Thread: michael myers marionette

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So I offered to make something Michael Myers for a friend of mine to repay him for helping me out with a project.

The idea popped in my mind.. what about a marionette.

So I started with the head... it's not quite finished yet. I just decided last night to add eyes 'under' the mask instead of just having it appear as an empty mask so those aren't done yet.

I plan on making a silicone block mold and casting this in resin when it's done. I'll probably try a rotocast (hollow) casting and a solid resin one as well just for fun.

I only need one for the marionette.

Maybe I'll try my hand at sculpting shoulders for a complete bust. Who knows.


This sculpt was done using Super Sculpy around a chicken wire core. I used photos I found online of the original Capt Kirk mask as reference because there are so many versions of the mask and I was going for the original film style.

The white is the sculpture that's been already baked and primed.. the flesh tone is more clay I added later which hasn't been baked yet.

This is my first human face sculpture so I'm a little suprised how it came out.

Once I figure out the whole molding and casting deal, I think I'll start doing some lifesize zombie heads for the yard display.


Starting out... (a little disheartening initially)







Current progress...

I think thats a great idea. Looks like your off to a great start. Theres a huge market for MM collectables if you make several to sell. Problem is they are a "purist" community so every detail is scrutinized. I think you have accomplished the basic likeness there either way. Im also messing around with some corpse marionettes. Keep up the good work!

yeah. I was just going for a likeness since this guy would be happy with somethign that came close.

this last addition of clay to a wider neck and the eyes go a long way.

the more i look the more i notice the mouth is too wide and the eyebrows are too high. not sure if i'm going to fix it or just leave it as is and move onto a new project.

if nothing else this is a learning experience where I'm getting to work with some new materials. i've always wante to do some mold making and casting.

My understanding from other sculptors is MM ( Shat I should say) is actually a bit tricky to capture. I'd say yours is pretty darn good for a first attempt. Those adjustments you mentioned would probably put it right on target. Either way I can tell who it is already.

just a couple of updated photos that look terrible because i took them with my phone.

I've been taking pics with a real camera during the process to put together a good blog post about the project once i'm finished.

At this point I'm going to call the sculpting part of this project "good enough".

I sprayed the scuplt with Krylon "satin" plastic spraypaint but it came out much more high gloss, which is ok to pour a mold onto i guess.

Going to let the paint cure a few days before pouring the mold. PATIENCE!

Its gonna be cool with the hair and paint....very nice job. I especially like how you made the face partly visible around the eyes.

I agree - really great job.

Made some progress on this recently. It's a learning experience and not a cheap one. Messing up usually requires buying more mold material or casting material at 25-30 bucks a pop.

I think I'm pretty much there though.

Here are some horrible photos with explanations...


Comparison shot - original sculpt on the left, hollow resin cast on the right.





Bottom after belt sanding away the bottom of the casting. Depending on how this will be used I can leave the bottom sealed or open it up like this.





Resin cast with eyes in place





The ugly truth... Making silicone molds for the first time is hard. After my first try that failed from not having enough silicone to completely fill my mold box I saw there was a lot of trapped bubbles in the mold I trashed. This time, I brushed on a coat of silicone in those areas. For the most part it eliminated the surface bubbles HOWEVER...
1. the silicone I was using wasn't brushable so it only left a thin layer on the original.
2. after pouring the mold, air bubbles were trapped just above the brushed layer which actually causes MORE problems than normally trapped bubbles.

Normally trapped bubbles will leave your casting with raised bumps you can smooth with some sandpaper. With skinned over bubbles the resin gives off heat which causes the air in those bubbles to expand leaving these pock marks on the final cast piece.



You can fill these with Bondo but if you're looking for an unblemished piece without having to paint it... Bondo is out of the question.

I was able to break the skin on the bubble, mix up a little silicone and dab it into the bubble holes. Once it self leveled the mold looked ALMOST perfect. There will be a little surface blemishes but those should come off with a little 200 grit sandpaper.



HAIR MAKES THE MAN. I'm using some craft fur I found at, of all places... MICHAEL'S.
The texture, length and color just happened to be perfect for this. The photo shows a quick test fit because I'm tired of looking at him bald.





...and lastly... now THIS gives me an idea. ... these projects create themselves.



I'll just have to figure out how to make his knife holding arm bobble in the overhead stab position once I sculpt his body.

I think this is awesome man. Yeah, you had to learn a few lessons, but you have now graduated to the next class so to speak. Your gonna be a better mold maker next time and savvy to the things to look out for. Personally, I wouldn't sweat the pocks in the resin, because I couldnt resist painting the mask to look weathered...but I also think being able to pull an unblemished piece and NOT have to paint, well, that also would be sweet. The hair is great! LOl, good going. Yep, it could also make a very SICK bobble head. There is an even bigger market for those. Time to think about the puppet hands, have you? Maybe a little knife? I think if you pull off a nice puppet, you should do several. The size looks like you could (at least)get several hundred bucks from the right collector. Good going whatever you decide to do.

so tonight i coated the touched up mold with talcum powder and tried another resin pour, this time making sure to rotate it in one direction only (meaning not going back over itself) and the touch up worked out well.

it actually looks like the somewhat blemished skin texture of the original mask so i am totally happy with it now.

the talcum powder gave the piece a completely uniform matte finish.

So, I ended up casting 2 tonight and on the second one I took a shortcut. I didn't coat the mold with talcum powder. Stupid move.

I could see slight differences and even 2-3 small bubbles in the resin in spots where previous pulls were perfect.

The other REALLY noticeable thing though, where I had touched up the mold by brushing on silicone, those spots were SUPER smooth and glossy on the piece. Obviously this was because the touchup silicone self levels to a super smooth finish.

Luckily, the talcum powder will take care of that.

I have enough RotoCast 325 to pull 2-3 more heads.


As for the puppet, I did a quick hand in sculpey with no armature. I'm likely going to make the hands a little more 'doll-like' and less to scale anatomically.

The goal is to do one hand relaxed to his side and the other hand with a knife which can be raised into the overhead position using the marionette string.

I picked up a set of baby shoes at the thrift store which seem to be not only a great scale for the project but are close enough to the boots to be perfect once I dirty them up.

I have a couple of ideas for the heads. Right now I'll do this pupper for my friend, then maybe put one in an acrylic case with a wood base and an engraved plaque, then you can bet I'm definately sculpting a body for a iant sized bobble head. That one is just too perfect not to do and will be my next mold making experience as I learn to do a 2 part brush on mold with a plaster mother mold.

thnaks for the feedback!