2023-11-13 06:20:59
Monday, November 13, 2023
With HTV silicone, makeup artists can create reusable artificial bald heads. All it takes is the right technology. Participants in a two-day OETHG seminar learned how to use it in collaboration with the Linz State Theater.
Baldness is an underestimated discipline. That’s why, following a long break, the “Masket Image Specialist Group” organized a two-day specialist seminar with the OETHG Academy in June at the Landestheater Linz on the topic of “Bald production without mold making”. After around seven years, an Austria-wide mask workshop took place once more. Make-up artists from the Klagenfurt City Theater, the Graz Opera, the Vienna Volkstheater, the Innsbruck State Theater, the Linz State Theater and a specialist teacher from the vocational school for make-up art came. Artificial bald heads are not as easy to produce as laypeople often assume.
Under the direction of Marco Höfer, make-up artist at the Linz Theater, the participants learned how to process and use DERMA-SIL. This is an HTV silicone that addition-cures two components. What’s special: The material looks very similar to real skin and following successful production, the bald plastic can be reused. The manufacturing company Kaupo-Plankenhorn supported the workshop.
Reward for the effort
“The effort is admittedly higher than with other techniques. If the work is done uncleanly, the material does not always react as it should, and then there is a problem with the networking. That’s why it’s very important to find out the exact product information regarding application and handling,” says organizer Alexander Raid. In addition, the modeling tool and hands must not be contaminated with sulphur-containing substances. Cleaning with pure alcohol is required between the work steps. “But once you have the desired object, reusability is a big advantage during ongoing operations,” says Alexander Raid.
Pasta machine as a tool
First, the participants kneaded the components together with the addition of silicone pigments and colored flock to create the appropriate skin color. Using a pasta machine, they formed the material into a dough-like mass and divided it into strips. They mounted this onto a plaster head or synthetic head using a screen printing roller and cling film. Important: The model must be absolutely dry and sealed with several layers of Super Seal. Rolling out requires a lot of pressure and the contours have to be worked out thinly. The finished model can then be placed in the drying oven at 80°C for several hours and then in a water bath. Then it’s time to remove it. The bald man was ready! “It is now possible to incorporate various materials into the HTV silicone – such as tulle roots, pierced hair or knotted hair wreaths. I can also imagine that we might try out head deformations,” says Alexander Raid. The topics for the next seminar are already ready.
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