In episode #74 we talk about running lots of foam latex and overcoming the things that can go wrong with foam latex.
Despite silicone being the material most go to first, it is a very real material that needs to be kept in mind for certain projects.
We also chat about how 3D scanning and printing has had a tangible benefit on some jobs we had this year, and how using this technology has enabled things that would not have otherwise been possible.
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Todd has been very busy running multiple batches of foam for a stage production of Shrek: The Musical. Theatre is a wild place to work with costumes and makeup, as there is no way to pop in and do touch-ups or take care of problems once it is showtime.
Performers don’t get a chance to cool down between takes, and there are often quick changes required behind the scenes.
Coupled with the big performances required with singing and dancing under the scrutiny of a live audience …. it is not for the faint-hearted
Pictures ©Todd Debreceni 2021.
As mentioned in the show, Todd and I were able to work remotely on the same makeup. I had a fairly quick turnaround job involving a character that I wanted to scan instead of lifecast – for a first. Given the quick time, I still felt confident in the team around me so I got the talented Horacio Martinez to come in and scan the actor.
Once set up, we had what we needed in ten minutes or so and I was able to that same day show a rough digital block out sculpt to the designer so we could establish how extensive the pieces would be. Todd was able to make sculptable cores for me in ZBrush, just the same way as I would have done in clay but digitally, and then emailed me the files so I could print them.
I made them a little smaller than life-size to compensate for the way silicone stretches so easily (especially super-soft neck appliances like these would be). A few days of printing yielded these cores whilst I was teaching full time at The Iver Academy in Pinewood. Then, in the evenings I moulded these prints to make rigid cores suitable to withstand the rigours of mould closure with clamps and opening with screwdrivers. In a day, the pieces were sculpted, moulded and the first set cast out for a test all over a long weekend.
It was quite the challenge but I learned a lot and hope to one day soon show you what it was for when the show eventually gets out.
Many thanks, as always, for your time checking the stuff out. You can email us directly at stuartandtodd@gmail.com or leave us a voice message on our site.
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–Stuart & Todd
To listen to the podcast, you can stream or download from here, or simply subscribe through your favourite podcast app – we are on many, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, IHeartRADIO , STITCHER , Luminary and Google Podcasts.
Todd!!
if you spray a light spray of 3M glue into your negative, you’ll NEVER get steam lakes. (They’re not steam lakes but none of the foam runners know what causes it.)
I was having a TERRIBLE time running a mold that I’d run a million times in the past getting those pesky collapsed pockets and called Mark Viniello for help… this was a simple method that stopped the pockets in their tracks… that happened all of a sudden in an old fiberglass mold.
By the way, I’m more than willing to help with the part of your book where you prep hair for a bald cap with the method I use on my DVD. It seems to have become an industry standard but I was appalled to see how it was de-engineered when I worked on a commercial with 125 bald caps. I had to teach about 30 union hairdressers that there was an exact message to my madness.
Thanks, Michael – and thanks for creating that awesome DVD! I have it on my shelf. Stuart