Dear boyfriend will be dressing as Pavi Largo at this Friday’s midnight showing of Repo! The Genetic Opera, which presented a really interesting crafty challenge for me. Pavi’s distinguishing characteristic is his obsession with women, and more specifically, stealing their faces and wearing them. I’ve wanted to try my hand at mask making and prosthetics for a while now, and I thought it would be fun to make a mask of my face for him to wear.
[singlepic id=266 w=240 h=188 float=left]A lot of research went into figuring out the best process. I also wanted to keep this within a certain budget so I opted to do this with whatever materials I could find locally (though honestly, I may have gotten a better product for the same budget if I’d ordered specific mask making supplies online… you know… if I’d planned ahead and all). The initial plan was to do an alginate mold of my face, apply plaster bandages to support the alginate, do a plaster positive from that, and finally a negative mold (also in plaster) to pour the latex into. This plan failed, badly, because we couldn’t seem to mix the alginate correctly and it set up too quickly. Eventually we abandoned the alginate plan and went the simpler route of doing a plaster bandage mold of my face.
I applied generous amounts of Vaseline to my hairline, eyebrows and eyelashes, but it just wasn’t enough. I can’t stress enough how important it is to use lots of Vaseline. Cover every bit of hair. Then add more for good measure. Some of my books suggest using a bald cap when doing face casts and that’s actually a very intelligent idea – I know I’ll be doing that in the future…
This is the inside of the plaster bandage mold of my face (complete with my pour eyelashes). Its freaky looking – it looks like you’re looking at a positive, not a negative which is what it actually is. You can see one of the eyes didn’t cast right but that doesn’t matter since I will cut eye holes into the mask. I mixed up some plaster and, with a small paintbrush, I filled in any cracks or spaces left by bubbles so that there would be a smoother surface for the latex. I also touched up anywhere the bandage gauze showed through with a light coat of plaster. I used a little bit of Sculpey to plug up the nostrils, and was ready to pour.
I set up a little stand to hold the mold level, then filled it full with liquid latex and let it sit for about 20min. During this time, a skin forms where the latex is in contact with the plaster mold. After the time was up, I poured the latex back into its container, which left behind a skin a little less than 1/8″ thick. Using a pin, I popped any visible bubbles in the latex, then let it set for a few hours before peeling it out of the mold (in this photo, the latex mask is sitting on top of the plaster mold, so its a bit distorted). Trimming the mold was probably the biggest pain in the whole process. I tried xacto knives without success (the material was too springy), and finally did it with scissors, though its a bit rough.
[singlepic id=260 w=300 h=248 float=]Here is the stage the mask is at now. Its naked latex – I don’t have any paints or inks specifically formulated for use on latex rubber, so I’m going to apply the mask to his face with spirit gum on the day of the event, and then apply real makeup to it. I’ve tested it on a piece trimmed from the mask and it seems to work very well, and will probably make it look even more like a stolen face than if I’d painted it. I used more liquid latex to permanently adhere some false lashes to the mask. I’m dying to stick it on him… it is a little small, but I think that’s sort of the point. Once I’ve got it stretched on and well stuck down with spirit gum, I’ll use liquid latex on the border of his real face and make it up to look like burnt/scarred flesh. I’m also going to cut little clips out of metal and then use liquid latex to attach them to his face once the mask is in place.
Project status: so far, so good! ^_^
May 13th, 2009 - 3:51 pm
That looks incredible!!! I can’t wait to see the finished product!
June 15th, 2009 - 2:21 pm
i was wondering do the lips on the mask move are they able to and i was wondering if u can send me a video of how to do it
June 16th, 2009 - 8:52 am
Hey samuel,
They do move a bit, yes – i cut them apart so they can separate. I think to get a lot of movement though you’d have to adhere them directly to the wearer’s lips, which might not be comfortable. We’re going to try that next time we dress up though. I know in the original mask, they used a different type of latex for the lips so it’d be more flexible – I just used the latex I was able to find at a local art supply store.
Another thought – I cast my face for him to wear, but my face isn’t the best fit for his. I think if I were to try this again, I’d cast his own face instead – it would fit perfectly, and the effect would still be great, since you never see his real face anyway when in costume. I think this would also make the mask more conducive to movement.
