1. More eyebrow definition

2. More eye definition

3. Found some 60 grit sandpaper and a stiff sanding sponge and had a field day, sanding all around by hand.

4. Made jaw more steamline (tusk tubes obviously will be added towards the end once the head shape is properly established). Streamlined the neck a little.

I didn't think I could get this far; I was getting ready to trash this and start over, but it's actually starting to look like Darth Ugly....

I also couldn't help but start bringing up the right side to catch up with the left terms of shape and symmetry.

Funny I can see you making "mistakes" in the symmetry of the thing that are also visible on the screen used helmet... like the part of the nose with the nose ridges, looking very straight on the left side, but slightly curved on the left. Check this feature on the original... may not be as pronounced as yours... but definitely there!

Really coming forward. And really looking forward to see how you'll tackle the dome.

What I do at the end of each night is photograph the thing and look at it in Photoshop. I mirror the left side and apply it to the right, and then I can see what I need to do.

But I've also kind of wondered why I keep "morphing" this back to the OT type helmet. I have two theories. It's either because I've been exposed more to OT (I still do not own an MR ROTS nor have I seen one in person) or that the human brain processes symmetry differently.

If you take, say, a Don Post and look directly at it, it may look okay. But when you look at its reflection in the mirror, a lot of things may appear very skewed.

I was once told that when people look at pictures, the brain has the eye track from the lower left to the upper right. In theater, if an actor is to communicate the light-heartedness within them, they might walk from left stage to right. Conversely, if there is internal turmoil or struggle, they will walk from right of stage to left.

Dunno. I have to check frequently.

So a lot of sanding today, trying to make this more symmetrical. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting there.



I thought I'd take a moment to show you my new "shop". I was moved out of the garage by my landlord, who is turning the garage into a photography studio. This is my bench at the outside of the house. It was a little distressing at first having to adjust, but I'm actually getting used to it and am slowing regaining my productivity.

So here's what my bench looks like. Like everything I work on, it's a mess. But now most of my stuff are in big rubber containers, out of sight and out of mind. Undert his plank of wood is my dust box.

A lot of sanding, courtesy of 60 and 80 grit papers, both by hand as well as with power tools.

The eyes are starting to look more like each other, but I still have some more work to the right eye. This shot gives me hope: on the left is Darth Ugly which has the potential of being a very nice Vader mask. (As you can see, I had reshaped Darth Ugly's mouth to make it more true to the ANH style; a little more symmetrical but not perfectly so; the nose is off-center on the prop and more towards the left as you look at it.)

I am challenged with the thickness of the compound I used for "Casper" (right). It's become extremely heavy. I will have to get a bucket and try to soak out the rest of the clay. The weight makes it a challenge to hold and inspect it as I'm sanding it. I may have to forego the sanding box so I can get a closer look at the mask as I'm working on it.

One of the biggest challenges of having power tools is over-relying on them. They allow you to cover a lot of ground, but they do not take the place of finesse which are achieved by your own hands. A lack of patience will frustrate you. You will try to use an electric sander for areas that can only be done properly with hands and files.

For some reason, my files keep gunking up on this epoxy clay, so that is the only downside here. 60 grit sandpaper will eat through the stuff no problem, but having a metal brush to clear up the sandpaper will help extend its life.

There are still alot of foundational challenges here, lot of little dips and so forth that I'm going to have to sand carefully. The shape of the head is not yet final. I added some padding to the left side of the face as an experiment to see how it will look. I may end up padding this right side, or I may sand down the left side. I have not decided yet.

The upper cheeks, forward cheeks, mouth walls, eyes, nose, bridge of nose, chin triangle, etc. all need a lot of refinement, but the facemask is finally getting proportionately and aesthetically pleasing.

"Look... is that Charles Xavier?!"

The results of today's sanding. It still needs a lot of work.

THEN... and NOW!

Okay, it's "Then and Now" time! Let's see how far I've come!



