# My great zombie skull casting adventure!



## Sytnathotep (Oct 10, 2011)

Heya Peeps!!

Thought I'd share my latest project from the last few days. As normal for any procrastinator, I've waited until now to break ground on props! But ground breaking it has been! Least for me anyway. hehe

So, last year I got a few of these skully beauties at Walgreens, (also at BigLots, but more expensive) and used them to make my zombies. As we all know, even cheap skulls add up in cost fast. At $10 a pop, I could only budget for a couple. And as you all also know, that just cause I could find these last year, doesn't mean I'll find them this year, or ever again for that matter. Below be the skull.










So, ever since I've wanted to attempt to make a mold of one. I've made rubber molds a bunch of times before, but on a really small scale. (war minis) So I researched, and I basically followed the methods from these two tutorials, especially because I wanted to use Smooth-on's Dragon Skin, as I still had some laying around.

http://aranamuerta.com/2008/09/10/molding-skulls-with-dragon-skin
http://www.smooth-on.com/gallery.php?galleryid=208

After brushing on about 4 layers of Dragon Skin onto the skull, I applyed some Smooth Om Shell Shock to create a support mold. That was the hard part, I'd not do it again. I can see that stuff having a ton of uses, but not for making molds! It starts out thin like paint (and running off the mold everywhere) only to quickly thicken and turn tacky like chewing gum lol And in the prosscess, I broke one of the halves and had to glue it back together. lol

Anyhow, after it was all done, in went a small cup ( about 4 ounces) of Smooth-On Foam it 3, a two part liquid expanding foam. That stuff is epic! Twenty minutes later, I had a very light weight replica!!

So, I spent about $30 for the Dragon Skin, and about that for the Shell Shock, (which I still have most of) and about $25 for the Foamit 3. So the up front cost of this is kinda high, but I bet I can get at least 12-15 skulls out of a trial size of Foamit. That's like $1.60 a skull. How ever, when that runs out, I can get more Foamit by bulk, a LOT cheaper per weight than the trial sizes. I can cast these for next to nothing.

As you can see in the pics below, this stuff can be carved pretty well. I cut the jaw away from one skull, and can re-articulate it. These casts are going to be an excellent base for the ground-breakers I want to start on next.

Here is the original next to a cast.










Here is the one I carved the jaw out of.










The mold and outer shell










And one painted. Kind of a rush job. Spray painted white, the washed with thinned wood stain. forgot the woodstain was thinned as it was trying to left the spray paint, as I was too impatient to let it dry completely, lol! and it still looks like I just dug it up. lol










I just had to share this. As I do more stuff with these, I'll share the pictures. I just can't believe the results. Oh the things that can be done with these casts.....


----------



## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

Thanks, that was interesting. From what I have read Dragon skin is very durable and holds up for many castings. 
Don't have time this season, but this would make a good after Halloween project.


----------



## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Great job with this. Your skulls will be getting cheaper and cheaper!


----------



## scarrycher (May 30, 2012)

nice skull!


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Now you can set up a skull production line in the garage and get the neighbors wondering about you


----------



## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Nice work! Gives me inspiration to try this over the winter!

Can you show how you separated the actual mold you used to cast your skulls?


----------



## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

would plaster or quick dry cement work in that mold also if coated with vaseline?


----------



## Sytnathotep (Oct 10, 2011)

Bone Dancer - Yes, Dragon skin is sick stuff! This is the second mold I've made with it. ( first was a cat skull, I should post pics!) It streches really well and returns to its original shape. I wanted to use something that strong as those are deep undercuts and very deep sockets in that skull.

RoxyBlue - I live out in the country, so I don't have neighbors close enough to see my goings on. They will however, wonder about the time I line the whole property with skulls on pikes. lol

Sawtooth Jack - I'd tried to get some picks of the actual casting last time, but they didn't turn out worth posting. I'll get better ones on the next pull. (maybe today) But it is a one piece mold, and I just roll it up over the back of the skull, and turn it inside out to pull the nose and eyes out.

everyone else- Thanks guys!


----------



## Sytnathotep (Oct 10, 2011)

Lilly said:


> would plaster or quick dry cement work in that mold also if coated with vaseline?


I can't see why not. I use mold release spray, but nothing really sticks to the silicone mold, but silicone. Concrete would be really hard on the mold (high alkaline) and would shorten its life, but yeah, you could do it. That would actually be kinda neat, concrete garden skulls out in the flowerbed. lol

Another alternative I'm going to try is to 'paint' the inside of the mold with the Shell Shock, or one of my other resins, when cured, it would yield a hollow plastic skull.


----------



## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Sytnathotep said:


> Sawtooth Jack - I'd tried to get some picks of the actual casting last time, but they didn't turn out worth posting. I'll get better ones on the next pull. (maybe today) But it is a one piece mold, and I just roll it up over the back of the skull, and turn it inside out to pull the nose and eyes out.!


Thanks for the reply! For a one-piece mold did you coat the entire skull and make a slice up the back or something, or did you just leave the bottom open?


----------



## Sytnathotep (Oct 10, 2011)

Sawtooth Jack, it is just open on the bottom, no cuts or seams. Here I got some pics of the casting process, a little foam goes quite a ways. Poured into mold, and tilted it around so that it coats all the inside surface before I set it in the box to keep it upright and somewhat level. I have to do this all very quickly, I have about 1 minute to do this before it expands to the point it won't flow around the inside of the mold anymore. I sit the board on top to help create back-pressure for the expanding foam, the hole to let excess escape.










After about twenty minutes, I pop it out. take off the support mold, then starting at the back of the skull, turn it inside out over the front, then carefully pull out the mold from the eyes and nose. Last image is the cast with the inside out mold. Wierd thing is, once out of the mold, the casting crackles like Rice Krispies cereal for about the next ten minutes. lol


----------



## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

More than helpful. Thank you so much for posting!


----------



## Draik41895 (Oct 25, 2008)

Soooo, Awesome! Ive been meaning to mess around with dragon skin. Like some others said, A great winter project


----------



## Palmdale Haunter (Mar 3, 2012)

I really love this! I so want to try it too!!!


----------



## DoodlePants (Oct 2, 2012)

OMG! I've never seen a mold do THAT before!!! Gotta check this dragon skin stuff out!


----------

