I am going to Manchester in my week off to see a show by the illustrator of 'The Moomins' and to see a show that one of my lecturers is in. Other than that i don't know what i'll do.
I have been working on making 'death masks'. I plan to do a more thorough post about them soon when i have set up an installation, but for now here are some quick phone snaps of where I am at with the work.
First wax face attempt.
I am currently preparing to make a rubber mould so that i can produce several of the wax faces.
Another process I had the chance to work with is Gum Arabic transfer. I had a quick go with a photocopy from the cover of a library book but will be learning the process properly with the help from the print technician in a couple of weeks time.I hope to make some ghostly gravestone images using the process.
Dear Laura,
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to know how you made
the first cast of your face?
It's a spooky process, but one I'd
like to do at some point - before
I kick the bucket :-)
There are some death masks here :
www.darkdissolution.blogspot.com
Bless*
Mark
Thanks for the link :)
ReplyDeleteIt's an easy process - you can do it at home.
I made the first one using mod roc. I cut the mod roc into strips and then lay and let my friends wet them and build them over my face, all except the end of my nose, so i could breathe. Then i let the mod roc dry and pulled the cast from my face. (it's important to put vaseline on your face before you start, especially on eyelashes and eyebrows).
Then i let the cast dry and held it up to the light, i added extra mod roc - to the outside - wherever i could see the light through it and also covered the nose.
Then i melted the way until clear. just using a tin on the stove to melt it in. Then you let it go slightly cloudy and it is ready to pour into the cast.
you pour a bit in, swish it around, then pour another bit in, slowly swish it around. it dies and makes layers, fusing together.
then wait for it to dry. when waz is completely dry, plunge the whole thing into cold water, this should help the mod roc to weaken and they should come apart more easily. then just try to rip the mod roc off.
There may be some mod roc plaster left on the wax cast. I used a soft toothbrush, soapy water and a lot of patience to remove it.
That is the simplist way to do it. but the mod roc cast is destroyed by this method meaning if you wanted more than one death mask, you would have to repeat the mod roc on face stage. Therefore i am going through a vastly more complicated rubber and plaster cast process now.
Laura x