Shrink a head, keep the mold.
When something you made makes you giddy, you know you got it right.
This week I experimented with mold-casting. I’ve never done this before and my head is still swimming with all the ideas for future projects. I’m not sure why I decided a shrunken head should be the first mold I ever make, maybe it’s all those October vibes :)
You can see the process the video:
Before starting, I searched for info and photos of shrunken heads, and decided to use real ones (as opposed to cartoon or movie prop ones) as my inspiration. Shrunken heads were made in a few different cultures, so they weren’t all made the same way, but the key point was the removal of the skull - that’s how the head could be smaller. I didn’t take a specific photo as reference, instead I combined details from several images.
Making the head was a pretty long process. Starting with sculpting the head in polymer clay, then making a mold from the head, casting it in resin and, finally, painting and detailing it. While sculpting I kept in mind that this will be a mold, and made sure that there are plenty of details that can be added or shifted with coloring, so each head I make will end up looking completely different even though they all start the same.
From left to right: the polymer clay model, silicon mold, resin cast and finished head.
To be honest, though I love this shrunken head, what gets me most excited is the possibilities this little experiment opened for me. Like making embellishments or detail pieces for my projects, knowing that I can replicate them for multiple uses - how cool it that??
I made a shortlist of the products I used, you can find it bellow. I only included the main ones, so if you’re curious about something that isn’t in the list (or about something else in the process), feel free to ask :)
Till next time,
xx
Naama
Product shortlist:
Polymer clay (I used Fimo, but any would do)
For sculpting: a variety of round head stylus tools, silicon sculpting tools, craft knife
For the silicon mold: Smooth-on OOMOO 30
Resin for casting: Smooth-Cast 300
Painting: distress paints, though other acrylic paints would work as well. For this head I used ground espresso, black soot, pumice stone and old paper.
Hemp cords (and lots of patience…)