Mask Fabrication: Sanding and filling

1) The covered ear beginning to be sanded smooth.
2) The difference between a sanded and un-sanded surface. The light and dark patches show where the dips and lumps are, so can guide you were needs filling.
3) Stage one of sanding complete! One of the ears was more cracked than the other so needed extra support on the inside.

Mask Fabrication: Ears

After sculpting an ear out using air dry clay and chicken wire for support, I decided to attempt using these as the final things. Speaking to a technician, Emma suggested that I use the milliput to coat the ears in, in order to stop them from cracking, meaning I wouldn't have to re-sculpt something I was already happy with too.

I began this process by mixing up equal amounts of the two part epoxy putty, then squishing small, thin circles together, blending them together to create a thin layer about a millimeter thick over the whole sculpt.

Mask Fabrication: Ears

After prototyping a quick ear sculpted in air dry clay (for sizing and shape reference) I decided to experiment making the ears with the same material, only this time I gave it an inner-structure of chicken wire to support it and potentially help with the inevitable crumbling. This was simply to experiment with the material and different ways of working with it further.
In the first image you can see me checking the wire against the mask sculpt to make sure it wasn't too big or small.
The second image shows beginning to pad the clay around the wire, beginning to see the shape.
The third image shows the rough sculpt with details. It was hard to hide the wire without the sculpt becoming too thick, but I liked the overall look of it.

Mask Fabrication: Small repairs

Before vac-forming, there were a few minor repairs I had to make simply by blending some clay into the cracks that had appeared. This tends to happen naturally as the clay dries and the water evaporates out of it, so unfortunately it can't really be avoided. This is why I prefer sculpting in other materials if air-dry clay can be avoided, but seeing as I wanted to vac-form this mask due to time restraints and budget, air dry clay was the way to go! A small hurdle, but very easily fixed.
The cracks can be seen around the eyes and the top of the forehead; this also indicates where weaker points may be, so are often in corners or detailed areas.

Mask Fabrication: Refining and detailing

At this point I've used water and brushes to begin smoothing out the sculpt. The features are how I want them (seen in the second image). As this kind of clay is air dry I covered the sculpt in cling film to make it air tight to it wouldn't dry out before vac-forming it later.

The reason I chose air dry clay over chavant is because chavant would melt in the vac former!

Mask Fabrication: Shaping and Smoothing

Now we can see the features of the mask beginning to show! Definition in the eyebrows, pointed cheeks and nose can also be seen. I also had to pay special attention to the edges of the mask; if too thin these will be the first bits to crumble, so made sure they were padded out nicely. I also made sure that the edges of the mask would extend enough to cover the sides of someones face too, instead of not being tall/ wide enough.

Mask Fabrication: Blocking out

I began shaping out the mask by blocking out the overall form using rough balls of clay. This allowed me to begin to figure out and understand the initial form that the mask would take. Once I had the shapes blocked out, I smoothed out the separate blocks so I could start roughly adding details and refining the base shapes.

Mask Fabrication: Preparing the cast

I was lucky enough to have a plaster-cast bust to work on, so I wanted to preserve it the best I could in order to use for further projects later on.
Firstly I sat it up at an angle for the comfiest sculpting position. I then wrapped it in cling film to protect it from getting too messy, as well as to allow complete removal of the mask sculpt, if and when necessary. Finally I drew in the eye shapes using a simple board marker, to make sure I didn't sculpt over the essential areas that needed to be left alone.

Bird mask: Mould preparations

1) I began by collecting up the materials I would need to assemble a mould in order to cast the bird mask sculpt. This included a flat piece of MDF, a flexible strip of plastic to form the walls, and a hot glue gun.

2) The next step was securing the sculpt to the MDF surface. The chavant clay stuck to the board itself, but I wanted to be extra careful the sculpt wouldn't come loose while being cast; it could float up through the silicone mid-set and ruin the cast. To secure it I simply smoothed out the 'neck' with some air dry clay. Creating this sloped shape also meant that once the mask was cast it would have a plug-like, spread out base which I could use to stop the head slipping out of the neck hole of the rest of the puppet.

3) Next I created a circular frame for the sculpt, making sure I had at least half a centimetre on every side to ensure a good thickness of mould; if the mould was too thin then there was the potential risk of the silicone breaking. The plastic was taped into place then hot glued to the base, sealing the bottom so no silicone would escape.

4) The last stage of preparation was collecting all equipment needed to begin mould making. This included the two-part silicone, disposable gloves, a set of scales, the sculpt, a mixing pot, a mixing stick and newspaper to protect the surfaces.

