Introduction: Shrunken Head, No Headhunting Required! Costs Under $25.
So Valentines Day is just a few days from now and you're thinking: "I want to make my lady something special that she'll remember. Something romantic and sweet... I know! I'll make her a shrunken head!"
Ah, you slick fox. You're one smooth man, you know that you can get any lady you want. And this is your lucky day, I have just the instructable for your next catch or your current jog. Here's an easy cost effective way to woo this special lady of yours. Follow me and I'll teach you how to create a shrunken head without having to visit your local morgue, prison, city hall, or anywhere else heads may be rolling.
First, find a willing partner; if you want to give her your head on a plate (think surrounded by red rose petals) you'll need your partner to do some very uncomfortable things to you, so get ready to get close to your friends.
Back in highschool I convinced my willing partner Mike to do this with me, you'll see him below, we helped each other make the other persons face.
Step 1: Get Materials. Get Secluded. Make the Mold.
Materials Needed:
- Moulage: http://www.dickblick.com/zz335/11/
- A pot
- Straws
- A spoon
Steps to make the mold
Now take your moulage and on a low heat setting on your oven heat it up till it liquefies.Take it off the oven and let it cool down a bit. Only a bit.
Hand your partner a pen and a pencil and two straws. Take a spoon and dab a little bit on his face. If he looks like he's about to cry... put more. You want to put it on in thin layers, so cover the entire face with the first layer, all except the nostrils and ear holes of course.
Step 2: Strengthen the Mold.
Here is where you strengthen the mold by adding many layers of moulage. Once the initial burn is over and his face is coated with a thin layer of the warm goop. Go over it again and again, it'll hurt less and will get thicker over time. Avoid the nostrils till you've accumulated a good thickness.
Once you've reached the nostrils, insert straws into your partner's nose and goop a whole load onto the nose, this is a weak part of the mold because of the need to breathe out of it. So make sure to put enough.
Try to find straws that fit the nose fully, so get McDonalds straws(I don't eat there, but they like you to guzzle your food and have wide straws), Wendy's straws are a bit thinner.
When you have about 1/2" of moulage layers on your partners face, let him wait and feel the stuff ooze into his ears. This is when the pencil and paper come in handy so your partner can let you know if he's suffocating or what.
Step 3: End Goop.
If you have any left over moulage, just goop the rest onto the layers you made. This will just create a thick layer that will strengthen the mold.
Another way to strengthen the mold is to use wire mesh, something like from a screen window will do well.
Step 4: Remove, Distort, Cast, Distort.
Now that you've waited for the moulage to cool, and your partner is freaking out deaf dumb blind for a few minuets you should carefully peel the moulage mask off your partners face and set it on something face shaped, like a hat.
Now that you have your face mold, you can cast it with plaster of paris. But you want a shrunken head, so cast a few, and let the moulage dry out a bit, crunch it, twist it and let it dry, and then cast it. Basically it's like silly putty and you can control the way it drys so you can get all sorts of deathly faces.
Step 5: Show Your Affections.
You may now embellish the castings you've made in anyway you wish. You can paint them, cut them with sanders, shatter them and glue them together, coat them with egg white varnish, or take a high- speed film of you playing baseball with your head.
Now that you've gone through all that pain, you can understand true love. Share your deepest affections to your lover with any presentation of your visage. Let them know how much you care.
-I hope all lovers this season have happy shrunken head filled Valentines Day gifts.
Bilal
22 Comments
15 years ago on Step 3
If you can't find wire mesh, plaster bandages work nicely, too.
15 years ago on Introduction
Wow, wouldn't it be far better and above all, SAFER to use materials actually made for doing lifecasting? I couldn't help but to cringe when I saw the line "Once the initial burn is over ". Also the use of drinking straws is ridiculously unsafe. DO NOT do lifecasting like this.
I am a professional special effects makeup artist, and I can tell you right now that this is not even close to how we do lifecasts. People have DIED from lifecasting like this. This is incredibly stupid.
Http://www.necrosis-studios.com for my companies site, and http://www.theeffectslab.com for a site that will actually show you the RIGHT way to do a lifecast.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
http://www.theeffectslab.com/facecasting.htm this is sweet! And is very similar, although it is a stronger material. Moulage is a form of alienate (the brown seaweed stuff) that is also water based, and this let's it shrivel up when dried.
