Pro-Fx Makeup Tips - Introduction to Lifecasting - Part 4

Introduction to Lifecasting – Part 4

- The magic of Silicone.

Way back in April’s Fx Tips, we began to outline the wonders of Alginate. Now although Alginate is a great product, as old as the hills, cheap, fast & safe it does have its down sides.

The first is that it’s not very strong, it can tear easily. The second is that being water based, we are limited to what we can cast into it, basically Plaster is the main material here. Most resins don’t like moisture much, or will certainly reproduce copies from Alginate with a less than perfect finish. And the third problem is that Alginate shrinks very quickly once set. This means that wherever you are on a job, a plaster positive has to be cast into the mould as soon as it is removed from the client, which is more work, more time, more materials to carry, more hassle !

So what we need is a synthetic alginate substitute, and that material is now Silicone. There are of course a great many types of silicone out on the market, most are utterly inappropriate for lifecasting with, only one is really and truly safe and viable as a lifecasting material, it’s called ‘Lifeform’. It has been specifically developed for the market, and although it is somewhat more expensive than Alginate, the advantages are tremendous.

Not much sticks to silicone, making it great to cast almost all materials into it. It is dimensionally stable, strong and tear resistant. Also, from a good silicone mould we can make multiple copies of a lifecast. It is lighter than alginate as it can be applied much more thinly, and as such has less tendency to alter the facial features as it does not pull on the skin under it’s own weight and the action of gravity.

Mixing is quite easy too. Because it will stick to itself easily, you don’t need to worry about covering a large area in one go, or having to bond layers together etc. You can mix in small manageable batches and build up exactly the layer you want quickly and easily.

There are two parts to the product, each is a different colour and is mixed equally until an even colour is achieved.



One other really great thing about ‘Lifeform’ is that unlike other silicones which have been made for lifecasting in the past, this material does not grip to hair, so again in that it is much like Alginate, making this a truly versatile product.

Once applied the material will set in a few minutes and will peel away cleanly, capturing really fine detail. There are fast setting and slow setting versions too.
No Hessian reinforcement is needed, and a plaster bandage support case can be applied to the Silicone in just the same way as we outlined in June’s Fx Tips.

Want to learn more…


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

Next month…

Protect yourself - Working safely with materials in the workshop (and on-set).

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.

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.