Brave New World

TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT

EXPERIMENTATION

After playing around with a variety of different molding techniques I wanted to experiment with creating free hand gelatin dots. This dots were then applied onto a mask I had brought from a craft shop. After sticking the gelatin dots onto the mask I then used a gold spray to produce a golden tribal theme mask. Simple and effective!

 Our third SFX session allowed us to experiment further with the use of different prosthetics and we started to create our basic pieces to apply onto the face and body using the methods taught in the 2 previous weeks. I felt this was a good way to test the different materials and see what sort of products work well together. I brought a few different things into the lesson which I thought would make nice prosthetic pieces. When using something as a mold it is essential to coat the mold in Vaseline in order to be able to take the prosthetic out of mold cleanly.

 Using a piece of wooden train track a wanted to create a graphic shape that could be applied between the eye brows, although wood was not a great material to use as a mold as the gelatin was very weak and tore as I tried to take it from the mold. I also found the gelatin to be very stick and the shape I made was really fiddly. By as I tried to stick it to the face it had started to melt in my hands and completely tore apart.

Although I again used gelatin in silicone cake molds, this was perfect and I was able to pop the prosthetic straight out once it was dry. Applying powder helped the prosthetic to be handled more without melting. 

During our first practical session for the project ‘Brave New World’ we were introduced to creating texture on the skin using a variety of different materials such as fullers earth, gelatine and latex. It was a good way to experiment freely with how different products can be used on the skin to create different effects.

In the session I added beads and pulses to create a textured pattern. I then applied gold spray and glitter on top. Latex can also be made into prosthetic pieces and then added to the body once dry. 

Fullers earth is used as a base for most face masks and comes in the form of a powder. When mixed with water it creates a paste like substance that can be applied onto the skin and hair safely. Once dry it becomes cracked and flaky. Building layers up can create a really interesting texture to the skin. 

Wax is one of the most pliable products to use within SFX and is quite easy to use in order to build texture and shape directly onto the skin.  Using a palette knife warm some of the product up onto your hand, this allows the product to be easily manipulated. Build up onto chosen area and blend into natural skin using spirit gum remover. Colour can be added to create more of a realistic effect and sealer can be used to set product. 

Tuplast is a plastic specially used to create realistic scars and skin textures. After Tuplast has completely dried, scars and other skin anomalies created with it are waterproof. They can be removed by being simply pulled off. After I pulled the tuplast off it left a really textured effect on the skin that looked like real scaring.