I saw this on a website somewhere now I can't find it again. This is a cool idea someone had to duplicate skulls by making a plaster mold and then filling the mold with great stuff to produce a positive foam skull. Can someone point to the right place?

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Duh... Me post twice.

I can't help with the site, but I wouldn't "fill" the molds with Great Stuff.
A large amount of any one part foam wont cure properly, the middle won't get the moisture it needs to cure.
(yes, this is the voice of experience )
I'd either use a two part foam ($$) or just a thin shell of Great Stuff.

Do you remember what they use as a release agent?

i believe that this what you are talking about
http://thewidowsden.com/blow_mold_skull_mold.htm

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here too on the side of the page
http://www.spookyblue.com/halloween/...cameroncorpse/

Thanks guys! Lurks, the release agent is hand soap lol. Thanks Dave that's the one! Thanks to you too chupacabra that site is useful as well. Want to make a horde of skulls this year. Don't want to buy them all and the paper mache duplication method takes forever to make. Besides some of them will be used as a base for monter heads made in clay, and others will be corpses. Thanks again guys!

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Ah! That's a silicone matrix mold with a plaster mother mold.
Soap is a fine release for this. (Dry it with a hair drier)
I couldn't think of a reliable release for Poly foam and PoP. The foam and silicone should be fine, if you use 100% silicone caulk.

With the flexability of the silicone, you can get away with minor undercuts, and other imperfections.


Good instructions... The only thing I would do differently would be to silicone the entire skull, then put up a clay dividing wall with registration notches, and make the only seam by cutting the silicone up the back. Still use a two piece mother, that way the mother holds the sides of the seam cut together.

And just make a foam shell, after that's cured maybe fill it the rest of the way.

I don't mean to come across as an arrogant know-it-all, (OK, I am a little bit arrogant) but I do know molds.
With the right materials, I can mold and cast darn near anything!

Pennywise - did you try it yet? Did it work? What kind of silicone and where did you buy it? What kind of clay for the divider? What kind of hand soap, liquid? bar? Dove? Ivory?

Lurks, have you tried this? Why dry the soap with a hair drier? Do you smear it on wet? How many casts will it take? What's a registration notch? Why would cutting the silicone, then making a mother be better? Is cutting up the back (and I would assume down the fron of the face) be better than from ear to ear?

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Haven't tried it yet sis. As soon as I get silicon though I'm going nuts with this idea (thank you Spooky Blue!) Lurks, will hand soap or dish detergent work as a release for plaster of Paris too? Maybe I can bypass the whole silicon thing and make 2 half molds (back and front) and spray a thin layer on each and build it up gradually. I know vaseline works with Plaster.

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Pennywise, please keep in touch with how this goes, 'kay? I've been dying to make a ton of skulls myself, just not sure how to start. I've been doing the aluminum foil/masking tape/paper mache' thing and it's O.K., but, just like you said, not very fast.

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