Sculpture and mould making for my scar

             

Product List:

• Clay

• Tools for sculpting

• Cling film

• Scale

• Silicone A and B

• Deadener

• Naphtha

• Cotton buds

• Wet wipes

• Cups

• Silicone pigments

• Wooden sticks

• Wooden brushes

• Hair dryer

• Mask

• Gloves

• Petrolease

• Fixier spray

• Alcohol

• Baby powder

Step by Step:

• Have you done proper research? What kind of scar are you doing? How did it happen? When did         it happen? What is the background story?->make sure you can answer all of these question                 before you start sculpting ( background story and research can be find in a separate post)

• Make sure to do the sculpture as realistic as possible

• Set up your workplace

• Get a plastic (non porous) base/tray and make sure it’s clean

• Get your clay and tools and start sculpting

• Also get a hairdryer if you want to soften up/warm up the clay->it is easier to work with(at least         for me)

• Make sure you blend out all the edges otherwise they will show up later

• When you are happy with your design spray it with fixier spray

• Make sure before you do that you open the windows and wear a mask, keep a distance of 20cm           while spraying

• Let it dry

• Then spray the petrolease, do the same as with the fixier spray

• Let it dry as well

• Then cut up a cup( our cup fit perfectly with the plastic trays we are using) and glue it on with a         glue gun

• Make sure it is sealed properly otherwise the silicone will leak through

• Let it cool down

• While it is cooling you can start doing the negative for the mould

• Lay out cling film all over your workplace as well as over the scale

• Get 2 pairs of gloves ready as you have to change them when working with different silicone

• Have your marked sticks ready

• Put cup onto the scale and set it to 0

• Now get your stick A and pour 35g of SA into the cup

• Be careful when measuring  as it has to be accurate

• When done get some baby wipes and clean the SA container and close it, wipe again

• Change your gloves and get SB and stick B

• Reset the scale to 0 again

• Pour in 35g of SB

• Clean up SB container and close it, wipe again and take off your gloves

• Stir the mixture and make sure that you don’t have too many air bubbles

• Then pour it onto the sculpture and make sure it is evenly spread

• Let it set for about an hour

• After an hour->get the negative out of the plastic and clean it with alcohol->make sure there are          no clay bits left inside the mould

• After cleaning it with alcohol spray it with petrolease again->wear mask again and do it in front         of an open window

• Set up your workplace and get everything out you need

• make the 1:2 Baldiez and Alcohol mix -> I applied 2 layers of it but later when I wanted to                 remove the scar the Baldiez layer ripped so I would advise to do at least 3 nice layers

• Get 3 sticks ready marked with A,B and C , get also 3 pairs of gloves

• Put a cup on the scale and make sure it’s on 0

• Put on gloves, get stick A and pour in SA-> for my first mould I used 10g for SA and 

• Close SA container and wipe them clean->take off gloves

• Change into new gloves and get stick B and pour in 10g of SB

• Clean SB container and change into new gloves again

• Then add 60-70% of Deadener to the SA and SB mix

• So add around 12g of Deadener

• Close container and wipe it clean

• Then quickly add the silicone pigment but make sure you tested the pigments before you add               them, so they will match the skin

• When working with silicone you always have to work very fast as it starts setting as soon as SA         and SB get in contact

• When you are happy with the colour pour the mix into the mould

• Even it out using your metal tool

Finished sculpture of the knee surgery scar

As a reference I used the picture of my sisters knee surgery scar

Glued on the cut off of the cup which works as a wall for the silicone

Filled in the SA and SB mixture to make the negative

After I did the actual mould for the scar that's the end result.
I was worried at the beginning because I had holes in the blending layer but I have been told that that's okay so I guess it's fine.

It was very fun and relaxing to do the sculpting. It's something I could do for hours:) But I also paid attention to the details of the scar and tried to do it as realistic as possible. For example those lines you can see on the scar. That part of skin changed it's texture and you have to pay attention to it. Also you have to think about the distance between the scar and the two little scars from the tube. As it was my first sculpture I had some troubles with the sizing at the beginning because I wasn't sure if it was big enough or if it was standing out too much. But it looked quite big at the beginning so I kept making it smaller and flatter until it looked alright to me. But I think as you keep on doing more and more sculptures you will develop the right feeling about the sizing . It is just a matter of practice. After you have done the negative and prepare to do the actual mould it is really important to test the silicone pigments to see if the colours you are choosing are matching. In this case it has to match skin colour. But as I wanted the scar to be slightly lighter than the actual skin tone I decided to add a light flesh tone colour and white and a tiny ,tiny bit of yellow. But you have to be really careful with the pigments as they are very pigmented. Another thing is that when you want to remove your scar from the mould do it slowly and make sure to use enough baby powder as it will help to separate it. When you rush it the risk if ripping is higher. All in all it was very interesting and fun doing a sculpture and the moulds and just to create your own scar. And because I enjoyed it quite a lot ,I think I will keep being interested in special effects and hopefully learn even more which would help me to maybe go the special effects path.