Thread: Polystyrene skull (styrofoam)

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Hey guys am sure you're probably sick of this now but am not quite sure what i should do.I have this polystyrene skull and it is anatomically correct so am rather pleased with it coz it was a gem find and a bargain.However i would like to make several copies of this i obviously don't wanna ruin it, i've tried putting tin foil over the form but its losing all the detail and i can't seem to get the foil into the nooks and crannies.The idea was to put plaster bandages over the tin foil and get a mould from it but that ain't happening.Would anybody advise against using alginate on it and then plaster bandages? Am not sure if it would ruin it or not as i've never taken a cast from this type of material.Many thanks in advance guys

Take a blunt object, like pencil w/an eraser on it, & use it to get the foil into the details. It can be done but you're not going to get every single small detail & the foil will poke through in some spots so expect to have to patch small spots. When that happens I just take small piece & tape it over the hole. I have some modeling tools with one of them having a blunt, rounded end & I use that to flatten out my foil but anything with a flat edge, a pencil, a butter knife, a ruler, etc. will get rid of a lot of creases in the foil.

Try paper mache. Paper mache will come off easier than clay or plaster. There's several recipes floating around here & other places.

1 or 2 layers of mache will give you a skull shape, cut it off your foam skull, I usually go right up the center of the face getting a left & right half of the skull, then patch it back together with some tape then mache over the tape. You can use some Great Stuff to fill the head, or use more newspaper, or whatever you'd like to make it solid. I've used shredded paper from my shredder & Great Foam with great results.

I should add that the foam skull I've used as my original has a few chunks of foam taken out of it from cutting off the foil, but the holes don't effect anything & can easily just be painted over if you want to use it for something else.

Any details can be added back on with more clay or mache or your material of choosing. You can go nuts after that.

Try watching some of the youtube videos from this site http://www.brickintheyard.com/

Can we see a pic of the skull you have?

I think I know which one it is...




~S.P.~

You could also fashion a crude vacuum table and use polystyrene to form your mold. From there, it's just an issue of filling and curing each skull.