# Old Hag Mask by Mr. Chicken



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

I'm still here, guys!










I've been asked to do a few pieces for a production of Beauty and the Beast, and the first is a mask of the old beggar woman.

It's very much a work in progress, but I'm excited to post it here because it feels like a return to the sort of characters I used to sculpt for the haunt.

This sculpture is in WED clay. When it's done, I'll mold it, cast it up in latex, and figure out the paint scheme.

And yes, she'll make a good witch prop, too! More to come.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I think she just ate a lemon

Beautiful piece, and good to see you back, Mr C!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Welcome back. We've missed you!


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Great start!


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Very nice!
Hopefully, you will show us more photos of different angles and of your progress.
Will you be casting this for a particular actor/actress, or will the interior shape be more of a generic shape?
Enquiring minds want to know.
A how to on this would be great too. I just picked up "Creature Mask Painting" and like many, want to learn all I can. Yes, even us old farts want to expand our education.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks all! Happy to be back!

Fontgeek, this one is just going to be a regular old over the head latex mask.

Actually, it's not going to be worn like a normal mask, though. The gag is that she turns from an ugly old hag into a beautiful enchantress, so I've got it worked out where she's wearing the enchantress costume under the hag robe, and the mask actually sits on the top of her head, so she can hunch way down as the old woman. It should make the transformation that much more dynamic.









So I'll only be using the front half of the sculpture for the show, but I'm sculpting the whole head so I'll be able to do foam-filled prop heads later.

I do have some shots of the progression until now.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Here are a couple more angles of where it's at today:


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

As always, I love your work. You're doing great on your hag. I'm glad you are sharing her with us. Missed you!


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

If you put a hood beneath the face/chin so that when he/she is bent over, it, the hood, would look like a draping cowl, and give you or the actor an easy way to make sure that the "hag's" face is completely covered when the actor stands upright. The hood could be pulled back over the "head" to reveal the enchantress in an instant. Think of it like you were putting a "hoodie" on backwards (face inside the hood). When you bend over, the previously covered face is revealed, when you stand upright, it's an easy pull to get the hood to flip over the face of the hag.
I hope all of that made sense.
I like the face, I may incorporate something similar into a Halloween themed shirt,if you don't mind.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks Scareme!

Yep, Fontgeek, that's basically what I was thinking.

And go for it, as long as I get a shirt, haha!


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Wow!
Love your craft Mr. chicken.
That is a beautiful sculpt.
Thanks for showing!


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: I love this sculpt! She looks just like she's meant to with that name....Hag.....but still...there is something a little sad about her expression. Sad, but creepy...


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## The Halloween Lady (Aug 18, 2010)

You sir are certainly a master of Halloween craft. Your work is so diverse and you always make it just perfect.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

Oh WOW - nice!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks folks!

It's all about textures now. I'm going a little oversized with everything because it's for stage. I'm not really sold on how some areas (like the forehead) look as far as texture goes, though, so there may be some revisions before it's all over, too.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Beautiful in a haggish way


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I think that bushy, wild eyebrows, and maybe a hair or two coming out of moles and such will help in this regard.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

At a certain point, you have to just call it done. I'll post shots of the molding process over the next few days.


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## Joiseygal (Sep 3, 2008)

Looks great!!!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

The detail and expression are amazing. Well, maybe not amazing from you, because you're so superlative at this that we can expect no less

You look at that face and expect to hear "You damn kids, get off my lawn!".


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Nice work Mr C!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

*Moldmaking!*

First a light, even coat of crystal clear (Krylon is the appropriate brand to use, but I had Rustoleum on hand and it worked fine). This is to seal off the water content of the clay so it doesn't interfere with the plaster later. Ooo, shiny!









Back inside. I decided to mold this one laying down, so I propped the sculpture face up on a piece of bubble wrap (to protect the back and keep it from rolling), then put some bricks and blocks of wood to fill in most of the space before I build the clay wall.









I used EM-210 White Clay (which is a fairly dark grey, for whatever reason) to build the mold wall.









I added keys and pry points, then did another round of crystal clear to seal the EM-210. Then a coat of mold release. This one is called Frekote Lifft. It seemed to make the plaster start setting up faster on the surface. I'm not really sure what was going on, so I'll have to experiment. Some kind of mold release is important, though, as you'll see later. Without it, the crystal clear would be going right up against the plaster, and can sometimes stick together.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

So, plaster time. I'm using Ultracal-30. It's stronger than hydrocal, though it is less absorbent, which means when I run latex in the mold, it will take longer to dry, but I'd rather that than a mold that doesn't last as long for this.

I also added an "acrylic bonder and fortifier," Silka brand, from the cement department at Home Depot to the first batch on each half of the mold. This adds some extra durability. About 50/50 with warm water. Then the ultacal is sifted in.









