I can try and recreate the most similar lighting possible.

Apologies, please scroll down ( to about half way down the scroll bar). Once again website has created strange border and shifted my work downwards.

I struggled dressing the eyebrows as I could not style them to the right thickness. I also found that it difficult using the Marcels and making the hair sit how I wanted it to. I eventually managed to tame the hair after a lot of tonging and trimming. I still feel the eyebrows are too thick and may need further layering and trimming.