How to MAKE a Geico Caveman Costume

Any chance someone could post quantities of the supplies needed? Specifically I'm looking the clay and the laytex, but tips on the rest would be great too!  Looking for amounts for each item,  per mask, on the high side if estimates. I'm really new to this and dont want to run short, and I tend to have pretty steep learning curve with this this artistic. Thanks everyone!

I started this project last night and it took me 3 times to mix the aliginate correctly. I bought 1lb of alignate, which is enough for about 3 masks. When you mix the alignate with water, make sure you use a 1:1 ratio. I used 16oz (2 cups) warm water with 2 cups alginate powder. On the alignate it told me to use 5.5oz alginate for 16oz water, but they base that on weight, not volume. if you dont have a scale to measure the alginate to 5.5oz, just use a 1:1 ratio. (2 cups water, 2 cups alginate. Note: Make sure you have another person mix the alginate and apply it on your face. Doing it by yourself is pretty impossible. Keep me updated on your mask building venture!

How much alginate do you need to use for the negative. I need to know how much i need to buy.

dont understand what you put on  the mask here because the alginate is not working to runny then when it gets think u can not sculpt it just wondering ?

What kind of plaster did you use here? I put plaster over my mold and now I can't seem to separate them. Was I supposed to use alginate to cover it then plaster bandages? Any help would be appreciated!

OK, FINALLY!!! For those of you who are stuck on step 5 or are confused. On my second try I got it right. Here are some helpful tips:

1) To make your life easier, lay your molded face facing up. Use molding clay and put about 1 inch x 1 inch wall around the base of the face. This will help you use leverage to pry the mold from the plaster at the end.
2) Before you start layering plaster on top, cover your molded face and wall from step 1 with a thin layer of vaseline (I've heard soapy water works or there is a liquid you can get from a ceramic store but for me, vaseline worked great!). Be very thorough and spread nook and cranny.
3) When you prep plaster, be sure to make plenty. You'll want mounds and mounds on top. I think I used about 3 quarts (combined volume) and gave everywhere a good 2-3 inches worth
4) Wait for the plaster to start setting (ie, it just start changing from watery to gooey) before you start putting it on top of the mold.
5) After the plaster has set on top, I used a screw driver to start prying out the inner mold gently along the 1 inch clay wall going in a circular motion. It will start to give slowly and you can just life it out about 1/2 way around.

mm i don't see the point...
can't notice the difference btween you with n' without mask ....

:P hahahaha xD
just kidding :D
you gimme some ideas thx ; )

O_O EPIC!

very cool
although way too involved for me i think ill just skip the mask

A few words of advice: If you start from scratch this project will cost you a lot more than $30. For me: Latex = $20. Alginate = $12. Clay = $7. Bald cap = $3. Plaster = $7. Wig = $20. Spirit gum = $2. Plaster bandages = $3.

When you get modeling clay, BUY OIL-BASED CLAY. I can't stress this enough! Otherwise the plaster will stick to it and make things impossible.

The liquid latex I bought (Mehron) is pretty thin and takes about 15 minutes to dry a coat, more in the cracks / crevasses. You need dozens of coats of latex in the thick areas that need support (nose, cheek ridges, upper lip, brow ridge) at 15 minutes a shot. It takes a long time. Give yourself plenty of time.

You can use a drinking straw in your mouth to breathe, since you will be cutting out the mouth anyway. Make sure you hold it loosely in the mouth so as not to distort the face. It's much easier for breathing than the nose.

A good oil based clay is Plastiline. (Not sure about the spelling, but it should be available in art supply stores.)

sidenotes:

to make the mask easier to blend in with your face, go easy on the latex around the edges...like the eyes, the sides, or the mouth.

when making the first positive cast from the alginate mold...before the plaster sets, try putting a "handle" in place and let the plaster cure around it...that will give you something to pull the clay sculpture from the 2nd plaster cast. a "handle" can be anything...bolt, old cabinet handle...or even a groove you make with your fingers...not so deep so it interferes with the facial features of the cast but just deep enough so you can put at least two fingers in there to pull the clay sculpture away from the plaster.

when making the alginate mold from your face, make sure you cover enough real estate..meaning a few inches past the top of your hairline all the way to the underside of your chin, and the sides of your face to your ears....this is to ensure you have a bowl-like mold deep enough to hold the plaster.

