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
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