Pro-Fx Makeup Tips - Introduction to Lifecasting - Part 3

Introduction to Lifecasting – Part 3

- Plaster bandage Support cases.

Hello again, hopefully you’ve been keeping an eye on the previous digital demo delights, and now we come to the final part of the basic lifecasting process, the support case or shell, usually made with Plaster bandage.

This is exactly the same material used in Hospitals to support a broken limb while it heals.

It often comes in rolls of varying sizes, or even sheets. For faces and general mould making work, lengths of around 10 to12 inches (250 - 300mm) are very manageable, from rolls around 6 inches or 150mm wide.

2 ply thick (2 pieces laid on top of each other and used as one) is good for use on small detail areas such as the face, hands etc, and 4 ply thick for larger moulds and bodies.


For transportation it’s good to pre-cut all the lengths you may need and fold them up, storing them in a seal top plastic bag ready for use.



For this demo, we’ve cut two small pieces, these are dipped together in a bowl of room temperature water and immediately removed.



The excess water is wringed out of the bandage and it is then applied to the alginate and smoothed into place working well into all the surface details and forms that will be present when doing a larger lifecast area.



You will note that we have applied to the alginate a layer of reinforcing Hessian again. The other reason for this is that the plaster bandage will also bond to the Hessian, giving us a mould which will all stay together as one, so the Alginate does not fall away from the support case, maintaining accuracy.

Next month…

Part 4 of our Introduction to Lifecasting – The Magic of Silicone…

Want to learn more ?

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

Pro-Fx Makeup Tips - Introduction to Lifecasting - Part 2

Introduction to Lifecasting - Part 2

- Slow set Alginate and how to make the un-stickable stick… to itself !

Here we are already speeding along into another chapter of what could become a very large almanac indeed if we didn’t keep wrestling with the heaps of techniques involved, & keep them all contained and orderly in the huge treasure chest of informative goodies in which they reside; Only allowing a few snippets of joy out to play here on these modest pages of the World Wide Web…

Having left you last month with a little insight into Alginate, we mentioned the Hessian reinforcement used and how it adds strength and assists in later stages of the process (see part 3 next month).

Here you can see how well the Alginate locks into the Hessian (as it was applied to it while the Alginate was still in paste form).

This is what is known as a mechanical bond and is very helpful to us. Generally alginate doesn’t stick to much, including body hair, or indeed itself. Sometimes however, when doing a large lifecast we need to apply a second layer for strength and to thicken up any thin patches, so we need to somehow make the alginate bond well to itself, this is how…

This time we’ll use the slower set lifecasting Alginate which sets in around 8 minutes as opposed to the 2 or 3 minutes of the coloured Dental Alginate.

Mixed in exactly the same manner as before, powder 1st, add water and mix to a smooth paste. Not too runny, but not too thick as it will then be difficult to apply and may trap air bubbles.

So, if your 1st layer of Alginate has set on you, and you’re needing to add some more, simply paint the Alginate with a light coating of this magic blue liquid and work it in until you see the surface of the alginate begin to dissolve a little.

The Magic Blue liquid is called, most appropriately ‘Alginate Bonder’, and is actually a specific form of washing soda dissolved in water. It can also be used as a retarder to slow down the setting of Alginate when mixed into a batch in specific proportions.

Straight away you can mix up another batch of Alginate and apply that to the 1st layer. When set you will find that they are as one !

Next month…

Part 3 of our Introduction to Lifecasting – Plaster bandage Support cases.

Want to learn more ?

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

Hybrid Fx nominated for 'Team of the Year' at the Royal Television Society Awards

We are happy to announce that our Prosthetic & Makeup team for the hit BBC2 show 'Undercover Dads' have been shortlisted for the prestigious award.

It is always nice to be up for an award but this one is special as it focuses on the team involved in the show, from frontline makeup artists to the clever and talented people that design, sculpt and fabricate our lifelike silicone disguise work.

Big thanks to Dawn, Ricky and Suzanne for pulling long shifts and still managing to create awesome looking 'Mega Nannies'.

The award dinner is on June 14th.

Prosthetic Designer Mike Stringer creating a brand new fingertip for one of the Dad's.

Makeup Artist Suzanne Bates 'veeting' like a dervish.