Character Display Busts in Silicone and Latex, including Eye Making and Hair Punching (Vampire)

How to develop a fantasy character using inexpensive, readily available pottery clay. This sculpture could be used to create both a display bust and a latex half mask.

Making a mould in plaster off a clay sculpture. How to seal the clay, apply release agent and form plaster with reinforcement over the sculpture to create a negative mould.

Making a silicone casting from a plaster mould using the brush-up method, and back-filling the cast with PU foam that has been mechanically bonded to the silicone.

Making a latex casting from the plaster mould by dwelling the latex to create an even skin. Once cured, this is back-filled with PU foam.

Trimming, patching, and repairing a silicone casting. A new silicone casting always has some surface issues to address. Here we go through the process of removing and patching imperfections such as air bubbles, using silicone.

The only thing we can paint silicone with that will form a permanent bond is more silicone. Here we look at the process of painting a platinum silicone casting with more platinum silicone; creating a silicone paint base that is coloured with pigments and applying the colour with an airbrush.

Creating fake eyes by making eye forms and moulding them in silicone. There are many ways to make eyes. These lessons will demystify the process and show you how, using only basic tools, you can make very realistic resin and epoxy eyes from scratch including making all your own moulds.

Casting up and painting eye forms, then clear-coating them in epoxy. The clear coating gives depth and realism to the eyes and can be achieved with a number of different materials. Casting with perfect clarity and without air bubbles is very tricky and this lesson shows you how to do it with clear epoxy resin.

Hair punching gives the impression of hair actually growing from the silicone surface of your display bust. Here we punch inexpensive synthetic hair called Kanekalon into our bust and mark a hairline with alcohol colours.

Using latex-based paints to paint the latex casting and add hair with flocking. The paints used are both pre-made, latex-based mask paints, and also a homemade version. In addition, acrylic paints are used, and the colour is applied using both brush and airbrush.

A simple way to clear-coat a fake eye using UV resin; it’s quick, doesn’t require a mould, and still gives impressive results.