Hybrid Fx School expands to London and Essex!

We are proud to announce that we are now offering several of our courses at two new locations around the country.

The stunning 'Tres Health & Wellbeing' Centre right next to Chelsea Bridge Wharf is our London location and the first course dates start from Saturday 17th July.

Second up is the 'Greenwoods Hotel & Spa' in Stock, Essex which starts later in the year from October.

The majority of the week long courses will always be run at our Studio as it is our main facility but we will open up more courses at these new locations as soon as feasible!

We have also updated the website to reflect these changes, please choose:

'Studio Based Courses' for Studio Courses in Guiseley.
'London Based Courses' for London Courses.
'Essex Based Courses' for the Stock, Essex Courses.

Finally we recently added a 'Facial Lifecasting' Course which we reccomend to any makeup artists looking to really learn how to perfom perfect lifecasts. It's a skill we feel is poorly presented in the industry and now is the time to polish your technique.

Details are available via 'Studio Based Courses' menu option.

Pro-Fx Makeup Tips - Introduction to Lifecasting - Part 1

Hi, we’re a little behind schedule with this months slice of Fx Tips, we’ve been so unexpectedly busy this year so far, the months are flying by…

So, I thought we should start to introduce a few materials into the mix, and offer a little insight into the techniques we use in the industry and offer on our specialist courses.

Introduction to Lifecasting – Part 1

Lifecasting is one of the key skills that underpins much of what we do as Makeup Fx Artists.

There are a great many techniques one needs to develop and practice in order to be a skilled, safe and accomplished lifecaster and these can only be learned as part of one of our main courses and with good practice.


Here we will just touch on some of the very basic aspects and materials involved…

As mentioned in the past, being organised and laying out your equipment in a clean and tidy way is very important. You will not always be able to perform the lifecast at your place of work, often you will need to travel to the client, either at their home, a Hotel, their agents office or similar.

Protecting surfaces of the place in which you are working, as well as the floor is very important, as the lifecasting process can be a little messy.



The standard base material for making a lifecast is Alginate, which is a very safe, Seaweed based product and is available in 2 types; There’s a fast setting, usually coloured & flavoured (mint, fruit etc) version used mainly in the Dental industry for making teeth impressions. There’s also a slower white odourless version specifically for facial and larger body lifecasting.


Alginate comes in powder form and is mixed with water to form a smooth paste.

When applied to any body area it will set to a firm rubber in a few minutes.

Often we will reinforce the alginate with a layer of Hessian to prevent it tearing, and also to aid in the next stage of the process…


When set, alginate peels away from the skin very easily and cleanly, and pics up perfect fine skin details.


Next month… Part 2 of our Introduction to Lifecasting

Want to learn more ?

Book onto our ‘One day Intensive Facial Lifecasting’ Course, or The ‘6 Week Intensive Prosthetic Makeup’ Course

New Course launched - One Day Intensive Facial Lifecasting

Starting from Saturday 3rd May 2010 is our highly intensive Lifecasting course.

Covering every aspect on how to safely perform a professional facial lifecast, it is limited to four slots only.

Throughout the day at our Studio, attendees will perform a lifecast under guidance from Award Winning Prosthetic Designer Mike Stringer and then also undergo the same process to fully understand what it feels like.

This will allow the attendees to confidently discuss the process to any future Actors or Celebrities they may be casting at a later date.

Please Click Here if you wish to learn more.