It was my fault that the mixture burned, I didn't wait for it to cool after taking it off the fire. I'll add that the heat checking part, a proper temperature that is still usable is 115oF which is warm, but okay for lifecasting. Lastly, their "keep checking to make sure that the nostrils are not blocked by the slumping alginate." is more post check than preventative. I'm sure if someone had a grandparent on an oxygen resirator, the nasal tubes would be a much better idea, I'll see how expencive those are to procure.
I hope this explains and helps you get over your anti-moulage stance and consider using it in your work, it has some neat properties that typical alginates don't. (Shrinking, reuse...).
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Well, very simply, we just cast around the nostrils, then after the plaster bandage jacket is cured, and we are ready to lay up the positive, we just block up the holes with more alginate. This is WAY safer, and I get a more accurate cast. Tubes in the nose can cause distortion of the nostrils, and if accidentally bumped can tear the hell out of the nasal passageways leading to severe bleeding. While moulage is akin to alginate, along with it's few benefits come several drawbacks. First and foremost is the heat. Nobody likes having hot paste smeared on their face. Second, is its detail replication ability is significantly less than a good prosthetic grade alginate. It is easily contaminated, so your reusability is right out the door, NEVER use something used on one person's face on another's you can spread all sorts of disease that way and, it's just gross. Additionally, moulage does shrink over time, granted less than alginate, but that has never been a factor for me. The only place i ever have found moulage of any real use is for casting small props and the like where a high degree of detail is not necessary. I'm not meaning to totally trash you or anything, but there are real reasons makeup artists do not work with moulage for lifecasting.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
cool, thanks for the tips. The shrinking effect is kinda sought after for this project, but I wonder if you can give me some pointers on where to get real alginate from? -bg
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
http://www.monstermakers.com is where I get alot of supplies from, because they are local to me, and I save on shipping, but you can probably find cheaper.
There is a material, though I can't for the life of me remember what it is called or where I saw it., that you can cast in your mold, that will set, then shrink to like 25% as it cures. If you want, you can email me directly, and I can give you IM info. My contact info is on my website.
15 years ago on Introduction
lol you should buy actual stuff you can put on your face, this project seemed dangerously toxic.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
http://www.artmolds.com/product_details.cfm?product_id=176&page=0&cat_name=Alginate
This is a page which has moulage that may be used for lifecasting. It's not toxic, it's active ingredient is a type of seaweed. It just kinda looks gross. Perhaps I over blew the awkwardness/pain a bit in my explanation. Sorry.
-bg
15 years ago on Introduction
it didn't seem to shrink too much.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Hmm, maybe i need better photo's of the fully shrunken face. It's the one at the top left of the very first picture. All in all, it comes to about 1/4 of the original face, give it a shot if you're interested to see how much water the seaweed molding material (moulage) will lose! -bg
15 years ago on Introduction
Great job... When I first saw it, I thought you were gonna make the apple shrunken head :)
15 years ago on Introduction
you should put this in the new contest.
15 years ago on Introduction
I enjoyed reading this. It was humorous. This guy should write.
15 years ago on Introduction
As catchy as the title is, I think maybe you should change the title, as it won't produce a shrunken head. Don't know what you'd call it, but it's rather misleading. Fun project, no doubt, but I think it needs a different title.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Shrunken face? If you want to wrap around the head all you would have to do is get a baldwig, maybe a shower cap would work, and do both sides. Cutting down the middle when it's time for removal. This stuff is easy to cut with a butter knife. Then when it's cast, it'll be a complete head. -bg
15 years ago on Introduction
Sweet! I'd totally like a shrunken head for Valentine's Day.
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
"I'm sorry, Eric can't come to the phone right now, because he has his face covered in warm white goop. Can he call you back in an hour or so?" :-D
15 years ago on Introduction
Actually really nice job. Cool idea, hope I can try this out, paint it green and stuff, then it'll be like the movie The Mask. Then I'll throw it out a window and stuff! :P
Reply 15 years ago on Introduction
Take caution, there's two things you want to watch out for: 1) Suffocation. 2) Voodoo magic curse reversal. It's tricky the first few times you try to embed life into inanimate objects, sometimes you get curse blow back... And that's tragic. _BG
15 years ago on Introduction
Wow! It's like a magical virginity charm! Just kidding. This is a pretty cool idea.