Closed mold development | dramaticcontexts

Closed mold development.

Sculpting.

Intial Shape.

As I have seen from the sculpting videos that to start with it is good to just block out the shape you want and then refine from there so to start with I just lay sausgaes in the shape of the nose I wanted. From here I have worked into it to get a rough shape of the nose (see the designs above). I didn't smooth it out until I had achieved this shape. This was the longest part of the process as it is one of the most noticable parts when people initally looked at the portrait.

Symmetry and tweaks.

The dent in the node on the left image is to help me add depth to a shadow placed here when painting as it is alot deeper than others around the nose so adding it into my piece with emphasise this. Overall I am very happy with the symetrical appearance. Once place I have struggled with it the nostrills both being the same shape and the amount of clay around them as you can see in the images above the texturing section. The right side always looks more heavy and an unatural shape.

Grounding up & Molding.

Silicone nose attempt 2.

This is a masisve improvement from my first attempt for a start it is one piece. I am really happy with the edges, they were lovely and thin and even on both sides which is something I struggled with on other practises with silcione. This time though the silicone is only pushing through the flashing at the top and bottom rather than the sides, I need to use more silicone to get the flashing all the way round. However I found only having it at the top and bottom much easier to pull and control the sides and my model said it wasn't too heavy on the face hilst bleeding the edges. My models confort throughout this process is imporatant so I will take this into consideration.

Application and colouring is on my formative page.

This has by far been my best grounding up, I spent alot of time trying to get each aspect right and as neat as I could. Looking at it now there is still work on the thickness/shape and size of the touchdowns to be done. But when molded it created a good channel to create the flashing and the mold istself produced good pieces, as seen below.

There were only 2 points when actually making the mold that I want to improve on; filling the touchdowns completely with plaster on one of them I have only half a touchdown and that I had to chip away the last tiny edge at the end of the run offs but overall it was successfull. The smooth flat top of the mold is the best one I have produced to date and proved to be very sturdy when making prosthetic pieces. I still need to improve on smoothing out the sides so they look as neat as the top but overall I am happy with my mold.

Silicone Piece 1.

This was awful and it couldnt be used as it was ripped along the nostril.

The three main Bad points-

Edges were really thick in some patches but too thin in others which made the piece fall apart so it wasnt able to be applied
Silcione hadn't fitted the whole nose correctly- not enough pressure applied to define the nostirls
There was a crack in the cap plastic mix which came when powdering meant the silcione wasn't protected

From these things that went wrong I will make sure I apply a heavy book ontop of the positive cast to weight it down more when they are intially pushed together, I may not leave it on for the whole time as once it has started to cure in it's shape I dont want to make it split as it did. I am also going to brush in my cap plastic and IPA mix to dry and eliminate the uneven coverage made with pouring it in. To remove I will try to release all the flashing and work inwards which I think will make it easier to dislodge the tip of the nose which is where I struggled this time.

Texturing.

I have choosen not to texure my closed mold piece as in the portarit the texture on the nose isnt pore or skin texture is has a thick painted heavy feel and look. I have smoothed over the nose and made th eedges neat and small but I have kept some bumpy and unflatteren look to it as I think this combine with the texture created with the paint will work well to represent the texture in the portrait.

Silicone nose attempt 3.

When this came out the mold the cap plastic was a little too thin around the cutting edge so it ripped however I had enough to apply, with the smaller edge I did find that I had less control when applying to the face as I didn't have alot to hold and play around with it. So for my final assesment nose I will need to make sure I have enough of an edge so it doesn't stick on wonky like it has done here.

This was coloured with illustrator to add warmth to the pieces and the natural skin tone which has make the piece look really lovely and natural however this is not how my portait looks so isn't suitable for my assessment. The creases along the eye have been enhanced with kryolan ultra foundation in 101 which has softly been blended to add a natural definiton. I love the outcome of this product on the silcione and will use this for my shadows around the eyes.

The pigment of this piece is too dark for her pale complextion so I found it very hard to tone it down to suit her skin so compare to the forehead piece aswell it stand out and looks unatural. I do this the edges especially along the left side have blended smoother into the skin which I am hoping to keep improving on with every go. Over all I am happy but there are thing I want to improve and change for next time.

Dramatic Contexts

By Kate Garrett