Georgie Kennett
Professional Make-Up Project
Full Head Cast
Reference: Doran, B. (2014) Prop: Shop - Creating a Life Cast Bust with Alginate. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVip4-hmZmw (Accessed: 5 April 2015).
The video above shows the process of an alginate head cast. This is a slightly different process to the video shown below but just shows an alternative way of doing the head cast.
These 7 pages have been taken from the Todd Debreceni book called Special Make-Up Effects. These 7 pages 110-117 explain how to demonstrate a cast of the face.
Book Reference: Debreceni,T. (2013). Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics. 2nd edition. Abingdon, Oxon: Focal Press.
Brick In The Yard Mold Supply (2009) Mold Making Face Cast With 880 Alginate. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRfuuUrgv8o (Accessed: 10 April 2015)
Silicone Head Cast
Again the alginate is continually being applied over the head all in one go before the alginate begins to turn and cure. As you can see the model does not have his mouth open yet this will be a cast with an open mouth.
Here the alginate is being applied over the back of the head first, the model has a shaved head but release has been applied over the hair and facial hair including eyebrows and eyelashes etc.
The alginate is applied down over the face and neck making sure the nose remains clear at all times, the models neck is back so that the cast will look the same as the model will have his mouth open.
The plaster was removed from the model around the shoulders first so the cast would come off. In the picture above the cast has been removed and you can see the alginate layer and the plaster bandage shell over it.
The plaster bandage is being applied over the head, the only difference is is that the plaster has been applied from the front right back to just after the crown area, this is not the best way to do a head cast as the head becomes smaller after the crown therefore the cast can be difficult to remove over the larger section of the head.
This is the stage where the model then opens their mouth. The alginate is starting to set but before it does the model opens their mouth, this is so that the mouth only remains open for the shortest amount of time possible to prevent strain and discomfort.
Here the back of the head has been sculpted onto the front, this could also be done by casting the back off the head and attaching the two clay copies together. However both techniques work. For prosthetics the shell would be filled with plaster to make a plaster copy of the face to sculpt the prosthetics onto.
Here the alginate copy of the face and the plaster bandage shell has been removed to leave the clay face.
The shell with the alginate cast inside was then filled with liquid clay poured into it to create a clay copy of the face this is more so used for sculptures when no prosthetics are being made.
Alginate Head Cast
Below is a Stan Winston dvd on how to carry out a silicone head cast. The process below shows the same techniques taught in our demonstration, The plaster bandage is applied in the same way also.