 LMC:
How
about some painting tips (I see a pattern emerging)? Tips for latex
masks first.
VH: Many times when you pull
a mask out of a plaster mold it has a white surface to it. You can
scratch it off with your finger nails, but it’s a pain. There is an
easy way to remove it. Get some citric acid from your grocery
store. It’s in the baking section and comes in a powdered form. In
a large bucket mix water and citric acid. Put in enough water so
you can totally soak your mask. Put in enough citric acid to make
the water go slightly cloudy. Now soak the mask, use your hands and
a sponge to thoroughly wipe down the outer surface of the mask.
Pull it out and let it dry. Either stuff it or put it on a mask
stand so it doesn’t deform. When dry you’ll need to re-powder the
inside so it doesn’t stick to itself. You’ll see that this removes
all the white residue that was left from the casting process.
 For
actually painting masks I prefer to use rubber cement paints. I
know lots of people don’t like using them because of the solvents,
but I think there’s nothing better out there. With a good
respirator and good ventilation there should be no problem using it.
I first give the mask a wipe down
with hexane. Hexane is a degreaser and is what I use to thin the
paints. You can use whatever solvent you’d normally use as your
rubber cement thinner (like Bestine). I now lay down my base colour
with a brush. That’s because I’m putting so much colour on, and
making it so opaque, that spraying is just too slow. I now start
working up my colours. I can’t really say how to do this. It all
depends on how you want to mask to look, how you work (your style),
etc, etc. I do a lot of under-painting, that is, painting in the
mottling and subtle shading/shaping before going in with the main
colours.
I usually do the skin first, then
the mouth (and eyes, if the mask has them).
 You do need to seal rubber cement
paint. Because it’s rubber cement, it will stick to itself.
Most people use baby or no-colour powder. Some use BJB’s SC-89
(either gloss, semi-gloss or matte finish). Some use a type of
oil. All of these have major drawbacks. Powders do make
the rubber cement paints non-sticky, but it will change to colours
of your paint job. It’ll turn blacks to gray and generally
take the “life” out of your paint job. SC-89 won’t change the
colours, but it will tend to peel off over time and if it gets
fairly wet it will turn white. The oils that some use don’t
allow you to repaint without removing the oil first. Plus, who
wants a slightly slimy mask on their head. What
 I use (here’s
another shameless plug!) is V-Matte. It’s a non-toxic, water-based
rubber cement sealer that leaves a matte finish (you can get a gloss
finish by using V-Gloss). You just spray it on, blow-dry it
and, voilá, a non-sticky surface with all your colour showing
through as you intended. Mostly I use the V-Matte, not the
V-Gloss, as I can always gloss it up later if I want. For a
realistic skin I use a mix of V-Matte and V-Gloss to get a slight,
skin-like sheen.
You can get V-Matte and V-Gloss at
Davis Dental, also, or from
me if you’re outside the US.
 LMC:
Talk about your latex thickener. How does one buy it?
VH:
It’s called V-Thix. You can buy it through
Davis Dental. Or if you’re outside the US
you can get it from me directly (Email).
Most people thicken latex with Cab-O-Sil or something similar. V-Thix
is a non-toxic, water-based additive that can thicken latex from
just slightly thick to something like peanut butter. It will
thicken latex, but not gel it. V-Thix’s consistency is like honey
and it mixes in quite easily. It’s great for making latex molds,
thickening parts of masks that are too thin or casting latex out of
non-porous molds (like silicone or fiberglass).
NOTE: Read more about Vance's V-* products
in these spec sheets in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format. They can
also be found in the Reviews section.
V-Gloss.pdf
V-Matte.pdf
V-Thix.pdf |
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