Making a 2 part mold from a plaster bust?
« Thread started on: Jul 8th, 2008, 3:04pm »
Hi guys, this is my 1st post. I have a 1:1 plaster bust of Boris Karloff (out of makeup) and I would like to create a mold to make a foam-filled latex copy to use on a halloween prop. Can this be done without the plaster locking onto itself? The bust seems to have been sealed with some kind of paint; I'm not sure, but it is a 3/4 bust (just past his ears) which I will apply pro clay to to complete the back of the head. I do not want to destroy the bust because it has been in the family for many, many years. I had planned on creating the mold using Ultracal 30 and then casting the copy using RD407 mask making latex and filling the mask with a soft, two-part, non-skinning foam.
Would applying petroleum jelly to the bust ensure that the bust and mold seperate easily from each other? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A little history on the bust: from what I was told it was cast from an original lifemask created of Karloff in the mid-1940's. He seems to be older in the bust as there are crows feet present and a general sense of "age" about him. He does not, however, have a mustache in the bust as I have seen in some of the older karloff busts and he is apparently wearing a bald cap or something. My father won the bust from a friend of his in a poker game about 30 years ago and just held onto it. My father passed it down to me about 5 years ago and I have been thinking about creating the copy ever since.
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