Mushu Costume Head - getting there!

Since it's almost the last day of Christmas Vacation, I figured I'd better get moving.  My Mushu head needed some foam touch-ups in a few areas.  I bought My second can of Great Stuff (and I'm now more convinced than ever that is really is Great Stuff…) and I sprayed a couple of things in the basement this morning (the others will be in another post).  It was dry enough for me to carve at about 7 this evening.    I added a layer to a low spot on the right side of the face, covered the halves of the ears close to the head (I will cover the ends with just the fabric) and I filled in the backs of the horns and a little bit under the jaw - nothing really noticeable in this picture.

When it was dry I carved off the excess again (this time, avoiding my thumb) and gave it a coat of Elmer's wood glue mixed with a little bit of water - I wanted to make sure my paint layer would stick.  

When I was painting, I was wondering if maybe I should just go with paint, but I decided I'll also add the fabric, and here's why:

1. Carved Great Stuff is loaded with holes.  I can't efficiently get the paint in all of them.

2. I'm using a box cutter to carve, and while it's more than sharp enough to cut, the blade is too short to  make nice smooth cuts across just the surface. I'm winding up with a lot of channels when I need to remove a large area.

3.  My paint looks kind of PINK, and what the hell? PINK??

4.  It kind of reminds me of a devil head at this point, and who needs that?  I think the scales will make the dragon identity more clear. 

So, as soon as I post this, I'm off to cut my fabric into strips of scales and then to ponder what kind of glue I should use (Probably Tacky Glue…?) 

Oh, and I need to spring for a new pair of fabric scissors. 

After 30 years they are finally getting dull enough to be annoying.  

(Yes, I got them for Christmas when I was just born. LOL)

Mushu Dragon Head - Carving the Foam

I carved the Mushu head tonight.  

I had other things to do, but I thought, I'll just try this for a few minutes and see how it goes. Haha.

I started with what you see below.  

Basically, I took off the parts that seemed to pronounced.  I tried to make the whole thing a bit more sleek.  You know, if you can call a costume head made of foam "sleek." 

I can see that I'll probably have to fill in a few spots, in addition to finishing the ears and the edges underneath.   Each touch up with require another can, since I can see how the stuff would definitely gum up the nozzle and most like not work a second time.  

You definitely don't need a serrated knife to cut this, but your knife DOES have to be sharp.  I used a regular box cutter, so I kind of had to gouge and tear off pieces, but it was not TOO bad.  A sharp, longer, flexible knife life a filet knife would probably be much better, but who wants to dull their good knife on a block of foam?  

I still think I'm probably going to cover it with fabric scales anyway, but I'm not sure. Either way, I believe I'll have to coat it in glue first to keep the foam from melting.  

Mushu Costume head and lower jaw - made of carved Great Stuff.

I didn't realize until I was done that there were two teeth on that lower jaw.  It will need a bit more carving after the foam patch job, I guess.  More in a few days...  

Mushu Dragon Head - Spray Foam Coat

I have been procrastinating.  

I procrastinate when I'm worried.  

Well, that's one of my reasons, anyway. 

So this evening I sprayed the Mushu dragon head.  I was worried about the mess it would make, how it would stick to the form, if I would be able to carve down to the shape I had originally intended, etc.  You name it, I worried about it.  But you know, procrastinating doesn't answer these questions, it just delays the inevitable. 

I decided to spray in the basement.  I didn't need the hyperactive dog shooting her dog hairs on it (or worse, taking a taste, or stepping in the drips) while it was still wet.  I have had it perched on a copper kettle for a while so I could look at it at the correct angle, so I wrapped the kettle completely in plastic wrap.  I perched the kettle on a rubbermaid tote and topped the tote and the floor around it with newspaper.  I am usually a really neat painter, but this stuff it completely unforgiving.  I read the can before I got started - it says that you can remove the WET stuff with acetone (a chemical in nail polish remover) but the dry stuff will have to wear off… OMG, will have to wear off… it's one of the reasons I decided to spray in the basement.  

I shook the can really really well as directed, put the spray nozzle on and promptly broke one side of it off while pressing down.  CRAP.  When I finally got it going, it came SHOOTING out, expanding like a son-of-a-gun, pretty much obliterating any form I had made.  The first thing I sprayed it on was the lower jaw.

I covered the ends with plastic wrap because I'm going to cover those with fabric and then add velcro so that it can attach to the headpiece on the sides, so the actor's head is completely encircled. 

I cannot say enough that this stuff is SO DAMN STICKY that there was not even a CHANCE that I could do both sides of the jaw at once.  I sprayed what I could reach and figured I could always peel the newspaper off the edges when the foam was dry. I'm going to carve it down a bit anyway.  

I moved on to the head.  Finally I started spraying very slowly so I got a finer stream of foam. I moved the nozzle back and forth, but as I did, a ball of foam clung to the end of the nozzle (did I say this is THE stickiest stuff on earth?  It is.)

I sprayed around the eyes, leaving the centers open, then pressed the eyes into place and sprayed around them to hold them in.  I had covered them with plastic wrap also so that I can just peel or cut it off after the foam is dry and I will have two perfectly clean eyeballs.  

As the foam built up, it started weighing down my armature, which made me worried.  I hadn't planned on that.  

I propped up the horns with an aluminum tray I quickly found in the basement.  It's disposable. 

I propped up the ears with a paper plate.  I knew I couldn't spray the underneath parts and I had prepared by greasing a shish kebob skewer with vaseline in hopes of preserving the remainder of the can for use tomorrow.  But guess what?  I ran out of foam anyway.  

So, I hard press on the nozzle makes the foam come out quickly but that foam seems to be much lighter and more airy.  When you press lighter, you get a smaller stream, but it seems to expand less and be denser. I would say that the optimal use would be to press the nozzle harder, but move the can quickly and deliberately across your surface.  In the middle left of the picture above you can see where I tried to  use the end of the nozzle to stick two sides of the foam together to cover a hole - the only thing that happened was it made a clump of foam which stuck to the nozzle, tore out a section and dropped with a plop to the newspaper.  Lesson learned.

I will need at least another can for the underside, and possibly a third can for touch ups.

Back to Home Depot. 

We'll see what it looks like tomorrow when it's dry.