Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup: prosthetic noses

Print Page | Close Window

prosthetic noses

Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Props, Scenery, Costumes and Makeup
Forum Discription: For how-to's and where-can-I-find
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2590
Printed Date: 7/27/25 at 1:03am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: prosthetic noses

Posted By: neilfortin
Subject: prosthetic noses
Date Posted: 8/20/07 at 4:41pm

hey hey! We have started production on Cyrano De Bergerac and I was wondering what people's favorite companies were for prostheic facial peices?! We want one that is gonna hold up to rehersal, and the shows, and will pay more money for it than the 5.25 one i found online, assuming that with a larger price comes better quality. (Which I know is not always true!) Any help would be great! Thanks!

Neil

-------------
Community Theater makes us smile

Replies:

Posted By: Maus
Date Posted: 8/21/07 at 12:15pm

Hi Neil. Cinema Secrets (aka Woochie Labs) has good quality appliances at good prices ( http://store.cinemasecretsonline.com/woochie-noses.html - http://store.cinemasecretsonline.com/woochie-noses.html ). It's also not that hard to make your own latex nose, especially since the pre-made ones are "one size fits all" (NOT), and the blending edge of the appliance tends to degrade after a couple of uses. You can make as many as needed from the one mold. Hope this helps.

-- Tom

Posted By: neilfortin
Date Posted: 8/21/07 at 1:05pm

Thanks! For our recent production of a Funny Thing HOTWTTF we did a life cast of one of our actresses for the bust of her and it worked out great. I was thinking we could just do the same thing, but add more to our actors real nose before we did the cast, then we would have a mold to make as many as we wanted!

-------------
Community Theater makes us smile

Posted By: Maus
Date Posted: 8/21/07 at 3:29pm

Neil: it's better, IMO, to model the nose on a cast of the actors nose. That way you have better control of the quality of the model. There's a good example of this at http://www.fxsupply.com/prosthetics/nosep.html - http://www.fxsupply.com/prosthetics/nosep.html .

If you have Richard Corson's book "Stage Makeup", or can borrow it from a friend or the library, the technique is well-documented there also.

-- Tom

Posted By: neilfortin
Date Posted: 8/22/07 at 11:45am

Great i took a look on that site and they have so much, i have been using theaterfx.com which is great as well!

-------------
Community Theater makes us smile

Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 8/22/07 at 1:01pm

You can also use gelatin formulas though they are a bit more susceptible to sweat and heat. ALTHOUGH if you prepare properly you can get away with them and they are TRANSLUCENT unlike slush latex or foam latex and look more like real skin, can be colored with flocking, dry cake makeup powders, Illustrator palettes and more. You can use FOAMED GELATIN as well and they're a bit lighter but again opaque. And they apply and work like foam latex - almost. Same idea with Platgel 10 silicone gel filled appliances. Can be used - a bit more expensive but can be made in similar molds as foam latex molds although you have to avoid certain clays which might inhibit the cure in the final product. MANY things you can use.

By the way, I've used the Woochie products and they're not bad. As well there are MANY companies now selling foam latex appliances for this purpose - a very common use for Cyrano. They are again a little more expensive, one time use only unless you have a makeup artist that is second to none in application and removal of foam prosthetics, but they are lightweight, they perform beautifully and they're good to work with. I prefer silicone gel filled appliance or even straight silicone though it's a bit heavier but the OPTIMUM in life-like, flesh-like, realistic appliances owing to the fact they too are translucent and require minimal coloring to blend - assuming they're properly colored intrinsically when made.

Doing a life cast is the BEST way obviously. But unless you have a makeup artist who knows what they're doing - tutorials aside - it's not an overnight learning curve. Look I've been at this nearly 50 years and it's still a task to make good molds for this purpose and then KNOWING how to work with slush latex - if that's what you wind up doing - in order to have edges thin enough to vanish imperceptibly into the skin when glued down - something YOU NEVER GET from slush latex appliances. FOAM latex - yes, but NOT slush latex. And this business of hiding the edges with what is fondly known as BONDO which is a combination of Pros Aide medical grade prosthetic adhesive and Cab-O-Sil (fumed silica - dangerous to use) is a lesson in hiding mistakes and I just don't deal in mistakes in my work. That's why I like the silicone gel-filled appliances in Platgel 10 by Polytek. GREAT stuff, easy to work with, 1:1 in most cases (except the gel to fill the encapsulating layers) and best look overall.