Prototype bird mask details

After blocking out and refining the shapes for this mask, I smoothed it out and added details such as the eye loops.
In image 1), half of the face had been smoothed out using a brush and lighter fluid; this dissolves a small amount of the chavant, leaving it smooth. This picture also shows the difference between the circular eye loop before and after being blended into the rest of the mask.
Image 2) shows the finished thing, ready to be smoothed over once more before being cast.

Seeing as the body is quite delicate and light I will have to consider the weight of the mask when casting, and because of this I feel that solid resin would be inappropriate. Currently I'm considering biscuit foam or slush cast resin to be more suitable.

Bird Mask: Final fitted sculpt

Looking back at my previous sculpts, I realised that these masks would be too small for the 1:1 scale I created the prototype bird body in. I also realised that by simply sculpting out the mask alone, without a head there would be nothing to stick it too. I can solve this problem one of two ways; Either sew and stuff a small, featureless ball to act as a head shape that the mask could then rest on, or simply include the head in the mask sculpt. For this prototype I decided to sculpt the head into the mask, to save on time and to experiment with whether this looks good or not.

1) Blocking out the base shape for the bird mask. For this prototype I was looking at jay birds for reference; the American blue variation sporting a small peak of feathers at the back of the head, which I felt was a key characteristic in distinguishing the features of this bird. The blocking out was simply done with my hands; no tools where needed at this point.

2) Begin using tools; smoothing out the shape to begin figuring out features and seeing what kind of shapes I'm working with.

3) Using references to refine shapes.

4) Adding in a neck piece to connect the body with the head. To make sure the final thing will fit, I held this against the opening of the neck and made sure to regularly check that it could still connect.

Bird Masks: Further sculptures and experiments

Above: Three finished experimental sculpts, all done with a tin foil core and based off of different breeds of birds. 

I decided to try and use tin foil as a base for these head sculpts, as a means of saving time and materials. While the experiment was successful in that sense it was really difficult to get symmetrical sculpts, as can be seen in the last image above; the tin foil was naturally uneven, so the sculpt was too. In terms of mould making this imbalance may not matter so much, but if I were to go ahead and cast this I think that aesthetically it looks unprofessional and lop-sided. 

Above shows how the eye holes are uneven, and also some texturing and smoothing I had been playing with.

Bird mask practice sculpt

I sculpted this mask from chavant by eye as a small prototype. Experimenting with symmetry and using the grid of masks I drew out (posted earlier) as a reference, this didn't take too long to do, and could potentially now go on to be molded and cast in  resin, ready to be painted up.
I based this mask shape on a small garden bird or budgerigar.

As opposed to the last sculpted project I had, which was the three character faces for stop motion puppets, this was sculpted entirely 3D rather than having a flat back to it. I think this did make a difference to the end result; this mask is more curved and has more attention to the sides I think. I was easier to see the direction the sculpt was taking during the sculpting process, and I didn't have to remember to keep turning it in order to examine the side profile, as it was constantly in a state of being moved.

Wire Structure

Once the wooden framework was finished, I was able to move on and begin the chicken wire base. This will be the foundation of the mod rock, fabric, plastic etc. I begin to work with.
I cut the two meters of wire into manageable chunks using wire cutters, then started arranging and stapling them into place. At first I considered using hot glue to secure the wire in place, but realised this would be messier and a lot more time consuming. Staples worked surprisingly well! And anything I couldn't staple, (e.g. panels of the wire further up the sculpture,) I could attach together using small bendy lengths of wire; looping them through the two sections and twisting.
For creases, folds or bends I wanted to achieve with the wire I used the same technique of pulling two sections of chicken wire together, then using a smaller cord to hold the manipulation of material in place.

Tinfoil Experimentation: Model Making

After watching 'All I'm Saying' and discussing the video with a tutor, I was inspired to try my own tin foil experiments. I feel that using household objects and materials can add to a certain 'home made' aesthetic; reminiscent of styles such as Aardman Studios and the 'All I'm Saying' music video. I decided on my own character design of Prometheus, the fox spirit and a Greek God known especially for being a trickster.

1) The first image shows the tin foil skeleton. Having a semi-flexible core means that while the maquette is slightly movable, the tin foil is more for structure rather than mobility. This skeleton was creating simply by hand molding and layering up the tin foil.

2) I began to envelop the tin foil with chavant sculptors clay to begin building up the actual body of the model. Again. this was more for experimentation than anything; seeing how the two materials worked together, what kind of shapes and forms could be achieved etc.

3)  Once the body had been coated in its first layer of chavant, I worked on the shape of the head. Again, this was just balled up tin foil, worked into shape, then attached to the rest of the body through the neck.

