Earlier this month I had the pleasure of working on a production of Macbeth (I know, I know... don't say the name!!), for which I had to make the severed head of our lead actor for his beheading at the end of the play (spoiler alert). This isn't the first head I've ever had to make, but it certainly turned out to be the best, and I thought I would share my process here so others can learn this very intense and tricky prop skill. I'll warn you now, this is going to be quite tedious and may be uncomfortable for anyone who's slightly claustrophobic, so bear with me.
To preface, what was very unique about this production was that it was a family affair for me. Both my parents are theater people, which is cool, and half the reason I did this show was because my dad was directing it and my mom was doing the props. I was brought on as the projections designer, but since I had experience making heads they asked me to do this, too. As it turned out, my mom has also made a few heads in her day, so we collaborated and combined processes. I needed to mention this so as not to take all the credit for our little masterpiece.
Preparation
First of all, this type of prop isn't the kind you can just add to the list last minute. At the beginning of the production process, you need to find out if this is something the production will need and begin planning right away. Next, you need to make sure you have an actor who is 100% OK with getting their head completely encompassed and essentially entombed for a few hours. This is a very scary thing for a lot of people (myself included), so as early on as possible, even when casting the show, you need to make sure you have an actor who is comfortable with this. I would also suggest getting an artsy friend to help you (I had my mom working with me), as it's much easier with two people.
The next step is getting your materials together. Our production was pretty low-budget, which is great for this tutorial because you never know what kind of money you'll have to do something like this. Here's what we decided to use:
- Flexwax
- Plaster gauze (available at most craft stores)
- regular medical gauze
- Vaseline
- Bondo body filler
- Polyester Resin (Fiberglas)
- Foam-iT (we used 3, but 15 or 10 would work)
- Double boiler for the wax (we used a turkey roaster filled with water and a soup pot)
- chip brushes and smaller round tip brushes
- thermometer for wax (unless you have a turkey roaster)
- drop cloth
- plastic garbage bag/poncho for actor
- wash cloth, towels
- soap/face wash, shampoo/conditioner (actor's)
- bald cap/plastic hair cover (our actor was pretty bald so we didn't need this)
- spirit gum (for attaching bald cap)
- ear plugs
- lots of mixing containers & stir sticks
- hair dryer
- card stock or other thick paper
- dremel tool, wood working files, sand paper
Making the Mold
Schedule a sitting
with your actor to do the casting at least 2 weeks before tech. The
casting process takes about 4-6 hours, which is why you need to set
aside a day when your actor is free. Rushing won't produce good results, and unfortunately you only really have 1 chance to make a good mold. Make sure to ask them to bring their own face wash/soap and shampoo/conditioner to the sitting. If they have short enough hair to not need the bald cap make sure it's at a trimmed length, and the same goes if they have facial hair. Though the Vaseline does a good job as a release agent, the wax will still permeate any facial hair and the longer the beard the harder it will be during de-molding.
Select and prepare your space. I suggest an open space so that you have enough room to move freely around your actor, and so there is air circulation. If this isn't an option and you're stuck in a cramped dressing room, try to find a comfortable swivel chair for your actor to sit in, and ask for a few fans.
Lay down a drop cloth in the area you're going to be working in. Put the wax in the double boiler about 2 hours prior to your scheduled sitting so it has ample time to melt; cut it into chunks to speed up melting time. Keep the liquid wax at 120 degrees to be cool enough to go directly onto skin. Cut your plaster gauze and medical gauze into strips varying in length and width; these will act as a shell and internal support for your wax mold to help it keep it's shape. Get a bowl of warm water for the plaster gauze, and gloves if you don't like to get messy.
When your actor arrives, explain the process to them so they understand what's going to happen. It's a good idea to agree on a "safe signal" in case they need you to stop for any reason. You'll be covering their mouth, ears, eyes, and most of their nose, so speaking isn't going to be an option for them (freaky, I warned you), and they'll need to be able to communicate with you in case something is wrong.
