I planed on making a reference cast off a dead whitetail.
My questions are, how quickly do i have to make the mold? Will the feature loose size, shape, or anitomical correctness over time? What is the max. amount of time i have before the part won't look correct.
The part I plan on casting for sure is the nose/muzzle, then maybe the eye area. I'll be using alginate reinforced with plater pairs to mold then I'll cast with plaster pairs. Thanks in advanced.
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I assume you would be molding a skinned out head with the intent of carcass casting it for a form? There are some variations you can encounter. If you keep it in the freezer for extended periods it can dehydrate and loose some size and proportion. If you leave it laying around too long warm, decay will set it and the muscles themselves will become mushy and sort of blob together and not remain well defined. Eyes may sink noticeably if left too long. Bottom line - the sooner you get to it the better.
Also be sure to photograph it as soon as you skin it. The more photographs from different angles the better! Rarely when you mold something for a carcass cast will it be as perfect as you would like it to be. This is where chasing and sculpting come into play. Obtain your original cast from your original mold which, if done properly, should be pretty dang close to the real head. Now pull out all those reference photos and touch up any rough spots or areas that mushed out of place as it thawed etc. If you want to make it into a form cast in foam for doing taxi work over, you'll probably want to re-define the muscle groups and possibly make little grooves for tucking etc. Once you get a cast that you feel is as perfect as you are capable of obtaining - make a new fiberglass mold off of that. If you simply wanted it as reference for doing sculptures etc, then the touched up cast is as far as you need to go.
You may want to plug the nostrils with clay or something similar before molding just so that the alginate doesn't go too deep.
In the molding archives there is lots of useful information on the use of alginate and plaster. You can also make molds of some of the ares out of a bondo/resin mix. Areas like the ear butts and 'under the skin' part of the muzzle would work well with that. Alginate or silicone being better for the nose area as you will want to capture all the subtle details for making repro noses.
Hope that helps =)
I will be casting the actual nose. So I have a 3 dimensional object to reference off of.
if that's what you want to try then the faster you do it the more detail you can save. i carry the stuff with me when i go hunting and mold as soon as the deer is down. plastic cups with the bottoms cut out work well as dams and you really don't need the plaster shell because the cup helps the alginate keep the shape. pull the alginate off and pour your plaster into your new mold and your done inside 30 min.
If all you want is the nose itself (you ahd mentionned eye areas and ear butts as well) then mix up the alginate in a plastic tub (like yogurt or margarines comes in). All I do for that is mix the stuff in the tub - then shove the deers nose right in that same tub. Same basic idea that Terry had but I don't cut the bottoms out of the tub. Picture having your face shoved into a pie - same idea - LOL!
Like Terry, I carry alginate powder and plaster powder, as well as a pop bottle of water with me. That way if I come across an interesting mushroom, rock, tree bark, animal track - WHATEVER... I can make a mold and cast right on the spot - bring it home and make a proper production mold off of it =)
I guess I am trying to make a death mask. I hear it called both things.
Well this deer was taken tonight Tue. at 5:00pm and I can't get up there untill thur. 3pm. Will i get any decent casts off this animal? Thanks guys!
Death masks are generally full face casts of deceased humans - it's done for ritual purposes - never heard of it applied to carcass casting before...
The biggest risk you run in waiting until Thursday is dehydration of the nose. Along with all yoru other supplies - be sure to bring a syringe and hypo needle. If the nose looks in any way shriveled up or if there is loose skin - then inject water into the nose and plump it back up before molding.
If the nose is frozen - be sure to apply a layer of baby powder over teh nose before contact with alginate. This will help keep the water in the alginate from freezing to the nose and ripping upon demolding.
Casts are referred to as "death mask" in the Breakthrough whitetail manual. WASCO sells three different ones in reference to the whitetail nose and nasal symetry. Good Luck! Jeff F.
in Breakthrough is where I have heard deathmasks. Well I"m on my way up there today to cast that. Hopfully the deer didn't loose that much detail in the 24 hours, actually 23 hours, it's been dead. Thanks again everyone.
Joe