If you have seen any movie that features realistic facial or body scarring in the last five years, chances are you have seen flat-moulded encapsulated silicone prosthetic transfers in action. They give an incredibly realistic result and as far as looking like real flesh and skin they have not been surpassed. The consist of a thin membrane of plastic (the encapsulant) filled with a special silicon gel, the texture of which which can be modified to create firmer or softer pieces for different areas on the body. Once applied the edges of the encapsulant are melted away and become invisible on the skin surface. The appliances are coloured using special alcohol-soluble ink makeup (such as Skin Illustrator).
Neill Gorton, of Britain’s Millenium FX, is a pioneer in this method of making prosthetics, and in this excellent series of Instructional DVDs, he demonstrates the design and manufacturing process in simple, easy to follow steps.
Don’t waste materials making expensive mistakes- get this DVD and understand the process before you start!
LEVEL: Suitable for beginners with a basic understanding of sculpting and mouldmaking.
RATING: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
This set is available individually or in a compilation box.
Here is a quick rundown on the contents: – The Art of Silicone Prosthetics is going to take you from Disc 1, Flat Appliances- encapsulated silicone transfers, through Disc 2, Multi Piece encapsulated silicone appliances, being a combination of flat-moulded cheeks with two part moulds for the curved surfaces like nose, forehead, and then lastly through Disc 3, which covers Neill’s method of making Conforming Silicone Appliances.
The difference between Disc 2 makeups and Disc 3 is that for the Disc 2 appliances they are removed from the moulds and can be prepainted and are then applied, the conforming appliances from Disc 3 are left in the outer, concave mould and applied directly to the face, thereby allowing extremely accurate placement, and they are then coloured after application on the actor.
If you are looking for a good place to start these are the way to go. Once you get a little more advanced and want to stretch yourself a bit, For my money, I would also get the Character Series for the sculpting and moulding instruction alone, even if you aren’t going to make a whole head piece just yet. As a matter of fact I did get that one as a total beginner, and had a go. I discovered a few things about letting your fibreglass cure before attempting to mould in it, but hey, learning curve, right? I later did a course with Neill on making the flat pieces and bought that DVD set when it was available, in actual fact he did Part 3, covering conforming moulds, because several of our group were hammering him with questions on the technique during that particular class! Hope that helps you decide!
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