Sea Goddess - how to make that nose.

I finally managed to make an Original Character (OC) mainly because I wanted to learn how to make gelatin prosthetics and I really wanted to make a tentacle staff. 

But now to the fun part - how did I make this concept come to life. 

Photo by: Savage Studios

This tutorial will cover the special effect makeup aspect, while this post guide you through the Staff build. 

That nose
The most dominant feature is the nose, or rather the lack of it. This look is inspired by Peter Gaal and there even is a tutorial covering how to make it. I will still guide you through my process and some of my thoughts and what was difficult with this makeup. 

To make the mold.
I don't have a cast of my face nor a mannequin  but I found another solution. I bought a white plastic mask and added clay to that (for you norwegians, it is actually cheaper at Panduro that at Standard). Then I covered my model with plaster like in the instructable. I used a Styrofoam head to hold the mask

Photos from the instrubtable

To make the gelatin
The ingredients are: Glycerol (bought at a pharmacy), gelatin powder (not sheets, bought at any grocery store, but Coop Mega have larger bottles) liquid honey and warm water. 

From the receipt I found I have 1 part gelatin, 1 part glycerol and 1 part that is 50/50 honey and water.

It is easier to mix the ca right amount when using equal sized cups. 

Then you mix honey, glycerol and water and give it a go in the microwave (20 sec)

After those 20 second add the gelatin powder and even out all the clumps. Heat it another 20 seconds and stir some more. In the picture below it is not done, if it looks like this you must heat it another 20 sec. Do not overheat it, rather take several turns in the micro. 

When the mix is liquid and runny (and as clear as it gets) you can add it to you mold. 

And then you press the cleaned mask into it. (easier if the head is with it, more to push on)

AHA! Something went wrong

Watch out for air pockets. But if you screw it up, just reheat the failed cast a pour it again. It was surprisingly easy to reheat, just be careful to do it little by little so you don't boil the gelatin. You have to really press the mold and mask hard together. 

And it was hard to get nice thin edges, so I used a hot air gun to melt the edges while my almost finished gelatin shape was still in the plaster mold, and when the edges got a little runny again I used the back of a spoon to drag them out. (sorry no pictures)

This is the prosthetic after I took it off, hence why it has makeup on. 

How to apply. 

As seen in the JadeFX video it seem so easy, but I had a little more trouble with the edges. It was easy enough to glue on using Spirit Gum, and is was stuck the whole day 

One problem is of course that I could not breathe through my nose, so drinking and eating was hard. 

Photo by: Nils Katla Photography

Tips to apply make up. I used a grease based makeup (Kryolan) which can be applied to both skin, latex and gelatin. It is also important to use several colors or feather it. One even layer of one color will seem very flat. Bring out cheeks and eyes with highlights and contouring. When you apply prosthetics you will get a seam where it meets your skin. You can blend this with glue, latex or liquid gelatin, but if it is still visible you can add features that take the attention away from your flaws. Here I have added white dots down my face and most people look at them or the long eyelashes, big contact lenses (or the fact that the nose is gone) instead of my messy edges.

If questions, ask away.