President of the Assembly, Planet of the Apes

[fossilfuse]

more

And to add to that, my two daughters love watching me make Mego items. They know all the characters names, they love helping me, and always want to know if the guy I am making is good or bad. Family time!!!

[HardyGirl]

OOOOHH! Your foam latex project looks good! I bet it'll kick butt like all you're other projects. Is there anything you can't do? Do you know how much I secretly HATE you? (just kidding ) Seriously, Jess, (in Freddie Prinze speak) LOOKING GOOOOOD!

[lepage]

Well...I've just decided to grow thicker skin. And whatever. I will do what makes me happy!!! It's not like I'm on drugs or anything like that.

I have decided to create my own foam latex appliance. I wish I had a positive of my face, but I don't, so I'm making do with Apemania's female plastic face that comes with their Zira foam latex. I've covered it with three sheets of foil, and I'm sculpting over that. 1:1 scale is definitely MUCH easier than Mego scale. I've got other sculpting projects, but this one is one of my obsessions and I've got to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. Still tweaking the lower muzzle, but she's almost there. I have never worked on creating foam latex, so this is my first time. I'm learning the ropes and every part of this construction will be, "I'll cross that bridge when I get there." It didn't take that long to get to this stage.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3108/dsc04083d.jpg

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/9836/dsc04085z.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5051/dsc04084e.jpg

Did your other one wear out? If so, how many uses did you get out it?

Dave

[jessica]

Dave I did wear the other one out. I wore it five times exactly. The foam latex started to dent in and not pop back out like it did when it was still fresh, and it got harder to blend in the edges as time wore on. If I had glued it onto a four way stretch spandex hood, it would still be kicking solidly...

I bought a new Zira foam appliance from Apemania, but I can't keep affording to splurge on their stuff even though it's topnotch. I may as well try to make my own, you know?

Here is the sculpt before baking. I decided to remove the feathered edges, and I will resculpt that once I am able to get a positive of the plastic face:


Here it is after it's cooled off. Remember, it's just hard clay now. I still have to make the mold so that I can fluff it up with foam latex and then bake that.

[YANOULI]

Wow, fantastic sculpt Jess.

[jessica]

Darn and double drat. I will have to resculpt Zira's face in some type of clay and not cure it. No way to make a hard mold with all of the undercuts. Live and learn. Can't wait to get my damned dirty paws on some Ultracal30 so that I can start this sculpting all over again.

[lepage]

I think it's neat that your learning to make them yourself. Expensive hobby though is'nt it!?

Are you able salvage the old one enough to be able to make a hooded mask out of it?

Dave

[jessica]

I think it's neat that your learning to make them yourself. Expensive hobby though is'nt it!?

Are you able salvage the old one enough to be able to make a hooded mask out of it?

Dave

No, but I could follow through and buy a pair of hazel glass eyes and make a 1:1 scale bust, perfect to hold my wig. Har har.

Expensive, yes, but rewarding. I just spent $75 for Ultracal30 and a quart of hot foam latex kit. Another $20 for Kleen Klay. $50 was the cost of my oven. Still under the price of Apemania's raw foam latex appliance.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

That is freakin' awesome Jessica you go girl! Good to see you around, I was only thinking last night that we hadn't seen you for a bit...

[jessica]

This weekend I'm going to try to create an Ultracal30 positive that I could sculpt on. I've been slowly buying supplies. My total so far, including the oven is now at $209. I still need to buy a Sunbeam Mixmaster to whip up the foam latex, some metal spatulas, and some burlap.

[Mindwarp1966]

jess im with all of them your stuff is well thought out. have you ever carved into warm floor tile to make a stamp for a printing press?. we did this in junior high school. i wish i knew the tech name of this art but well. anyhoo its great for reverse molds and works well for me.

[jessica]

Hey David! I know what you're talking about! I've never done it before but I've seen it done. I had forgotten about that technique.

I just finished trying to make a positive of a vacu-formed female face with Klean Klay and Ultracal. It was way messier than I expected. I can't wait to see how it looks. Here is how it started, by chopping off the parts that I didn't need, since I want to make sure that the mold will fit into my oven:



I then built a dam of clay to hold the Ultracal:


Note to self--buy gloves that fit!

[Meule]

Can't wait to see how this turns out, Jess

[jessica]

I should be working on costumes, but I'm obsessing again. I have 12 hats to make/fix, and 6 airplane wings to add color to, and I should be done with costumes that need to be made in 2 days for dress rehearsal. I'll try to finish all those items tomorrow.

I even forgot to eat lunch because I didn't want to stop sculpting.

[YANOULI]

very nice.