Special Effects

MoldEZ Hair release is an important tool for life casting artists.

Summary – Hair presents a challenge when making a lifecasting of the head or face. Following the correct procedures in molding hair will add to the comfort of your model as well as the quality of your life cast.

Body casting is not a difficult procedure as there are many YouTube videos to teach the newcomer. However, a bit more care is needed when molding specific parts of the face and head such as the nostrils, ears and especially the facial and head hair. Improperly applied mold material will result in a distorted cast, or worse tangled hair that will certainly tear the mold apart when demolding, not to mention upsetting the model.

In protecting hair from tangling in the mold material, the traditional method is to slather on petroleum jelly. However, though this will minimize tangling, petroleum jelly is difficult to remove from the model’s hair, oft

Life casting perfect ears tutorial: This video explains the two methods most frequently used to cast perfect since ears are very difficult to cast due to their delicateness. The first method is that used be special F/X artist and the second method which was developed by the late Dave Parvin is used successfully in life casting.

Today's life casting alginates evolved from dental formulations known as dental impression material. In fact, the alginate definition is referred to as impression material in dentistry. However, alginates are also widely used in the medical field for dressings and wound care and also in the food industry as a food supplement.

Alginate used in life casting and mold making is distinguished by slower setting times as compared to dental formulas. Most formulations consist of raw materials, known as sodium alginate or potassium alginate, which are refined from seaweed, specifically giant kelp. These materials are then combined with other ingredients to make a gel-like substance when mixed with water.

Because alginate-based impression material was originally designed to take molds inside the mold, its ingredients are hypoallergenic and completely skin-safe . . . the perfect material for taking molds of

In this posting, we provide complete instructions on how to create a professional quality full-head, latex mask.

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