THOUGHTS ON MOLD MAKING, FOAM LATEX AND GELATIN - FROM RUNNING TO APPLICATION (CONTINUED).

Now once all the molds are filled, you test the gelling of the foam by pressing on the left-over foam on the beaters or in the bowl. When you can press it and it STAYS compressed (i.e. leaves an indent of your fingertip) you are about ready to place them into the oven. Now you can do one of two things and depending upon results you can adjust accordingly. Some people preheat the oven to anywhere between 175 and 200 degrees. Others don't preheat the oven but turn it on when the molds are placed in the oven. Some say this latter technique is not as hard on the molds because the molds heat up with the oven and therefore aren't as susceptible to overheating and weakening of them. But with Acryl 60 in the mix, the molds are already stronger and will last fine. Then there are others who preheat the oven and put the molds right into it the minute they gel. And even if they aren't totally gelled placing them into a preheated oven often helps to "kick" the gelling (jumpstarting) of the foam in the molds. I personally always preheat the oven. I like the idea of placing the molds into a warm oven and letting the gelling process kick by the existing heat. The oven cools down some anyway when you open it to place the molds inside and the cold molds also drop the heat substantially. So it then takes the oven time to reheat to the correct temperature. I always baked mine at temperatures between 185 and 200 degrees. And depending upon how many molds are in the oven, that will determine how long you leave them to bake. Most of the time the number of molds I was able to get into the oven was about 8. I baked them at about 185 to 200 degrees for about 3 1/2 hours and on occasion, had to let them go another half hour to 45 minutes. So roughly 4 hours - BUT you have to watch them so they don't overbake and then they'd become brittle and burned - and boy do they stink when that occurs. Plus they are unusable. So it will vary and is something that has to be tested and learned by experience.

When the baking process is done you can remove them from the oven (but I'll explain). To test them for "done-ness" when you press on the overflow (or flash) at the sprue holes or off the sides, with a fingertip, the foam springs back and is rubbery or resilient. I turn the oven off and open the door slightly, let them sit for another half hour or so and then I remove them when the oven temperature drops to around 110 - 120 degrees. Keep checking the oven thermometer. When they have reached that temperature I begin the removal process. I take out one at a time and begin to remove the baked foam appliance from the mold. I use a wooden sculpting tool to separate the two mold halves being careful to try to keep the foam appliance in the negative mold. First you pull the excess foam up out of the sprue holes as far as possible without tearing the appliance inside the mold. You clip these sections off. Using a wooden tool helps to gently move the foam around on the molds without damaging it. When the two halves are separated, you can put the one half under a towel or blanket to keep it from cooling too quickly. You then powder the appliance in the negative mold and begin removing it from the negative by gently pulling and/or prying with the wooden tool. DO NOT remove the overflow or "flash" from the appliance - leave it intact if you can. Then powdering as you remove the appliance, get it completely out of the negative mold, finish powdering liberally and set it aside. Then take the negative mold half and placing it together with it's corresponding positive half, put them under the blanket to keep them cooling very slowly. Remove the rest of the molds in the same way - one at a time - and remove each appliance from it until they are all done. Work quickly but gently on the foam removal and it should only take a minute or so to remove each piece from the molds. Keep all the molds under the blanket till they are completely cooled - perhaps overnight. Place the appliances on the positive lifecast to help them hold their shape. Later you can place them into ziplock plastic bags or an airtight plastic container, in a cool dark place for storage till they are used.

Foam latex has a definite 'odor' to it when baked and some people just can't take the smell of them when applied. So you CAN wash the pieces to help eliminate some of the odor that is normal with these appliances. This MUST BE DONE VERY GENTLY. When the appliances have had time to dry sufficiently (they are moist when first removed from the molds due to condensation) you can place them into a plastic dish tub of mild, fragrant detergent and VERY GENTLY squeeze some of the detergent through them, washing them carefully. Be careful the paper thin edges. They have a tendency to fold over and as they dry will begin to stick to themselves again as they might have had they not been powdered before. If you are careful you can gently squeeze most of the water out of the washed appliances with a dish towel or whatever, and as they dry gently flatten or smooth the edges back out again and place them on the positive cast to reshape them, powdering them once more for storage. This will make them smell quite a bit better.

Dick Smith tells of Jimmy Durante, the great old-time actor/comedian who had to wear a huge false nose (even bigger than his own famous schnozz) but who was very disturbed by the smell of the foam latex. So Dick put a small piece of cotton ball into the end of the false nose, saturated with cologne, and it worked fine to mask the otherwise pungent odor of the foam latex and Durante was happy. So there is a lot you can do to help the smell but washing is the best and while it isn't easy - if you are careful it is better than anything else.

Well that is pretty much the foam latex process and mold making process as I have done them over the years. And while I have had my share of failures - you will too - it is a fun process to use and the end results are too cool to apply and wear. It is amazing what they do for the look of a character you might be trying to create. Three dimensional makeup is fun to do and between using foam latex and the more translucent - more skin like - gelatine, these are the processes of creating these kinds of appliances. The process above is pretty complete as I do it using the materials I describe. And while I have not given the gelatine process here, you can read about that in the TIPS & TECHNIQUES section of my Website. The formulas and techniques by a friend of mine who has done much research and testing, are there for the taking. The mold process, however, is exactly the same - you just don't have to bake the molds and therefore they will last quite a bit longer than they might otherwise. Both foam and gelatine are excellent to use for three dimensional makeups. The coloring of these appliances with PAX paint or other compatible products can render - if applied well and properly - invisible prosthetics that alter the look of the person wearing them, quite significantly or subtly as needed. I urge you to try this technique and give it your best shot to learn the processes as described, adjusting as needed for the different conditions, tools, techniques, materials, processes and styles that you might use for your own projects. Good luck as you get into it and get your feet wet.