Work in progress: a 1:1 scale Neanderthal facial reconstruction, specifically based on Guattari 1 (a really beautiful and well-photographed specimen, just wonderful to look at). I started by modelling the facial bones in Sculpey on top of a plastic mask, and once that got to an acceptable point I realized "I don't trust that to bake without a hitch and even if I did, that's a lot of clay to use up in one project", so I opted to create a cast of it instead.
To this end, I mixed resin and dryer lint in very small batches and laid it bit by bit on the clay, and in later stages I laid resin-soaked peices of paper towel over that. This formed a thin but fairly sturdy shell, which I am now removing the clay from.
My next move, once the shell/mold is completely clean, will be to figure out what material I'm using for the final bony element. It has to be something that cures completely rigid, picks up every detail, can be removed from the mold without falling apart, and can do all this with a reasonably small amount of it. While I'm mulling that over, in the meantime I've been working on the eyeballs and experimenting with a Mod Podge mixture (and texturing methods thereof) to use as the skin. I also need to remake and finalize the teeth, since those got damaged along the way.
