Mask Making Casting
So now you have your sculpture complete and ready to cast. There's a couple things you'll need at this point. Release Agents Before we immortalize our creation in plaster, we need to prepare it. This is fairly simple. Coat the base and sculpture with two coats of Crystal Clear spray paint. This is made by Krylon and is available at Wal-mart. THen apply two caots of Krylon Dulling Spray or Matte finish whichever is available. The paint acts as a release agent from the plaster and protects the details of your creation. Casting Materials needed: Plaster of Paris 25lb bag 5 Gallon bucket Wood or cardboard (dam) 2 gallons of water or so Chip brush (cheap brush for working plaster in details. Duct Tape While sculpting is the Art or your creation, casting is the technical aspect. Ultra-Cal 30 is the preferred plaster but Plaster of Paris works just as well and is available almost everywhere. Get the Plaster of Paris at your local home improvement store (Lowes) in the 25lb bag. There's nothing worse than not having enough plaster when you start   Casting Prep Begin by building a dam around the board your sculpture is sitting on. This can be wood or cardboard taped around the board to a height of about 2 inches, as shown. Tape with Dict tape to hold in place. Mixing Prep Put about two gallons of water in your bucket, more or less depending on how big the sculpture is. Begin adding Plaster of Paris, sifting the plaster into the water slowly. DO NOT STIR. Keep adding Plaster until the surface of the water looks like a dried up lake bed. When it looks like a dried up lake bed begin to stir, slowly. The idea is to keep air bubbles at a minimum. finish stirring when all the plaster is mixed and it has a pudding like consistency. Gentle tap the bucket. This will help eliminate air bubble by bringing the trapped air to the top of the surface, Casting the Mask Use the Chip Brush to work the plaster into the details. You have to work quickly as plaster will set in 20 minutes or less from the time you stir it. Cover the mask with plaster using the chip brush. As the plaster begins to set, cover the mask with the remaining plaster. Build up the mold so it has at least 2 inches of plaster everywhere covering the sculpture. If the mold is too thin it will break. Thick is better! Use all the plaster you mixed. When everything is covered to at least 2 inches, leave it for about two to three hours to cure. Demolding When the mold is completely cured, begin removing the sculpture. Don't try to save the sculpture, it will be ruin, but is now immortalized in plaster. Begin by carefully removing as much clay from the center of the mold working outwards. Be careful not to scrape the plaster. As the center clay is removed you can start removing the rest of the clay from the sides. You'll notice that it peels away easy, this is due to the Crystal Clear and Dulling Spray. Remove the remaining bits of clay and wash carefully with water to remove any stubborn bits of clay from the plaster. Again be careful not to score the plaster. When clean of clay, leave to mold to fully cure for 24 hours. Step3 Casting the Mask in Latex