Classics from the Vaults: Creating Character Prosthetics in Silicone

Course Content

Introduction to the Classics

DURATION: 00:01:06

Neill began filming the lessons in our Classics from the Vaults courses 20 years ago and released them on DVD. Those DVDs have been cornerstones of learning for countless artists over the years, their content is still relevant, and we’ve now made them available through our online courses.

Cleaning up and Moulding the Life Cast

DURATION: 01:02:19

Prosthetics usually start with a life cast. Here we clean up and mount a freshly-cast plaster life cast and make a brush-up silicone and fibreglass matrix mould so the life cast can be reproduced.

Casting a Positive and Sculpting the Prosthetic

DURATION: 01:09:11

Casting a fibreglass duplicate of the head on which to sculpt the prosthetic, then sculpting the prosthetic makeup in plastiline.

Moulding the Appliances

DURATION: 00:56:16

Making a snap mould in alginate of the top lip applaince and casting in PU resin. Making a fibreglass full head mould in three pieces.

Casting, Colouring, and Applying the Prosthetics

DURATION: 01:00:03

Casting the appliance in silicone and painting it using a silicone paint base. Final application of the prosthetic makeup.

Course Description

Although the standard approach to covering the entire head with prosthetic appliances is to use multiple overlapping pieces, sometimes it’s possible to make a large full head silicone appliance. Here we cover the entire process from cleaning up the life cast through to applying the large silicone character appliance.