You asked for it, and I've finally finished Part 1 of the mask making tutorial! It may count as more of an overview, since I don't go into a ton of detail, but it would be an absolute book if I did - even still it's going to be a very long tutorial, as you can see.

This is phase C of part one

Description of steps:

16.) Now, I cast the resin mask form. I will not be using a mold release agent for this casting, since the silicone has excellent release properties on its own. However, a latex or urethane mold would require release agent. I measure out equal parts of resin part A, part B, and Filler* (the cups are labeled in the photo).

17.) I mix the three components together thoroughly, and pour them into the mold. I "slush cast" or rotary cast the liquid resin, coating the interior of the mold in an even layer of resin. The resin begins to gel in about 2 minutes.

18.) Once layer one has set up, I mix up layer two. It has all of the same components, except that I also added a couple drops of black pigment.

19.) Layer two is applied the same as the first layer, and left to cure fully. If any places seem thin, I may apply a third layer, but it's usually not necessary.

20.) About 15 minutes later, I demold a perfect lightweight copy of the original model.

And I really do mean lightweight - just so you can all see for yourselves, here's a photo of the mask blank on a digital scale: [link]
(it's reading 4.1 oz, in case that's hard to see).


That's all for Part 1! Part 2 will cover the adding of components in preparation for furring, but I have to do it first.


Part 1-A: [link] Part 1-B: [link]

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* it's a powdered filler, which serves two major purposes - one, it makes this slush-casting (or sometimes brush-on) method much easier, and it also reduces the weight of the casting. Of course, it also decreases the cost of each casting by a little bit (since each casting then requires that much less resin), but that's mainly just a plus for me.



To learn more about the materials I'm using, and to learn more about mold making and casting basics, visit Smooth-On.com: [link]