Have them wash their face and neck and put on the poncho/garbage bag, making sure their clothes are covered. If they have long hair have them put it up, keeping it tight to their scalp, then apply the bald cap and secure with the spirit gum. You'll be making the mold in two halves, cutting the head around the middle from ear to ear (the back of the ears will be on the back half and the front of the ears will be on the front). Apply the Vaseline to the top and back of their head; you'll work from this "seam" back, making sure to get behind their ears and down their neck. If their hair is short enough to forgo the bald cap, get plenty of Vaseline in their hair as well (gross, but necessary). Make sure they are comfortable in their chair - it's time to begin.
Have them wash their face and neck and put on the poncho/garbage bag, making sure their clothes are covered. If they have long hair have them put it up, keeping it tight to their scalp, then apply the bald cap and secure with the spirit gum. You'll be making the mold in two halves, cutting the head around the middle from ear to ear (the back of the ears will be on the back half and the front of the ears will be on the front). Apply the Vaseline to the top and back of their head; you'll work from this "seam" back, making sure to get behind their ears and down their neck. If their hair is short enough to forgo the bald cap, get plenty of Vaseline in their hair as well (gross, but necessary). Make sure they are comfortable in their chair - it's time to begin.
With a wide chip brush, begin applying the wax generously down the back of the head going with the hair. It's important that the first layer is laid on thick and evenly so as not to make any air bubbles. The wax will begin to dry as soon as it leaves the pot, so it's important to work quickly and efficiently. Once the first layer is dry, begin laying in medical gauze as you apply the next layer. Repeat several times until you have about a 1/4" thick wall of wax (you probably only need 2 layers with gauze). Fill in the area behind the ears completely; you don't want this to lose it's shape. When your final layer of wax is dry, begin laying on your shell of plaster gauze, making sure to stop about 1/2" away from the edge of the wax on your "seam" - you'll need to seal the mold here later. Apply 2-3 layers of plaster gauze, squeezing out most of the water before putting it on the head. While your gauze is drying (you can speed this up with the hair dryer on a low heat setting) cut up some card stock into strips. This will be used to keep your halves separate so you can actually get it off your actor (very important!!).
As your shell dries on the back, begin applying Vaseline to the front of their face and head, working down their neck. Apply it generously in their eyebrows and any facial hair they have. We had our actor lie back in their chair so their face could relax more, but this also made our mold not line up 100% later on. Have them put the ear plugs in, and let them get a drink if they want before you seal their mouth shut. Using a wide brush work around the top of the head first (along your "seam"), place some card stock against the first half and apply wax generously working away from the edge. Lay the wax in thick in their ears; it will fill all the crevices better. Make sure to cover their forehead, cheeks, and chin in one layer so there aren't weird seams there. Using a smaller round brush, apply a thin layer over their eye lids - do this carefully so as not to make air bubbles, and gently so they aren't alarmed (I warn them about which areas I'm about to poke as a courtesy). Do the same for around their nostrils (leave them open!), and over their mouth. When you have one or two thin layers of wax in these areas you can begin laying it on a little thicker. Apply medical gauze in your second layer, and repeat until you have a 1/4" of wax. Then apply your plaster gauze shell as you did with the first half, making sure to leave the nostrils open.
Standby nightmares... nightmares, Go.
You'll notice there isn't any card stock around the ear seam or neck seam. This is OK, but you'll be separating these parts manually.
Once the front shell has had time to dry and your actor has probably had a nap, it's time to de-mold. You'll begin with the back. Gently run your fingers around the edge of the neck lifting it away from the skin. The wax is going to bend as you pull, so you need to be gentle so it doesn't lose it's shape completely and so you don't lose any detail on the inside. Work your way to the seam of the neck, and separate the two halves up to the ear. I used a matte knife to indent (NOT cut) where I wanted the seam to tear, then did the rest by hand. Gently separate the ears along the seam, and run your hands over the back of their head. If you didn't use a bald cap you'll probably notice the wax clinging to their hair; gently massage your fingers through their hair in little circles to loosen this as best you can, trying not to lose the detail on the mold. Continue running your fingers up the back of their head until you reach the top seam. At this point the mold should want to pop off because of the card stock barrier. Our mold clung quite well at the top and we ended up having to use some force to get it off, which wasn't pleasant, but didn't hurt our actor severely.