For smoothing out the clay on the sculpture...try using a sponge with warm water...but be sure you're using oilbased clay or else the clay will turn liquidy.

also...it's a good idea to stuff some cotton on the inside of the latex mask..in the empty spots like the brow, the nose or the cheekbones...because you will sweat underneath it.

Where did you get all this stuff??? I gonna get it today! well I just need to know where to get the plaster, bandages and alginate! help thannxx!!

You can get that stuff at an art store like Utrecht or Dick Blick. Craft stores like Michael's have the bandages and plaster but I didn't find any alginate.

thanks!!!

also at Douglas & Sturgess in San Francisco or Richmond, www.artstuf.com

thank you guys!!

That is awesome!

great job!

Ha ha! That's amazing! I must admit that I'm thoroughly sick of those caveman commercials, and the gecko ones for that matter, but that costume is awesome nonetheless.

I've been meaning to do something like this to make a Wraith face, thank you for posting!

Amazing! You should walk down the street and the malls and stuff and act like him that would be so funny looking at the peoples faces. "It's the caveman!" xD

You can do the beard creation step on your positive. It's a lot easier.

I got it to come out but, all the clay was stuck to the inside. That was a pain to get out! I did read on another site to coat the whole positive with a layer of dish soap so I did that. Then a shook the heck out of it to pop off the plaster once it was dry. I will post a pic of my final look once its done.

so you applied the dishsoap to the positive clay sculpture before you added the plaster on top? And before adding the plaster, did you mix it normally (2:1 plaster/water by volume)?

I saw a vid on youtube that showed a clay barrier around the positive and the plaster was poured onto the positive within the barrier...and it made it easier to separate the negative from the positive....also I think you're actually supposed to use a water-based clay so it doesn't stick to the inside of the negative. But of course I used an oil-based clay like mostly everone else because it wasn't mentioned anywhere to use water-based. lol

this was a fantastic idea but I'm having problems getting the molded face back out if the plaster!? Anyone have any ideas???

maybe you have to break it out...but then you might end up breaking the whole thing...i'm having trouble with this also. step 5 sux! -_-

how did you prevent the 2nd casting, after sculpting, from sticking to the clay and be able to pull them apart? I was working on this, and at that point, I could not separate the two, resulting in a broken forehead and nose :( now I gotta try and glue it all back together and hope I can fabricate something to rebuild the nose structure before applying latex....

great work though, looks great :)

I'm having the same problem....actually I started off with a small amount of plaster first and when I noticed it was sticking hard to the clay I immediately washed off the plaster and resculpted the clay. Now I'm stuck and don't know how to go about this. I'm guessing that applying a release agent or petroleum jelly to the sculpture before adding the plaster might make the 2nd cast easier to remove. wish me luck

this instructable is so easy, a caveman could do it!

i bet u didnt make anything, ur the guy that plays the cave man!!!! :P

he is

regarding step 5:
if you add plaster onto the sculpture, won't it stick to or merge with the eyes and other plastered pieces? or do you just mix the plaster so it's really thick?
When I mixed the plaster for the original alginate mold, I used a 2:1 ratio by volume (powder/water) and it came out thin and easy to pour into the alginate mold....should it be thicker when you "plop" it onto the clay sculpture?
thanks.

ohh wow that's amazing

Man, what an excellent project. And a great east-to-read instructable.

That's really good.

That looks just like the guy on tv. good job.

Teh awesomeness

Lol!

Before I looked at this, I thought you used stock photos. You look just like the actor. Very cool.

epic win.

needs more hair.

Looks good. I'm a little confused about step 5 though. Do you pull off the plaster and then pour in the liquid latex....if so does the plaster peel off the modeling clay easily?

very well done; the outfit you have on with the mask really makes it come together.

You should try the foam latex next so you wont have any cracks on down the future plus it moves like natural skin. I started off like this too but adding the foam really worked well eventhough you have to bake it. great job and nice layout. A+++
GWJax

Very cool project and well executed. I'd like to see more details about what's going on in steps 5-6 though. You never really explain how you used the latex in the mold(s) you created.

Overall a great instructable.

This is very well done. Good pictures and instructions.

Wow very nice, there is only one thing that looked a little odd. Your face seems a little darker than the rest of your skin. I didn't notice it until I zoomed in on the final product. Other than that tiny detail, you did a great job, +1.

Very well done, I love it!
If I were a guy I'd wear it in a second for halloween!
That's it.
One of my friends is getting caveman'd next year...

sweet piece!
he needs eyebrows, though.