This is something I should have done ages ago, before beginning on my Fett project. It should ease things from the moment I get this done, which is I hope, very soon. I could not have done this alone, so a great thanks for help goes to Janne. He pasted the plaster bandages on me tirelessly..
The arms were made with a slight hollow on the insides, so I could get my arm out before the plaster got hard.
Then the hollow on the arms were plastered over, and left to dry overnight.
The next day I used a cutting disc on my dremel and cut the arms open. I marked the arms with the little 'w' which I thought I needed to align them again.
I then used filler to fill the seams on the hollows of the arms, as well as smoothening any hollows on the parts.
In each part that is. They were then again left to dry.
I used hand soap, the gel type, to act as a release agent on the plaster moulds. I did not take any pictures on the soaping phase, but I should point out that you need to be thorough in it, or else the fiberglass will bond to the plaster.
Here are the results. The soap worked, and the fiberglass pulled out nicely.
Here I have already soaped the other pieces, fiberglassed them and taken them out of the molds. I guess I did not use enough soap, or I left it too long in the molds. The fiberglass on the last parts stuck quite agressively on the plaster bandages, and most of them were destroyed as I pulled the fiberglass out. Oh well, I was going to throw the molds away anyway..
Hmm.. I did not know my insides looked like this..
I taped the pieces together to keep them in place when I fiberglassed the seams over.
Now this was both pleasant and disturbing piece. I can clearly see myself in this. The face cast also survived the pulling, which is good, As I need it for a plaster cast of my face.
The arms were too taped, then affixed together with more fiberglass.
The face aligned so nicely on the backside that no tape was needed. I just used two pieces of fiberglass on each side, and after they had hardened, I did the whole seam completely.
As well as the torso, belly first, and when it was hard enough, I turned the model, and fiberglassed the back too. It needs some work on the waist though, not that I don't agree that I have gained some weight, but not that way shown here. I guess the deformation on the waist area was due the fact that we did not do the whole body on one go, but on separate pieces.
The arms were too fiberglassed over the seams, now all the pieces are drying. Then I need to make the shoulder joints and the neck parts. I intend to make the neck so that the head could be taken off for sculpting. The arms will have round sockets, so that they can be moved slightly.
But more of that later..
As you can see, the cast is painted blue, then laquered with resin to seal the surface. The reason for the blue skin is threefold. First, the blue can be, if neccessary, removed via photoshop if necessary, two, I like Smurfs, and three, I am planning a Rogue Trooper costume as well.
As you can see, I made the head removable, inorder to take it of for work on face masks. I still need to fix tha locking mechanism on the neck, so that the head stays put when in place. The cast is made from fiberglass, so it is strurdy, yet not heavy. I have a rotating service tablet from Ikea which will be used as turnable base for this mannequin. The base is not yet painted, so it is not in use. I guess I'll have busy weekend coming...