The "THEN" shot on the left is from last week. So basically seven days ago, I was (to be quite honest) ready to throw in the towel. I wasn't sure this project would even work. But persistence has paid off. You may have noticed some significant structural changes. That's because I've had to either sand down or grind away and rebuild a lot of what you see here -- most notably the eyes, eyelids, eyebrows, nose, mouthwalls, cheek faces, etc.

THEN... and NOW



This shot has encouraged me to move forward. I was very worried that I'd have to abandon this project. Honestly, seven days ago, the mask looked like it was poured out of pancake mix. I'd almost turn it into a birthday cake, but nobody would want to eat it (I wouldn't blame them!)

As you can see, a lot of sanding had to be done, most notably to the left of the skull -- that side had to be sanded down. I also decided to "mute" the eyebrows so they're not so much sticking out but rather appear more like cutouts of the skull.

The nose had to be lowered. And the mouth had to be dremeled out. The chin was finally built out.

Also the neck has been built out but needs a lot of refinement still; I'll get there pretty soon. Because of the curved and irregular surface, it is difficult to sand, but not impossible. The more curved and uneven a surface is, the smaller the contact area will be with your sander. Then this problem is compounded by the fact that certain epoxies will gunk up your sandpaper. So here's a tip: keep an eye on your sandpaper.

Also, you saw a shot of my bench. I bought a sanding sponge, but that loses granules very quickly. However, I love how stiff it is, and how it forms over uneven surfaces, so before you use power tools, wrap some 60 grit sandpaper around it and sand away by hand. Once the surface is a bit more even, it will then allow the power tools to have a larger contact area.

Did that make sense?

The skull was built out section by section. I've seen people try to use a bicycle helmet or what not. I chose not to. I know I'm trying to be symmetrical but I find that many bike helmets don't have the proper curvature, and even if it did, it would look unnatural. There should be a natural flow of lines.

So I built the skull from scratch without aid of a geometric shape. The only downside I encountered is that because the epoxy clay sags under its own weight and takes a long time to cure, I put a thick application there so I could walk away and do something else. As a result, the facemask is extremely heavy. I may, at some point, have to dremel the interior to make it lighter. The goal isn't so much to make this wearable, as I'd rather cast this and work on that. This original will then serve as an "alpha template" so if I decide later on to change or modify something (e.g. because NoHumorMan points out some inaccuracy) I can correct my alpha template and make a casting, paint the casting up, and have fun!

That's it for tonight! I hope I'm doing okay....

My favorite -- lit from above, it creates some shadows that outdoor lighting has a hard time duplicating.

In an attempt to make this more symmetrical, I had a mirror handy to examine my progress. At times, I had the mirror at my eyebrows looking down at the facemask while having the sander in the other hand.

This morning I achieved the following:

1. Left side's jaw line ground down and was made more streamline

2. Neck "flare" on right ground down (did I subconsciously build in a neck flare? Golly!)

3. Neck on right contoured in to better echo the profile of the skull buldge on the left

4. Right whisker now ground in (refining this is going to be a major pain)

5. Mouth triangle looked skewed. Ground bottom (chin area)

6. Widened triangle (it was off-center and was throwing off my symmetry studies)

7. The eyes -- and this is the best part -- the right eye was smaller than the left. It was narrower and lacked the left eye's height. I was worried that I would have to add putty to build out the right side of the face and pad the eyebrows and make the hole larger. But that proved not to be the case. Phew!

Some observations:

The cheek corners are not quite symmetrical. The left is pointed downward while the right is pointed upward, kind of like the original ANH prop. This was unintentional. This was a natural byproduct of my using the sander as someone right handed; it's difficult to get that "swoop" curve to the left side of the face with your right hand; it's not as well controled a motion.

Do you EVER sleep?

Nice progress CS!

I think you ground down the upper edge of the left cheek too much, but otherwise looking good!