4) Image four shows the character starting to take shape; at this point the ears and mask shape were in place and I'd decided on the poses of the limbs. I was free to experiment with different head shapes and the mobility of the model at this point by adding more or taking away chavant.

5 & 6) The last two images show the final model. This type of model can now be taken forward and put through a mould making and casting processes to make a 'hard copy'. A two part mould would probably be necessary though as it's quite a weird 3D shape.
Overall I'm pleased with this piece as a prototype and it's led me to consider what kind of model making processes I will go on to use and experiment with later.

Pigment Casting.

I experimented with a few different coloured pigments during the casting process of making these faces. The first column shows the three different characters with no pigment. The second shows Yool and Ty with pink pigments, (although Yools turned out too pale so I re-cast this one afterwards.) The owl is cast with a bronze powder rubbed into the mould before resin is poured in; bronze powder was within the resin as well to ensure the colour transferred all the way through the cast. The final column shows some random colour experimentation that I thought would suit the characters; Yool as a gentle pastel blue, Ty with stronger golds and khakis and the owl as a pale yellow. To achieve the pastel colours I had to be really precise with how much pigment I put in, as it was really easy to add too much and for the colours to come out too strong!

Box Making.

I asked Billy to help me out in making a box with some shelves within it in order to display my maquette face casts. I wanted to put effort into displaying these professionally, as learning how to do this was one of the points of focus I had in the last run of this project. After drawing up a simple blueprint for measurements, cutting the pieces and beginning to assemble them, I realised that we forgot to take into consideration the extra 5mm that the sides of the box added. Because of this, I stuck together what I could and will have to re-cut some new side pieces asap. I plan on simply painting the box a matt colour once it's assembled, as I want it to look smart but not detract from the casts themselves.  

Fast Cast casting with Silicone moulds.

This shows the surviving sculpt after been removed from the silicone mould. Resin has been poured into the mould which was cleaned out beforehand.  

Shows the desk area while casting the faces; Essential items where a set of scales, two part resin, pots and stirrers, silicone mould, newspaper to protect the table surface. 

Sculpture Casting.

Once the faces where sculpted out completely and smoothed down, I built small walls around them in MDF to form the walls for the mould. 

I used a simple 1:10 platsil silicone, poured over the sculpts after mixing up and dispersing the air bubbles. The silicone was poured into one empty corner of the mould, held from a height in order to help make sure there where no air bubbles too. I also glued the walls down so they were easily removable afterwards; I wanted to make sure that the silicone mould could be pulled off the top of the sculpt once it had set, in case the mould didn't turn out correct the first time. This way I would have a second chance at getting the mould correct in case it did go wrong, (preparing for the worst case scenario, as my time management would have been strained if I had to resculpt any of these character faces.) 

Character face sculpting progress.

 As I'm looking into stop motion puppets and maquettes, I've decided that one part of my making aspect of this project will be focused on character designs, concept art and realising these figures in 3D. Although I know that hand sculpting and casting faces is no longer a widely used method in industry; as 3D printing is now much more efficient in terms of cost, time and accuracy of detailing. I'd still like to practise this method as it's good to understand the past methods used and how we've progressed. For a prototyping project I feel that this method is also appropriate.

I have a small amount of experience with sculpting and casting, so wanted to use this project to practice these skills. I would definitely like to look in 3D printing, but that would require using software I've never even learnt the basics to and in terms of my time management I'm not sure this would fit in with the schedule at this point in the project.

To begin sculpting I had to decide on what materials and style it is I wanted to use and create. I decided on chavant to use to sculpt the faces in, as its quite easy to use and smooth out if you know the right techniques! Chavant is oil based so doesn't air dry,  meaning I can work on the sculpts, leave and come back later without them drying out or cracking. Another advantage to this oil based clay is that once you've cast it, you can reuse it (as it wont have dried) so its quite cost effective and lasts a while.  A lot of detail can also be picked up with chavant, making it suitable for any size sculpts! 

I decided on working with a flat surface, as I want the face to be interchangeable possibly with the use of magnets on the back of them. As someone who doesn't have an awful lot of sculpting experience, working on a flat surface was also easier for me at this point. 

I now realise that working in 3D could gave been a lot more beneficial but I have learnt from this! Seeing the heads as 3D, being able to see every angle of them while I was sculpting would have helped a lot with proportions. 

The style I decided on was quite flat and usually based on one base shape per character, e.g. circles for Yool, Triangles for Ty. The sticky out ears, wide eyes and shape based forms were all design choices.