Casting Appliance

Now it's time to mix the foam latex that my appliance will be made out of! Below is the make of foam latex I used. You ca n also see the brushes that were used to paint the foam latex into the appliances.

Weighing scales and a food mixer are also needed for this part of the mixing. 
The recipe I used for the foam latex is as follows:
300g foam base
60g foaming agent
30g curing agent
These should be added to the food mixer and mixed on the fastest setting for 4 minutes, it's essential to time this as you do not want to over mix. After 4 minutes, the mixer should be put on the slowest setting for a further 6 minutes, again making sure to keep an eye on the time. Whilst this is mixing, measure out 30-35g of gelling agent, this should be added slowly to the mixture after the full 10 minutes is up. Mix for a further 2 minutes still on the slowest setting whilst adding the gelling agent. A syringe was used to add the gelling agent however this is not compulsory. 

 Measuring out the mixture.

During first 4 minute mix. 

 Finally adding of the gelling agent. 


 The final mixture should be smooth and have the appearance of meringue.
This foam latex can now be painted over into the sculpt negative, in my cast I had to make sure the foam entirely filled the beak to make sure no air bubbles  had got in, as this would ruin the final appliance. (luckily this first cast was a practice) 
Once the detailed parts had been painted over with foam latex the rest can be poured in. 
Then, the positive of my models face can then be pressed into the the negative (i didn't have chance to capture this on camera) with help of the keys I managed to get the two pieces to fit together correctly before pressing down as hard as possible. When I did this all of the excess foam latex squeezed out of the sides. It is advised to fasten the two pieces together using rope of a ratchet strap, the tighter the two parts are held together, the better edges your final appliance will have!
This should be then placed in the oven for 3 hours to bake!

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