LAURA DICKEY
PROFESSIONAL MAKE-UP PROJECT
CASTING MY MODELS FINGERS
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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It was important to get the model to seperate her fingers when inserting them into the alginate to ensure the alginate will take an accurate mould of each finger.
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I used a fine hand saw to get saw the fingers away from the mould which created a smooth, flat edge.
WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL AND HOW DID I OVERCOME THIS/WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER FOR NEXT TIME?
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A couple of the finger ends snapped off as I teared the alginate away from the plaster. However, this was easily fixed using superglue.
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One of the fingers came out slightly disfigured which means it would not fit the models fingers accurately. This was caused by an airbubble in the alginate mixture. To resolve this I filled and smoothed the end with epoxy putty.
MAKING RESIN FINGER MOULDS
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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The clay mould were smooth and contained a key so that the fingers would slot into their negative moulds, and allowed for ease of removal. I achieved this by mould rounded balls of clay which and flattened and smoothed around the surface with a sculpting tool.
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I created successful moulds of the fingers by building a thick layer of silicone around the moulds. I started with a thin detail layer and then added cabosil to the mixture to thicken.
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I was careful to ensure part a and b of the fast cast resin was measured equally to ensure resin moulds worked correctly. Overall, the resin moulds were an accurate reflection of my models fingers which meant they would create bespoke finger prosthetics.
SCULPTING THE FINGERS
REFERENCE IMAGES:
 Poltergeists are renowned for scratching their victims so I felt it was important to incorporate long fingers nails into my design. I also wanted to elongate the fingers to reflect their exaggerated spirit formation. I used the following images as references. |
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Pinterest. (2015). SUPERNATURAL. [online]. Available from: https://www.pinterest.com/laurajdickey/supernatural/​. [Accessed: 14th March 2015]
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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I am happy with the shape and formation of the finger sculpts. I made them hooked so that they appeared more creepy.
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I achieved the wrinkle detailing by placing plastic wrap over the sculpt and carving in the lines so that they werent harsh.
MAKING NEGATIVE MOULDS OF THE FINGERS IN SILICONE
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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By attaching thin copper wire to the base of the finger moulds this meant that when I moulded them in silicone it would create a bleeder holes for the PT flex to escape which should prevent airbubbles.
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I ensured the wire was measured to the correct length for each sculpt by using a ruler and them marking it out along the wire.
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It was important to slice the fingers at the side of the moulf rather than the front so that the seam would be less visible when it comes to moulding them from PT flex.
WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL AND HOW DID I OVERCOME THIS/WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER FOR NEXT TIME?
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I found that I wasted a lot of silicone when filling the finger moulds which I could have reduced the amount of by building small boxes around the moulds using clay.
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It was fairly difficult to clean out the moulds because the finger curved around at the bottom which made it difficult to access to remove the clay. However, by filling the mould with gelatin this released the clay as it adhered to the gelatine when set.
FILLING THE MOULDS WITH PT FLEX - ATTEMPT 1
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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The shape and detailing of the fingers turned out well which means my moulds were successful.
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I found that the finger looked better when pigmented with white oil paint as it matched the colour of my other prosthetic pieces and also reflected the ghostly quality of my character.
WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL AND HOW DID I OVERCOME THIS/WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER FOR NEXT TIME?
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Because I could not reach the end of the fingers to remove the clay, this created airbubbles in the end of my fingers as the PT flex could not escape through the bleeder whole as it was blocked with clay.
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I also needed to trim excess silcione away around the edge of the flashing to ensure the air could escape from the top of the mould.
EXPERIMENTATION WITH GELATINE AND TEST APPLICATION 1
PROCESS:
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VIDEO:
Laura Dickey. (2015). GELATINE FINGER MOVEMENT 2. Available from: http://youtu.be/zhCANp0c4ok. [Accessed: 15 April 2015]
Laura Dickey. (2015). GELATINE FINGER MOVEMENT 3. Available from: http://youtu.be/UasgElXRm0k. [Accessed: 15 April 2015]
Laura Dickey. (2015). GELATINE FINGER MOVEMENT. Available from: http://youtu.be/u6fOpkztPvU. [Accessed: 15 April March 2015]
EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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The gelatine moved well with my models fingers and it was a good fit which suggested the sculpt and mould was successful
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The edge of the gelatin blended well which was achieved by brushing hot water of the edge to dissolve it
WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL AND HOW DID I OVERCOME THIS/WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER FOR NEXT TIME?
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The finger was too flexible so I did not mimic the anatomy and formation of a realistic finger.
FILLING THE MOULDS WITH PT FLEX - ATTEMPT 2
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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This was a successful attempt at filling my finger moulds as there were no airbubbles and colouring was correct. This was achieved because the ends negative moulds were free from trapped clay and because I trimmed away the excess silcione blocking the top of the moulds.
COLOUR EXPERIMENTATION
(SILICONE AIRBRUSH/PIGMENTS, SKIN ILLUSTRATOR, INKS)
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
TEST 1: Here I attempted to colour the finger with silicone fingers, however, the paint was applied too thick causing it to blend patchy. I also found that the pigment rubbes off the finger very easily which means it would not be suitable for filming.
TEST 2: Here I splattered on airbrush colours but again, the colours were applied to thick which did not mimic skin texture.
