My Terror Syndicate inspired mirror

[Hellspawn]

Very poor quality pics, sorry, digital camera died and all I have available to me is my cell phone

after seeing Steve Hickmans mirrors a couple of years ago, I knew I had to make a couple, this is the second mirror completed, first went to my mother as a halloween gift (she found the mirrors for me)

They were made with greatstuff skulls and webs from a bag

total cost for this particular mirror was under 15.00, my mom found the mirror at the thrift store for 3.00, all the skulls were made from one can of greatstuff (on sale for under 5.00) small amount of webs, some spraypaint, 4 large gluesticks and latex paint.

Enjoy

[Lilly]

Very nice, I like those mirrors
good job

[Sickie Ickie]

How did you make the molds for the skulls?

[octoberist]

That is great. Good job. And way to go, Mom. I wish I could recruit my mom to be on the lookout for possible props.

[beelce]

Nice design balance...skulls look realy good.

[Hellspawn]

Originally Posted by Sickie Ickie

How did you make the molds for the skulls?

I used 1 part clear silicone in a tube (ala home depot) with some glycerine and acrylic paint to help it cure. (5 drops of glycerine per ounce, 1 drop paint per ounce) the paint does double duty, it helps the silicone to cure and also helps you know when everything is mixed together.

the skull I used for this mold was foam, it was horrible to work with, the silicone would not release from the skull after it cured, I ended up applying several coats of latex paint to the foam skull and then a very light coating of vaseline to help the demold process. (if you use too much vaseline, you wont be able to get the silicone on to the skull)

If you use a plastic or resin skull, you will not have any trouble with the silicone sticking.

I applied a thin first coat with the silicone using my fingers so that I could work it into all the small cracks and grooves, once that cured, I plastered on a second thick coat.

once the mold was complete, I made a shell out of 4 layers of cheese cloth and plaster of paris it will help hold the shape of the mold while the foam is curing.

If anyone is going to attempt using great stuff to make foam skulls, a couple words of caution, first, spray the the mold with water before filling the mold with greatstuff and then once the mold is filled, spray the greatstuff with some more water, this is the only way I have got greatstuff to work, otherwise it doesnt cure for me.. also, if you decide to go the greatstuff route, there is a 98% chance your skulls will not hold thier shape, the only way I can explain it is that they shrink, causing wierd deformaties, for my project, a perfect skull was not needed, but if I wanted a perfect skull, I would skip greatstuff and use 2 part marine pourable foam


Here is a link for more information on making molds with silicone caulk.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...385422593.html

Hope that helps.

[Nancj]

Nice!!

[Ghoul Friday]

Very very nice!

[Ghostess]

I love this!

[skeletonowl]

nice love Terror Syndicae!
That's amazing how you made skulls out of GreatStuff cause most ppl can rarely control it! I know I can't