You'll repeat the process for the front, only this time working from the top down. Remove the card stock. Starting from above the ears, ease your fingers between the mold and their skin, massaging their hair as you work along the top of their head. Release their ears, and work around their neck. If they have facial hair you'll want to massage along their jaw starting from the base of the ear going as far forward as you can without warping the mold or hurting your actor. Return to the top and work down to their eyebrows, massaging these free. It's best not to touch the eyes, nose, or mouth, so continue to work their neck, cheeks, jaw and forehead until the mold wants to pop off. This takes more time with facial hair and may require some force and even their input (again, unpleasant, but not lethal).
When you have the two halves free, pour yourself and your actor a stiff drink and send them away to wash up. Wipe any excess Vaseline off the inside of the mold, align the two halves and secure them together with rubber bands, tape, or extra plaster gauze (we used plaster gauze). Store the mold in a box or bucket for transport and safety, and keep it somewhere at a cool room-temp.
Casting the Head
Now begins the real fun part. To start you'll need to join the two halves of your mold together. Make sure your mold is aligned along the seam; you may have to bend it back into shape a bit depending on how smooth de-molding went. Reheat your Flexwax and use a small brush to apply a thick binding layer to the seam on the outside, closing any gaps that exist. Any errors caused by this will be minor and can be sanded later. Putting your finger against the holes from the inside, fill in the nostrils. Put your mold upside down in a box or bucket to store it for pouring.
We used Bondo thinned with resin as the outer shell, pre measuring each amount separately before mixing the two. Once both Bondo and resin catalysts were added, we poured the mix into the mold, rotating it to cover the entire area down to the lip of the neck, especially focusing on filling the ears. The mixture had a pot life of about 5 minutes, which was plenty of time to coat the inside. Because our head was going on a dummy for the beheading, my mom decided she wanted to reinforce it, so she added some fibreglast to the neck area. Once all this was cured, we used the Foam-iT to fill the rest of the head.
Finally, we got do crack it open and see the fruits of our labor. I used a matte knife to cut along the seam and began removing the mold. I had to destroy the mold for the most part in order to get it off the head - Bondo is less malleable than skin.
Ta-da!!
Our mold yielded a pretty accurate head, but it still wasn't the prettiest. The left ear got chipped when I removed the mold, and various other parts had holes or obvious lines where the seam had been. I fixed this by simply adding more Bondo to the parts that needed some cosmetic surgery, and then sanded it down. I used the dremel tool to carve out the nostrils and ears, and I used wood working files on the lips and ears, as well. I then stippled Bondo on as a way to texturize his hair and beard area, and as a means to cover the seam indent. If you're making a head with long hair you generally don't need to worry about the scalp because you'll probably be adding a wig anyway.
Once it was sanded and beautiful, it was finally time to paint. I mixed a skin tone for the actor and then made a "dead" version by adding some blue to my original color. I base coated the entire head in the skin tone, and then used the "dead" color to highlight the crown, eyebrows, cheekbones, nose, and ears. I mixed up a blood color which I used on the meat of the neck, and mixed some of this with my flesh tone to paint the neck skin. A dark pink fading quickly to red best resembles freshly damaged skin. The beard and hair color I stippled on in the appropriate areas, blending it with my skin tone, and went back in with a detail brush to do the eyebrows, lashes, nose, and shade the ears. I later added more blood to the neck and some more rosy tones to the face to match the actor better.
And that is how we made a very realistic looking head for relatively cheap. This is clearly not the only way to do this. I have made several using Body Double to make my mold, which is a more expensive method, but I think slightly easier. I generally use expandable foam as my filler, though having a hard outer coat definitely helped bring out the details. Your choice of materials will depend on how your product is being used; if it's getting dropped or thrown around the stage, a hard coat isn't a good idea. Or at least a Bondo hard coat isn't a good idea. There are plenty of rigid foams to choose from, as well as all kinds of other materials. This is just one way out of many.
I hope this proves useful to anyone attempting to add head-making to their resume; I know when I made my first one I could have used some more pointers. It's a very intense process, no matter what materials you use, but the end results can be amazing if you prepare and allow yourself enough time to do it well. Just remember to do your research and find what materials are right for what you need.
Happy Propping!!
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