Thread: Homemade Silicone Mask

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Well, I jumped into the deep end of mask making, freeform silicone mask making to be exact. I got some stuff for christmas and ordered more Gel-10 silicone and I am glad I did. I only put about 4 hours of work into this all together and have alot of work to do to it. This is mostly an experiment with Gel-10 to see how hard it is to work with, and the hardest part is cutting eye holes. So I gotta redo the eyes, and luckily you can go back and add more silicone

Anyways here is my first ever mask and its a generic zombie that looks like a giant baby head, and I am sorry for the crap quality. I had to use my webcam

Very cool for free form. Any tips, impresssions, whatever you can offer?

Keep the Gel-10 cold, I actually was working in my bedroom so I just set them outside on a ledge outside my window. If the Gel-10 is cold you have more working time which helps. The videos put up by BITY Mold Supply are misleading because he is an amazing artist. It is definitely a odd medium to sculpt with, its a thick gel kinda like a caulk until it sets then it becomes very grabby and stretchy. This is when you go around and add texture. Buy lots of 1" brushes for cheap because you go through them on the layers like crazy. I recommend watching all of the BITY Mold Supply videos and get the supplies from them. They are located in Texas and call in the order as Mitch is very helpful and knowledgeable.

BITY tutorials on youtube
YouTube - brickintheyard's Channel


The tutorial for the mask
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w46bEIFAZA

Big fan of BitY. Been watching their videos for a while now. Thanks for the insight.

Well, nothing I make or own is ever complete till I am 110% satisfied and that is never. So I went back at it and decided to break up the face alittle bit so its not so bondage hood like. I think it is slowly getting better, it will have its first field test in my friends movie. Knowing me it will change yet again before filming, and I plan on doing make up under the mask so the eyes will just look empty and black.

EEEuuuw!! I mean really -- EEEEK!!! Grossly Outstanding mask! Very VERY creepy! Nice job!

Where do I place my order?

Thanks for the compliment

How much does that stuff cost?
It looks great!

Foam Latex and Silicone can be pricey. But, it's a good investment. It moves better than mask latex and if you have a lifecast of yourself, you can make form fitting pieces. But, you need to be willing to invest time and money in mold making and casting. It's something I've done in the past and hope to get into again when I have the time and the money . This company makes good stuff. But, is pricey Smooth-On - Mold Making and Casting Materials for a World of Applications! .

My suggestion is ask around your local haunters to see if anyone has experience and then set up a workshop and do a group buy. It becomes a little more affordable and you'll have someone with experience to help. There are lots of things you can unwittingly mess up.

What Biggie has done is take the mold making and casting part out of the equation and is simply applying the medium to a structure and kind of sculpting it free form. Not as much to mess up there. But, you kinda get some funky looking masks. It works well for what he's doing. But, you can do highly detailed and lifelike stuff with sculpting, mold making and casting. Check out the Smooth on site for examples.

I had to laugh when I saw you over on TheEffectsLab.com when I was lurking the other day. That place is awesome but, it gives you way to many ideas and projects to do. My yard display is in danger because I want to get into Fx more than anything. I need to decide if I want to do an awesome costume or an awesome yard display. Working and building on broke college kid funds sucks so much when you have hobbies like this.

Originally Posted by Front Yard Fright

How much does that stuff cost?
It looks great!

I got most of the stuff for christmas, but in total about 250 into all the stuff. However that is stuff like a cfx basic head armature(display head that comes with the masks), a bunch of silicone pigments, scales, flocking, thickener, and double the silicone needed in case I messed up. Now you could make a mask using about $50 worth of silicone once you figure it out. Platsil Gel-10 is an expensive medium but is awesome to work with, and its sticky and messy fun!