Anyway good luck. I DO hope you post pictures when you decide and when you get this accomplished. We'd all be interested to see how it turns out.

TonyDi

aka FXMan. MUA; Director

S.A.P.S.E.M.A.

(Society of Amateur and Professional

Special Effects Makeup Artists)

By the way I meant to also say that if you decide to go with Woochie noses, let me know and I'll send you a few I have - brand new, never used, still in package. THE FIT is close on my big schnoz but it varies from user to user. Anyway, if you want them I'll give them to you. I have no use for them. Bought on the cheap for a project years ago where there was NO budget for lifecasts, and custom made appliances. I think I may have about 3, maybe 4 of them, or maybe even more, not sure. I'd have to check.

-------------
"Almost famous"

Posted By: neilfortin
Date Posted: 8/23/07 at 8:57am

Hey TonyDi! Thanks for the information. We recently tried our hand at a facial life cast, not to make a mask out of, but to actually build the plaster mold into someting that resembled a statue, there is a picture on here of it somehwere, when i posted pics of A Funny Thing..etc. It worked out pretty well for the first time of course having some fairly artistic friends we were able to render something that at least looked like our actress. If you do have some Woochie noses laying around just one would be fantastic, just so we can play around with it. We honestly have not even cast the show yet, just thinking about all peripheral edges while we get casting dates down! Thanks for your help!

-------------
Community Theater makes us smile

Posted By: TonyDi
Date Posted: 8/24/07 at 7:13am

Certainly do. PM me privately with an address to send it to and I'll get at least one shipped out to you. I ALSO have a mold I made myself at the time I used to create my own with. When it comes to slush latex noses it really doesn't matter anyway if you have a life cast of the person wearing it because there is a certain amount of shrinkage when latex cures, and slush latex appliances never fit well anyway - in addition to having edges that are darn near impossible to hide even ONE layer of latex. But I can tell you what I did for stage use - and this is a small theater where audience is fairly close. I glue the nose on VERY LIGHTLY (it was only on temporarily for about 10 minutes into the show) and the edges were covered in one of two ways. ONE way is to stipple some latex over the edge of the nose onto the face but that's risky because if you get latex onto the fleshy part of the skin at the sides of the nose, it has a tendency to wrinkle a bit - to say nothing of stippling latex near the eyes (if you use ammonia based latex it can cause the eyes to tear up). HOWEVER if you use a water based latex with no ammonia in it, it's better but still a bit risky.

What I have taken to doing is after lightly gluing the nose on and making sure the edges are as smooth as possible, the application of very small strips of DERMICEL TAPE (about 1/4" - 3/8ths" wide) - which is a paper medical tape available at your local drugstore (even Wal-Mart carries it), just apply it along the edge of the appliance. NOW I KNOW it shows a bit but for stage and especially when it's colored properly (rubber mask grease paint for latex), the paper tape really absorbs the color of the rubber mask grease paint and makes the edges almost disappear. The tape is easy to remove but really adheres very well to the skin (that's what it's supposed to do anyway since it is a medical grade tape though not as sticky to the touch as you might think it should be - but it DOES hold on well). If you have to have it on for the whole show I recommend CAREFULLY stippling latex along the edges of the nose appliance to hide the edges if you need to - which you likely will. Just don't carry the latex out onto the sides of the nose too far or it will wrinkle unnaturally.

IDEALLY foam latex noses, silicone gel-filled appliances specifically MADE for the person wearing them from molds made from their life cast is the BEST way. But economy rules often. And as I said, even the Woochie noses aren't bad. The thing that I didn't like is that they ARE a little longer than I wanted. I sort of wanted the LOOK but not the drastic length and it worked out well to just cast my own. They fit fairly well though "generic" noses in slush latex are a crap-shoot for fit anyway. But it did work.

Anyway so send me a mailing address and I'll get this Woochie out to you. I MAY have a latex nose I created and if I do I'll put that in there too and you can see the difference. NOT sure if I have one. I DO however, have the mold I made them in so that's a possibility for you as well. Then too if you just want to do the molding processes that's cool too. FUN to do but a bit of work and learning to make molds (NOTE DO NOT use Plaster of Paris - use either White Hydrocal or Ultracal 30). Plaster of Paris is WAY to WEAK and flaky. WHITE HYDROCAL is BEST because it absorbs the moisture out of the latex quite well. That's what is most often used in making masks out of.

If I can be of further help don't hesitate.

TonyDi

-------------
"Almost famous"