Unfortunately I do not have a video, sorry!
August 12th, 2009 - 12:26 am
that is a cool mask, i have a question, where did you find the liquid latex?
August 12th, 2009 - 2:47 pm
I picked it up at Wallacks (art supply store). Its not a specific product for mask making, so its probably available at any good art supply store :)
August 31st, 2009 - 6:59 pm
Can you make me one? I’m curious, how are you going to use the liquid latex to make it look like burnt scar tissue? and if you let the latex sit longer, will the skin layer dry thicker?
September 1st, 2009 - 8:58 am
If you look at one of the close up shots of the made up face, you can see the “scar tissue” around the edges of the mask. I used liquid latex from a costume store (different from what was used for the mask) and globbed it on really unevenly (i think I may have also mushed in some tissue in spots to make the latex even bumpier). Once that was dry, I used an injury stack (also from the costume store) to make it look sore and irritated.
As for the mask itself, yes, if you were to leave the latex in the mold longer, the “skin” would dry thicker. The thicker it is though, the less flexible, so you probably want to keep it pretty thin. This stuff is pretty tough – it was REALLY hard to cut the holes for the eyes and mask clips – so I wouldn’t worry about it being too fragile.
Hope that helps! :)
September 18th, 2009 - 9:39 am
How much did this actually cost you to make? I really want to make one, but I don’t have a huge budget. Thanks! :)
September 21st, 2009 - 9:03 am
Hey :) Hmm… I don’t actually know what it cost anymore. To make the actual mask you need the plaster strips (though you could also buy a big bag of plaster and just soak strips of old shirts in it for a cheaper alternative), and the liquid latex. I think I paid around $20-30 for those two things. Then you need the spirit gum and costume liquid latex to put it on, that’d probably run you another $15-20 (don’t forget the spirit gum remover too). Something to make your hooks out of (I used some of my nickel silver to do it, but i imagine you could use painted cardboard or fimo or anything really), fake eyelashes (another $5-10) and makeup. hope that helps!
December 30th, 2009 - 12:18 pm
Hi! First of all, that mask is incredible. Just amazing work..
I’m planning on making one for myself (maybe gonna cosplay as pavi), but I have some trouble.. I live in finland and it seems impossible to get alginate in here, so since you ended up not using it, I was wondering how exactly did you make the mask?
What I mean is, is it okay to pour the liquid latex into the plaster bandage mold just like that? After you’ve given it some time to set, was it easy to just “peel it out of the mold” like you said, or did you put some kind of lubricant etc. to the mold before pouring the latex in it? Heh, I’m totally lost.. even the employees in art supply stores around here don’t seem to know a thing about liquid latex or mask making, and there are no books about it in the libraries. Not such a great country when trying to do something like this^^;
January 4th, 2010 - 11:45 am
Hey Lila :)
It was very simple – vaseline on your face so the plaster bandages come off easily and straws in your nostrils so you can breath, then (with the help of friends!) lots of layers of plaster bandages, let that set and peel off your face. then if there are any holes or imperfections in your cast, mix up a bit of plaster to fill them. I blocked the nostrils with a bit of sculpey, then poured the liquid latex in (no lubricant on the plaster). i sort of sloshed it back and forth a bit to make sure the sides got a thick enough layer of latex. unfortunately i didn’t have the plaster bandages perfectly even on either side of my face, so the mask is a little less deep on one side than the other but it isn’t really noticeable :) I can’t remember off hand how long it took the latex to set but i don’t think it was more than an hour or two. it came out really easily. make sure you have a stand of some sort set up to support the mask while the latex sets. then i used an xacto to cut open the nostrils, mouth, eyes and trim the edges/make the holes for his face clips. that was probably the hardest part – the latex was very difficult to cut. and another tip – wear a bald cap or something to protect your hair. that part was awful, getting it out of my hair :)
hope that helps!
June 8th, 2011 - 6:23 pm
So I stumbled across this post while researching photos of Pavi for my SPMFX final project. If you ever have any questions or concerns about life casting, feel free to contact me.
July 8th, 2011 - 9:50 am
Thanks! :D