...until you get a "dry lakebed"









I mixed by hand this time, but using a paint mixing drill attachment is more efficient. Let it cream (when it just thickens a little), then brush on with a chip brush. This is two batches of plaster with two layers of burlap inside. plaster, burlap, plaster, burlap. The burlap is wet slightly to help the plaster absorb into it, then dip the strips in the bucket of plaster. It takes some practice to figure out how to do it well. I'm still learning. The burlap, by the way, is another thing that will slow the crying of latex, but it adds durability.









more to come


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

Looking good and keep the pictures coming Mr. C


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Where was I?

Right, so I learned from a moldmaker friend that if you cover plaster while it's curing, it traps the water in and results in stronger plaster. Because of the way this was set up, it was inconvenient to make a complete seal, but I threw a bag over the top until it started to cool down.









Once the plaster was set, I flipped the whole thing over and removed the EM-210 to be able to make the mold of the back of the head.









You can see how cleanly it came away. This is because the sculpture was sealed before building the mold walls.









A healthy coat of vaseline over the exposed stone, and then the back of the head was molded the same way as the front (acrylic bonder in the first layer of plaster, two layers of burlap-soaked plaster, and a final "beauty coat" of plaster).









When the mold was opened (which took some careful prying, but that's what the pry points were there for), the clay peeled right out because of the combination of sealer and release.

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










Next up:
Casting the first copy.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Thanks for posting such a wonderfully detailed step-by-step guide!


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

I did a quick casting and painting of the Old Hag mask for use in the Beauty and the Beast production. Future copies will be painted a little differently, but it's fun to see her with some color. This one is only the front half, as that's all that will be needed with her costume. It occurs to me the face could lend itself to all sorts of grumpy characters (a gravedigger comes to mind).


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

A face like that could definitely go either way, gender-wise:jol: The paint job really brings out all those wrinkly details.


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Nicely done sir!


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## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

wow!


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Man mr. Chicken, you are at a level of awesomeness that I aspire to attain one day.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Beautiful piece MR.Chicken!
Thanks for showing pics of your mold process. 

That old hag would be a perfect wife for my avater, which happens to be one of my full size props.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol:She is just haggardly! But I kind of like her as a dude, she'd be an awesome Gravedigger/Groundskeeper. I can just hear him saying something about "you pesky kids"!


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

Is it just me, or could this be Star Trek's Patrick Stewart at age 100??


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## debbie5 (Mar 2, 2007)

NO wait! I have it! BEN KINGSLEY!! LOlololol....perfect!!


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

OUTSTANDING.........! Great how-to


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks folks! I'm hoping to cast up more full head copies when I knock some other projects off the to-do list.


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Doc-Dead-Inside said:


> Thank you, very helpful! Does your process change any when molding an oil based clay sculpt? And where do you get your mold release spray... If you don't mind me asking?


Not much. Assuming I were molding that same sculpture, but it were made of oil clay, I'd just use a good dusting of ultra 4 epoxy parfilm as a release before the plaster. No need to seal oil clay with crystal clear. I get almost everything from www.frendsbeauty.com and www.motionpicturefx.com


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## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Doc-Dead-Inside said:


> Much appreciated!! I plan on taking my time with the next mold, I feel like most of my issues come directly from being impatient.
> Last question (2 parter) then I'll leave you alone...
> I noticed you said " plaster, burlap, plaster, burlap, plaster". Is there a minimum thickness that the first layer of plaster needs to be, and does it need to be fairly dry, before adding the initial layer of burlap?


Hey, I love questions.

There are a few parts to that. First, you may have heard people say to use a thinner mix (ie: more water) for the surface coat of plaster. Don't do that because it makes your detail layer weaker.

What I tend to do lately is use the plaster just before, or right when it "creams" (thickens up slightly, but is still liquid) to lay on the surface coat. I try to get that just thick enough that it's evenly covered and the burlap will be able to conform to it (not such tight shapes that the burlap wouldn't be able to conform). You don't want to disturb your surface coat when you put down the burlap, so mit may be best to let it set up partially, then mix a new batch of plaster, dampen your burlap slightly so it doesn't leach water out of the plaster (which would also weaken it), dip it in plaster so it can be laid down without any air bubbles. Basically the plaster is providing the shape, and the burlap is providing strength.

Lately, I've gotten pretty good results doing a whole mold half in one batch. It comes down to timing and judging how much plaster you need.

Now, if you have a totally dry layer of plaster and want to put another layer on top, dampen the plaster slightly (again so it doesn't leach water from the fresh plaster). Acrylic bonder can also help the new mix bond to the old.

Hope that helps.


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