Back to Home Page

Body life-casting

 

Life casting is one of the hardest skills to perfect, even in a fully equipped art studio - let alone within our makeshift setup.
But it's not simply a matter of having all the right equipment at your disposal; what is hardest to obtain is the experience of learning to develop your skills.

 

The practice is simple enough:

Use a suitable compound (either a derivative of plaster, or as we prefer alginate) to encapsulate the subject area in a supportive frame of impression material so as to create a negative mould that you are able to separate from your subject before taking a permanent positive impression.
The goal is to create as near to an exact replica of the original as possible - given the restraints of the materials used.

But so much can, and does go wrong in the beginning; too much or too little impression material can be used - so distorting the features or inviting trapped air pockets to form resulting in the same thing. Worse still, tearing your precious cast beyond repair.
Accumulated hours may add up to weeks wasted in the early stages due to poor technique or simply inexperience.

Many people try  their hand at life-casting.   The Accident and Emergency rooms bear witness to their testimony; and stories are bound of the failed exploits of these unfortunate trainees.  Although many are very amusing and even make prime time viewing; on a more serious side it should never be taken lightly the many dangers and even potentially fatal mistakes that sometimes befall the foolhardy. so I joke not when I tell you that there are serious risks involved if you do not know what you are doing - trapping limbs due to unforeseen undercuts, or even serious skin burns caused by overzealous plastering.

It may not surprise you then to know that professional life-casters charge a fair amount of money for a good cast.

Male torso life cast

 

Back to casting index.

©   S y l a k    S p e c i a l   E f f e c t s

Lifecasting performed by Nicky and Sylak.

Casting Index.

 

This page was last reviewed by the WebMaster on 30/05/2001