TEST 3: Airbrushing on the colours, this method was more successful as I could create a graduation of colour. The colouring also adhered well to the PT flex which means it would work well whilst filming. However, I found it difficult to blend the dark colouring around the nail and feel it would be best applied with a brush rather than an airbrush.
TEST 4: Here I applied skin illustrator colours to the finger, this was another successful attempt as the colours blended well and adhered to the PT flex.
TEST 5: Here I used inks to colour the pt flex - I found that layering the colours rubbed off the previous layers which means it was not very good a blending.
Overall, I will be beneficial to colour the fingers with a combination of skin illustrator and airbrush colours. I will add black around the nails using skin illustrator so that I can use a small detail brush and I will then blend the colours into the arm and hand using airbrush colouring which I will already be using on the hands.
TEST APPLICATION
PROCESS:
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VIDEO:
Laura Dickey. (2015). PT FLEX FINGERS. Available from: http://youtu.be/oJ6T_dGUF9E. [Accessed: 2 May 2015]
COLOURING IN PREPARATION FOR FILMING AND ASSESSMENT
EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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The fingers fit well to the models fingers, and the edges stuck down well using Telesis adhesive.
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WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL AND HOW DID I OVERCOME THIS/WHAT DO I NEED TO CONSIDER FOR NEXT TIME?
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As the fingers moved I did notice a couple of the edges lifting - to prevent this , I will need to ensure the edges are glued securely.
PROCESS:
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EVALUATION:
WHAT WENT WELL AND HOW DID I ACHIEVE THIS?
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I am happy with the colouring of the fingers as the colours have depth so that they reflect skin texture.
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I did not want to colour all of the nail as it liked the slight transluency to the nail when left naturally.
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I feel the colours successfully match the face and cowl prosthetics to ensure the make-up translates successfully as a whole character.
FINGER RESEARCH
Panjak Guru (2013). How to make a cast of your hand [online] Available from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaQRKLNcDxo [Accessed: April 27th 2015]
MOULDING THE HAND:
NAIL ACCESSORIES:
FOAM LATEX FINGERS:
TOKYO SPFX WORKSHOP. (2012). A Complete Guide to Special Effects Makeup. Titan Books: UK
This method would create the most realistic finger prosthetics as the foam latex reflects the texture and quality or skin more so than PT flex. Acylic nails can then be inserted into the end of the foam latex fingers to achieve the rigid appearance of nails so that they look more believeable. The above make-up is an example of elongated foam hand finger prosthetic. Ultimately, this would be the most realistic method for recreating elongated fingers as the edge of the arm piece would be concealed under the costume.
TOKYO SPFX WORKSHOP. (2012). A Complete Guide to Special Effects Makeup. Titan Books: UK
This method is similar to the way I moulded my models hand by getting the model to emerse her hands in alginate. The second method is slightly different and the mode has their hand layed flat and the alginate in smoothed over the top - this method would not be successful for making finger prosthetics as only the top of the hand is moulded.
TOKYO SPFX WORKSHOP. (2012). A Complete Guide to Special Effects Makeup. Titan Books: UK
A more simply alternative to making prosthetic fingers is to making long nail extensions which would be glued over the models natural nail.
BRUCE SPAULING - MAKING FINGER POSITIVES :
SCULPTURE BREAKDOWN AND MOULDING -PART WITH BRUCE SPAULDING. (n.d.). [DVD] USA: STAN WINSTON SCHOOL.
sfxatlas. (2015). 'Chamberlain' costume. [online image]. Available from: www.instagram.co.uk/sfxatlas. [Accessed: 11 April 2015]
BRUCE SPAULING - LEARN TO CAST FLEXACRYL FINGERS :
BRUCE SPAULDING - LEARN TO CAST FLEXACYRL FINGERS. (n.d.). [DVD] USA: STAN WINSTON SCHOOL.
BRUCE SPAULING - PAINTING PROSTHETIC MAKEUP APPLIANCES :
BRUCE SPAULDING - PAINTING PROSTHETIC MAKEUP APPLIANCES. (n.d.). [DVD] USA: STAN WINSTON SCHOOL.
NOTES FROM DVDS:
- flexacryl is a dental acrulic that remains flexible, used for making genetic false teeth and for making fingers as it gives transluency to the nail and flexibility so that they are comfortable for the actor
- vaseline finger moulds and base
- pour flex into finger mould to lubricate fine edge of nai sculpture
- add liquid to cup and gradually add powder - ventilate as you pour as it smells and then mix
- pour into negative finger moulds
- press positive finger moulds into negative
- to open cut out base of cup so easier to remove
- remove cups from negative mould
- break seal of flexacryl by twisting
- make negative finger moulds in 16-30 silicone, mould from hand cast
- stick fingers in octogan base of clay
- cut in a key so the mould only fit in one way
- clean the cutting edge of the finger positve with cotton buds
- wrap worm of clay around base of finger to create overflow and crystal clear over
- finger positives - mould cups, cut the top off the cup
- place over fingers and glue to board with silicone
- mix finger postive with 1:1 ratio of silicone and water
- vaccum pump
- pour the silicone from a height into finger moulds
- de mould fingers by breaking of board and peel off paper cup and then create a slit down the side
- create the cutting edge with a paster maker using clay
- lay a worm of clay inbetween cutting edge to prevent it being sprayed with crystal clear