You can click on each photo to see
better detail...if you like :-)
I use Ultracal 30 and had really good success making my first life cast of John! YEA!
I used Roma clay to sculpt my guy.
Next time I think I’ll use less clay and not sculpt out so close to the edges. I thought I got the edges really this but they could have been even thinner. Otherwise for my first attempt like what he turned out like. I watched a video by Jordu Schell since this sculpt and see not that I could have added a lot more detail. wow Jordu is quite the guy!
I used Ultracal 30 for the life mask and I can’t recall if I use that or the White Hydrocal for the mold. None the less my mold ended up breaking in half while I was trying to release it from the gelatin I poured. Bummer...
For the release agent I used 2 coats of car wax on the life mask and I used 1 coat of shellac on the negative side of the mold before I poured in the melted gelatin product. Both were suggested in the Dick Smiths booklet. I thought I’d try each one to see the difference.
The gelatin came right off of the life cast that I used the wax on . But the shellacked side was awful. It took lots of powder and about 2 hours to get it out of the mold! After having to finally jut rip his nose off I realize that I didn't get the shellac applied well enough into the deep crevices... I guess.
I used all the gelatin that I had but it wasn't enough for my project. So next time I’ll order extra. Also after looking over my progress photo here I see now that the original clay sculpt was still stuck in the exact place's I had a trouble getting the gelatin out of resulting in having to rip his nose off! Maybe this is what is meant buy “undercuts”?
Even though I didn't get good results this time I still learned a great deal - I’m happy :-)
