PORTFOLIO

Ever since my childhood, I have been fascinated with horror films and speciall effects which make them so appealing. I adore the horribly beautiful and truly inspirational works of artists such as Tom Savini, Rick Baker, and Bob Keen. For some reason this theme has followed me throughout my adult life, and in consequence led to the full time study of Technical Effects for Performance. Taking a maximum advantage of the course, I'm trying now to make my way, step by step, into the world of special effects and prosthetics for the film industry.                    
To view my professional portfolio of work go to:
http://www.wix.com/merkova/portfolio

...........................................................

The Prop

The prop is a 13 weeks old human fetus. Before sculpting I gathered photo references to learn about the size, proportions, and colours. Having the measurements, I made a wire armature and sculpted the fetus is shavant. The fetus was sculpted with its arms spread, as later it is going to be attached to the crucifix.
On the pictures below is final sculpt during the preparation for moulding in fibre glass (the sculpt is 'walled' with clay, sprayed over with J-Wax, and brushed lightly with talcum powder).

Two-part fibre glass mould of human fetus: finished and ready for casting.

 

I applied a couple of layers of a pale flesh-tone latex on to my mould. In meantime I bent two pieces of cotton covered wire (to fit the arms and the legs) and sank them in to the latex. I used the wire in order to stiffen the very thin arms and legs. Because the J-foam (which will be used to fill up the inside of my prop) may not spread beyond the elbows and knees, I fill these parts with latex and small pieces of sponge-foam.

When the latex is dry, I apply another thin layer on to the parts which will bond together after the mould is closed. After closing the mould and screwing tightly together, I leave it for a couple of hours to let the latex dry. And because there are bleeding holes in my mould, I know latex will dry properly instead of 'sweating'.

Finally I pour J-foam inside the mould and leave it to cure. I'm using J-foam 162,  mixing ratio 2:1 by weight to produce a fairly soft foam (to make sure that the cast can be removed from the mould easily).

                                                                

When removed from the mould, the prop can be now trimmed along the seam line. To do this I use a pair of surgical curved scissors and microscissors.

Because this prop is for a life performance, I need to make two crucifixes: one on its own for the early scenes and one with the fatus attachel for the later scene. When the crosses are ready, the prop is painted with Skin Illustrator and attached to one of them.

Finished piece: