Recipe 23 : Life Casting & Face Mask
- Koji Ohmura
- Mar 12
- 5 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Face mask making is a basic skill for special effects makeup. Yet, it is a very important process in order to make prosthetics fit on actors' faces. Nowadays, 3D scanning is trending, but many artists, including me, still use this technique. (Especially when 3D scanning technique face AI copyright issues, it requires legal documents to protect actors' rights!)
Many famous people, such as Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, and Beethoven, even had their face casts!
Materials you need...
Smooth On - Body Double Silk (or Body Double Fast)
Smooth On Body Double Release
Hyper Folic (Optional)
Face Lotion
Vaseline
Mixing Bowls
Salt
Hot Water
Paper Towel
Gypsona Plaster Bandages
Tongue Depressor
Vinyl Gloves (or Nitrile Gloves)
Shaver (Clipper or OneBlade)
Bald Cap (Optional)
Makeup Glue (Optional)
Glue Remover (Optional)
Baby Powder
99% Alcohol
Water
Hydrocal
Sharpie
Metal Wire
Bucket
Chip Brush
Rasp
Sculpting Tool
Material links are here.
Lesson Video
Skin Prep
The most important thing is your skin. Please make sure to have proper skin prep. You do not want the life-casting mold stuck on your face!
First, you need to trim your facial hair if it is long. You can use a shaver or OneBlade. (If you need to go over your head, consider a vinyl bald cap to protect your hair.)
Apply skin lotion. You can choose any lotion if it is not greasy. I normally use Nivea Lotion.
Use Q-tips to apply Vaseline on eyebrows and eyelashes.
Apply Body Double Release on facial hair if you kept some. It is very greasy, so warm it up in your palm and massage it on the hair.
Vaseline on eyelashes
Silicone
Body Double Silk - Prepare a 50:50 ratio of Smooth-On Body Double Silk A & B in separate cups. (If you are using Body Double Standard or Fast Set, I recommend adding Smooth-On - Hyper-Folic. This will prevent the silicone from sticking to your hair.)
Wear non-latex gloves. If you wear latex gloves, the silicone might not cure.
Mix A & B together. Make sure to mix it well with a tongue depressor.
Apply a thin layer of the mixture on your skin with your finger. This will prevent bubbles.
Thin layer is important!
If you are life casting someone else, ask him/her to close their eyes and mouth and relax their face. Keep nostrils open. Since I was doing it myself, I kept one eye open.
Once you get an even thickness of the first layer, add more. Again, ensure nostrils are not covered!
As it gets thicker, use a tongue depressor to smooth it out.
Plaster Bandage
Make warm water and sprinkle a small amount of salt. This will make the plaster set up faster.
Plaster Bandage - Dip double-layered plaster bandages in the salted water. Squeeze the bandage to make it less watery.
Do not make it too wet. Lay it on the cured silicone. Massage it over to pop bubbles between the bandage and silicone.
One more time! Do NOT cover nose holes.
Keep your nose holes open. ( No need to put straws!) After covering the entire silicone, add more layers. In total, 5-6 layers of plaster bandages should be enough.
This is the scary part, closing the other eye. I was not able to see anything anymore. I am very experienced in life casting with more than 300 faces, so I know what I was doing. However, you should not do this by yourself. Please make sure to have someone help you so you will not get stuck in the mold.
No more visions... Tap a paper towel to wipe off moisture. You can use a hair dryer to make it set faster.
Warm air will make it set faster. Do not throw away water in a sink. Make the plaster-mixed water harder and throw it into a trash can.
Removal
Once it warms up, you know the plaster shell is getting harder.
Gently remove it from the skin. Around the hair, slowly remove it.
Slowly around hair. Move your face a little (raise your eyebrows, smile, etc.) as the mold comes off. This helps to pop the mold off your skin.
Check for any imperfections. Place the silicone on the plaster bandage shell properly. Silicone is still fragile.
Face Casting Mold
Face Cast Mold Prep
99% Alcohol - Now you have a face cast mold. Wipe off debris from the silicone. Use 99% alcohol to clean it as well.
Clean it really well. Before pouring plaster into the mold, fill the nostrils with clay or body double silicone.
Baby Powder - Sprinkle baby powder on the silicone and dust it off. Due to the chemical reaction (the molecular structure), water-based materials such as liquid plaster will bead up on silicone and create micro bubbles easily. By adding powder on the surface, this will break up the molecular structure.
This is a trick! Sharpie - I traced the hairline with a Sharpie pen. This will transfer to the plaster mold. This will help indicate where my sculpture should stop.
Prepare a W-shaped wire for a hook. Later, I will add this on and hang it on a wall.
Hairlines 
Wire for hanging on a wall.
Hydrocal Plaster
Pour a small amount of water in a bowl. (Paint Vaseline on the bottom of the bowl)
Hydocal - Sprinkle Hydrocal into the water until the surface looks like a dried lake.
Dried lake surface Mix it with your hand. Ensure no chunks are left in the mixture. Tap the bucket to release some bubbles.
Pour the Hydrocal mix into the face mold. Use a chip brush to spread the plaster over the entire surface.
Get the surface details. Dump it out into the bucket again.
Brush a thin layer of plaster on the silicone. Check that all the details are covered.
Pouring it back to a bucket. And pour the rest of the plaster. This process will help remove the micro bubbles.
Pour it again from the bucket to the mold.
Keep brushing the plaster up to the edge of the mold until it hardens.
Wire - Smooth out the surface and add the W-shaped wire.
Demold
After 2 hours, remove the plaster mold from the life casting mold. When you open the mold, you can pull the wire. Also, put a wooden stick between the silicone and the mold.
Slowly open. Clean the sharp edges and imperfections with sculpting tools & a rasp.
Cleaning the details.
Now, you have a face mask! You can hang it on a wall, or start creating prosthetic sculptures on this mold. I used to work at the FX shop, WM Creations, where there were more than 300 celebrities' face masks on the wall!
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