Casting It is possible to cast a head with an open mouth?

I imagine you'd be able to do it... You could just paint a tongue, inner mouth etc on the inside of the 'mouth'.. Just don't make it too deep or it'd interrupt with the elastic/hooks etc ops:

 

the head would have to have the elastic attach to the head cap not just sit behind the mouth, but otherwise I don't see why not ^-^

 

If that's what you are afraid of you will have to splash out on the silicone mold stuff...bloody expensive but safe on the sculpt you are casting from.

also good luck ^-^

 

I was thinking about making an open mouth face too! I would just say to close the mouth in the back. It would be such a PITA to paint the inside of the mouth, but I think that if you sculpt a tongue, are very patient, and use tiiiiiny paintbrushes, it should be okay!

If you manage to cast a snarling Chrno head in resin... make sure to tell me, and post lots of pictures so that I can fangirl you and try and buy one. xD *anime geek*

 

Good luck on that!! I can't wait to see it! :3

 

Talk about growing pains! XD

 

You could try strong magnets for the horns. Or snaps.

 

If you are willing to look at a lot of dolls styled very unlike our bjd's, I think you may want to investigate the "closed open mouths" of some porcelain dolls. I'm not 100% sure of the term, though.

Basically a mouth-shaped cave to give the open mouth depth, but not open to the inside of the head.

One way to go, anyway.

And if they could do it in brittle porcelain, dollars to doughnuts you can do it in resin.

Ann in CT

 

That's kind of what I meant, but to make the mouth more realistic...? Kind of like a deeper concave with sculpted teeth, tongue, etc. that doesn't go as far as the neckhole for the S-hook. If you were to sculpt the head that way. You could always make the head and neck one piece, and hook that into the torso...

 

Depends what you're casting it in, but I'd think the simplest way (unless you want to do a mould with multiple, multiple pieces) would be to cast the head and the mouth seperately.

Cast the head first, with the mouth 'open' (ie' lips stretched) and cut out the inside - then cast the inside of the mouth, and attach it from inside the head...If you want really detailed teetha and all, you might have to do the mouth cavity in two halves, too...

 

Hehe, I'm making Chrono Truth as well... >w<; I'm just modding an existing head, though (I just have to decide what body to buy.. since he'll be in his final form (as in the picture you posted above) and so it'll need heavy modifications) little Chrono is almost done (by Katsucon! ) and Rosette will be done by the end of the year~ It's taken over a year just to finish little Chrono, though T_T;;; I'm so lazy.

As for your question, while it's possible to sculpt an open mouth, it may look very strange because you have to consider what it's opening into o_O; If it's just opening into the head, it's going to look mighty odd to see the stringing and s-hook and stuff in there T_T;

On the other hand, if it only opens into a little cavity, that may not work as well with how it's strung.. it may be structurally pretty weak.

Anyway, good luck~~!

 

from my limited experience, it's going to depend on where you slice up your mold at. Silicone does pretty well with undercuts and such, but it still has a limit as to how hard it's going to be to yank the mold out of that mouth. Most garage kit and resin kit type things that have that much of a cavity I think are usually two seperate pieces that are cast. I think you'd be happiest with the end effect that would have... but I'm not real sure. You can take a look at different how to's on smooth-on.com that's where I'm getting my mold making stuff from. They have a sample kit that's really nice, and has everything you need to make a small mold and several castings for $25.

**EDIT**

I Found this in another thread. It explains what I'm blathering about with undercuts. XD;;; Ugh, i'm too cold and sleepy to make sense.

http://www.danperezstudios.com/workshoppages/molding_casting.htm

 

Aww~ thanks. :3 I think I do it because I like making a mess. XD anyway, I bought the silicon sampler from them shown here: http://smoothon.com/Getting Started.asp They'll send you all the info on how to make the mold and such. If there's a college in your area you might see if they have sculpture and if you could sit in on a class where they're making molds. I was a sculpture major to begin with and I'm not sure any of this would make sense if i hadn't had a class in it first. X3 ATM Bastian's head is half invested... I ran out of silicon. e_e

 

You could always just have the mouth as a big hole with teeth and have a plug with the tongue. It would be relatively flat, so it wouldn't get in the way too much. A few companies have it so that you can swap teeth and stuff like that. Maybe try that way?

 

I believe you can. ^_^;;

Just look at LUTS' BREAKAWAY Sleeping Vampire head, and their Soo girl. The mouth is open... but it's like like a 'hole' through the head like the eyes.

So~ I'm not sure if that's what you want or not! But it is possible. ^_^

When you make your prototype and push it into a mold, the mold should go into the mouth and so then when you pour your resin or whatever you're using, it should keep that 'indent' for an open mouth.

I'm also consideirng an open mouth for a doll I'm making... but I have to finish fixing the eyes and nose before I think about the mouth. I won't be done with the hea dprolly until way after Katsucon. XD

Good luck~ :]

 

Hmms~

What also I've pondered doing is that with a clay of some sort, you push your prototype into it, like the back of the head, leaving the the head face-up. Make some sort of tightly sealed walls around it, rather high... A lot of people use silicone as their mold material of choice, so you would pour that atop the clay and your prototype, let it set/cure and then take it apart. I THINK~ >_< silicone is soft so when you pull it away from your prototype it will come off easy and if you have fangs or a lip in the way, it'll squeeze apst them easily. Please don't take my word on this. ^ ^;; Then you could turn your prototype over in the clay so you could get a molding of the back part of the head.

I mgiht bring some smaples to Katsu. I don't have like a panel or anything, and I'll be arriving on Friday too late for the meetup, but if you find out that you're definitely going we could meet somewhere. Maybe I'll try to get my head piece finished and cook him so I can bring him and you can take a look.

I'm still in the sculpting process, and I'm kind of scared to have to do the molds myself. But we'll see how it goes.

If I don't actually get around to bringing the actual head itself, then I can always give you some pictures of him so far. ^ ^;;

 

I'd freak out too~ It's a doll-maker's nightmare. x__x

I know Donn, the maker of bishonenhouse.com dolls, uses silicone as his mold-making material of choice. He even has part of a mold-making tutorial on his site you might want top check out. ^ ^;;

 

Hmms~

Yeah, I'm not too sure about the way he makes molds for his head either... But I think it's a lot like the wya he does his bodies, only with a headcap.

Another option, is that you could always try and find someone to make modls for you. I don't know where to direct you, for I know no one who does, sorry. I'm also searching though; for both mold makers and resin casters for my custom boy. ^ ^;;

 

Mmhmm~ good idea. I agree; messing with a Hound head could get messy. ^_^;;

If you find anything out useful from Ashbet, would you please let me know? I'm curious about it all too. Thanks~~

 

Wouldn't happen. Silicone only sticks to itself