Sculpting Flat Pieces 1

We began Dramatic Contexts by sculpting flat pieces to turn into silicone prosthetics. We were given Le Beau Touche on a basic tile and could sculpt anything small and relatively simple. I chose to sculpt a eye bag based off a photograph of my Grandpa.

1) Start by rolling a basic sausage shape onto board
2) Block out the basic shape of the piece (in this case the eyebag)

3) Smooth edges with thumbs
 - here i smoothed the edge that would attach to the cheek out normally but for the edge that would sit directly underneath the eye i left a very small, thin edge as the bag needs to start as close to the eye as possible and you don't want to use alcohol to blend in such close proximity with the eye.

4) Tidy the edges by scraping away excess and smooth out again

5) Begin to add texture by adding lines - the best way is to X shape lines that intersect for a natural effect.

6) Sprinkle talc over the piece then brush over with a wire/harsh brush. This sweeps away any balls of clay that have clung to the piece and blends the lines to look natural.

7) Continue this process until texture is complete
- for my piece I wanted a lot of texture as the eyebag I was looking at was on an 80 year old man so has many wrinkles and undulations. I used different tools (iddy biddy, mixing stick, scalpel) to create lines that all originated from the inner corner of the eyebag as this is where wrinkles naturally fall. I repeated the above process many times until I was happy with the result.

8) Use lighter fluid on top of the piece slightly if it needs smoothing and take lighter fluid around the edge of the piece to neaten and create a feather thin edge. This is so the piece fits seamlessly onto the skin when glued and dissolved and it cannot be detected that it is a prosthetic.

Evaluation:

Overall I am happy with the final result of my flat piece. Using a picture for reference helped create a more realistic interpretation of an eyebag. I particularly like the different heights of the eyebag as it's something I wouldn't have known to do without a reference but it makes it appear more realistic. Next time I would work on not spreading the piece out so much as when this is made I think it will go too far down the face meaning it may be noticeable on a moving models face. I must also not build the piece too high as this can look unrealistic. I'm happy with the wrinkles and how natural they look but they may become less pronounced when the piece is made into a silicone flat piece so then I will be able to tell how much texture I need to put into the clay.

Application of Flat Pieces Recap

Direct Application

This application method is done all using bondo. This means the actual prosthetic pice is made out of bondo which is like a solid glue.

1) Put pros-aide on the back of the piece
2) Transfer pros-aide onto arm then lift piece away again
3) Dry the pros-aide on piece and arm until it goes completely clear
4) Press the mold onto the skin
5) Peel the outer mold off and the piece will stay on the skin
6) Blend away edges with alcohol

Advantages:
 - Very quick method
 - Piece is completely transparent so you don't have to colour piece and skin.

Disadvantages:
 - Takes a lot more preparation time
 - Piece not as durable and can melt and change slightly if on for a long time.

Makeup done by Pete Tindall during class

Frame Application

This application is done using a card frame around the silicone piece that keeps it taught and still.

1) Put Pros-aide over back of piece
2) Transfer pros-aide onto arm then lift piece away again
3) Dry pros-aide on piece and arm until it goes completely clear
4) Stick piece to skin, using frame to keep it still
5) Blend away spare edge attached to frame with alcohol so frame comes off
6) Tidy edges with alcohol and stipple alcohol of whole piece
7) Colour

Advantages:
 - Frame keeps piece still and means to creases will occur in the prosthetic.

Disadvantages:
 - Takes more prep time than normal.

Makeup done by Pete Tindall during class

Regular Method


This is the normal method used to apply silicone flat pieces.

1) Put lots of pros-aide onto the back of the piece
2) Transfer the pros-aide onto the skin
3) Take piece away and dry until glue goes clear (dry from directly above so edges don't wrinkle)
4) Stick down onto skin
5) Pros-aide edges, transfer to skin and dry
5) Stick edges down to skin
6) Blend away edges with alcohol

Advantages:
- more precise than other two methods so easier to recreate if have to do multiple times across different days

Disadvantages:
 - slower than other methods
 - easier to get wrong which ruins appearance of piece.

Makeup done by Pete Tindall during class - incomplete. 

Postiche - Whipping

Whipping is a method of putting darts into a wig net too make it fit across an actors face/head. In this case it is the head and neck as we were focusing on beards. The darts have to be completely invisible so they're not picked up on camera.

This was done using:

- wooden block
- cradle
- wig lace
- black thread
- invisible tread
- knotting hook.

First Practice (black thread)

1) Twist material over to form a triangle

 2) Put at least 8 pins in to hold in place

 3) Make starting knot

4) Every 5mm create a knot using the same length of thread. Using normal postiche knotting technique but using the same piece of thread so manually making loops.

5) Go all around triangle, pulling knots tight and turning the corners.

6) Put last knot in the same whole as the first knot to finish off.

Evaluation:
I think I did quite well for my first attempt at whipping, my line was very neat and i acomplished it relatively quickly. However I did make the triangle too big (do not need to knot all the way to the base of triangle) and I needed to pull my knots a little tighter so you can't see a gap in them. With being this loose there's a danger of them catching and breaking when the beard is being brushed.

Second Practise (invisible thread)

Evaluation:
I feel that this attempt was better than my first one as the lines are neater again and the knots are a lot smaller. I also didn't go all the way down to the base of the triangle. It took a little longer as I was knotting with invisible thread which is difficult to see but it's the necessary equipment so that the darts cannot be seen in the beard. Altogether I am very pleased at my first attempt at whipping.