Giger Style Alien Costume: Head

Giger Alien Suit – Head

This page is about the head sculpt and cast, check out the main project page for the rest.

The head was sculpted out of WED clay due to its size. Almost an entire 50lb / 25Kg box of WED was used, and that was over a foam/polystyrene armature with a wooden support.

Here are pictures of the sculpt in progress in WED clay:

   

   

The sculpt was sealed with some clear spray before moulding:

I’ve made a one piece latex mould with two layer of cheap dish cloths in like this. This will help keep the mould in shape and stop it shrinking. The mould has been divided into two with cardboard and duct tape and then a mother mould has been made from Jesmonite and Quadaxial mat:

   

 

The mother mould and latex mould are removed from the sculpt leaving it slightly squashed, and the mould is reassembled:

   

The mould is then fiberglassed inside with Jesmonite. Around 5-8 thickened coats were built up inside the mould until all the details were done, then surface tissue and Quadaxial fibreglass mat were layered up for reinforcement:

 

After 24 hours the mother mould was removed, and the latex mould finally peeled off:

…leaving the hollow raw cast, which now requires some trimming and clean up:

   

Next it was time to sculpt the lower jaw:

   

 

I decided to try moulding this is Thickened Silicone RTV, mainly because it cures overnight which meant I could start the casting and get on with the project. Silicone RTV is a lot more expensive than latex, but it cures with a catalyst which means you can smooth it on in one go and then it’s ready the next day:

    

The mother mould support case was made out of Modroc in two halves:

   

Here’s the mould removed from the clay and reassembled:

 

The jaw was cast in Jesmonite, two thick gel coat layers to fill all the gaps, some surface tissue and some Quadaxial mat:

   

   

The cast is removed from the mould, and I cleaned up the edges with a drum sander:

   

I decided that since this is for a costume, and Alien’s jaw sticks out a lot further than mine does, it may be sensible to reinforce the jaw in case it gets knocked against something. So I’ve fitted a piece of Aluminium wire inside and covered it with more surface tissue and Jesmonite. The jaw will also be hinged and operational so the ends of the wire run close to where some holes will be drilled for the pivot:

   

Next the upper teeth are sculpted in clay. I pushed some Klean Klay into the head to get the basic shape and then sculpted the rest onto that:

 

The piece is boxed off with some more Klean Klay so we have something roughly the same shape to pour the Silicone into:

   

The Silicone is cured over night:

   

The clay is removed and Jesmonite is poured in, making sure all the air gaps are gone:

   

The upper teeth are removed from the mould:

   

So here are the pieces so far together:

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