Gel 10 Skull

The tools of the trade! The skull, Gel 10 and pigments read to roll, and chip brushes that i'll never be able to use again!

First Gel 10 layer, details, though there aren't too many details on this skull. Within about 10 seconds I learned I should have paid more attention to the undercuts AND glued the skull down. ;)

Layer 2, blue pigment, just building up the thickness now, bye bye swizzle sticks (and probably cups)!

Close up of layer two as it 'kicks' (rubberizes).

Layer three, added some thickener so that I could start dragging the gel into the deep recesses, so we don't have a problem with the plaster shell later.

6 cups down, and waiting till its almost solidifed! Gotta be careful not to touch the surfaces or else they'll delaminate.

Final layer, attempting to finish off those deep recesses, so we dont have undercuts for the mother mold to latch onto.

Close up, I had a hard time with this layer, I accidentally added a bit too much thickener, and it started to kick before I was fully smoothed out, but that's what experiments are for, to get used to the materials!

I probably should have done this in my garage, but I wanted to watch a movie and sit down comfortably, I was under the weather, after all!

First half of the mother mold, at this point I was skeptical about whether or not I was going to be able to release it... we'll see.

The mayhem in progress.

Second half done...

... and now we wait!

BAM! It worked, mother mold came off just fine. :)

And there she is, all ready for casting!

Plaster test first, I think, because of the inexpensive nature of the material. I think ill move to foam if this works out because in hindsight a skull of this density is f'ing heavy!

It's like someone killed a Weyland Yutani android in here, and gave up half way through cleaning...

Ta-Da! Skull copied, a couple of fine air bubbles, but nothing some Bondo and some sandpaper won't fix.

Dramatic side view!

Meanwhile, at the side of the table... some cheap-ass 'Lazy Susans' in progress. And by that, I mean stands that probably won't work.

Now for the transformation, took a saw to the nub at the top, and sanded it down a bit, cut the large rectangular block off the bottom so it sits more naturally, then started carving out the details, starting with the teeth. :)

Progress so far, teeth done, jaw defined, nose and eye sockets need more work, but I'd call this a success, ready for re-cast and re-production!