Sculpting A Head For The Stop Motion Native Puppet

When it came time for sculpting the natives head I again used plastilene clay. I decided on making two different heads so my puppets wouldn't all be identical. Once the heads were finished I made a two piece latex mold of both heads. Then a two piece mother mold of Apoxie Sculpt clay. The mother mold acts as a rigid support for the flexible rubber mold.

I sprayed the inner surface of the latex mold with mold release. Then reassembled my mother mold. I used Polytranspar Liquid Cast as my casting material. Here is a picture of the mold in my hand and one of the cast heads.

Casting Kong's Head

After I finished building up the latex rubber mold to about an 1/8" thick I made a mother mold. A mother mold is made of a rigid material and supports the flexible latex mold while it is being cast to prevent distortion. For this piece I used plaster of Paris and strips of burlap to make the mother mold.

The casting material I used is called Polytranspar Liquid Cast. It is a two component product which requires mixing together equal amounts of Part A and Part B. The reason I like it is because it sets up within 3 minutes, has little odor and can be removed from the mold in a short time.

I sprayed the inside of the two mold halves with a light coat of mold release and clamped the mold together. After mixing the Polytranspar liquid cast I slowly poured it into the mold trying to avoid causing air bubbles. When I had poured about 8 oz. into the mold I began to rotate the mold by hand to make sure all the surfaces of the mold were evenly covered. I continued doing this for several minutes till the material set up.

Here is a picture of Kong's head fresh from the mold and ready to be cleaned of the flashing left on the casting from the mold seam. Next post I'll get down to installing some teeth in Kong.