A short while after interning for Jamie I was asked back to help with another project, though this one wasn’t quite as big physically, it certainly was in terms of work load and difficulty. A complete body cast of glamour model Natasha Marley. This was an important project, not only for myself but also for Jamie, a full body cast, he informed me, was no mean feat. It required a massive amount of planning, and organising, not to mention materials which would go to waste at his expense if we didn't get it right first time. No pressure then.
We first set about building a rig for Natasha, due to her pose being a little awkward, it needed to support her enough to make the casting time bearable. It was also an important part of the casting phase, as we needed to take a mould in two parts, front and back, as this allowed us to lean her forward to cast her back without losing the shape of her front. We also added a small wooden wedge under her right foot as the pose meant she would otherwise be standing with her weight on her left foot for a considerable amount of time.
On crunch day we gathered in the small studio, all five of us, and prepared everything for the big jump. A lot of buckets, bags of alginate and plaster bandages were carefully laid out in optimum grabbing in a rush position. Natasha then arrived and after another few run throughs we were all ready for the real thing. The rest was a blur, after covering Natasha in moisturiser, a thick layer of alginate was applied to her front followed by a thin layer then red hot plaster bandages for support. There's nothing like red hot water to remind you how much skin your finger tips are missing after weeks of sanding. A flange was then added to the plaster and greased up with more moisturiser before the same process was then repeated on her back before she was finally released. The two parts were then screwed together and sealed with tissue paper so as not to lose any moisture before they were cast. Just the head left. The same process is observed with careful precision so as not to block off her breathing, and cling film used to cover her hair. Easy right?
Casting the moulds was another matter, the head was done using plasterline with fibreglass to give it support. As for the body we used a strange filler and resin mixture for the first layer followed by a layer of fibreglass for strength. Once dry the alginate and plaster was removed, leaving a positive likeness, though not perfect yet, of Natasha.