Applying Prosthetics into Hairline

Applying Prosthetics into the Hairline

The perfect example of that dedication is Denis O’Hare’s Larry Harvey, a character who’s been badly burned over most of his face and body.

“A lot of people wouldn’t be very excited about sitting in a chair for three and a half hours,” Mekash said, “getting their hair glued down and not being able to hear out of one ear or have tape pulling down on their lip. But Denis loves it. When I’m taping his lip down, he’s always saying, ‘Pull farther; I like it extreme!’

Denis O’Hare and Mike Mekash

“There’s one piece that covers the side of his head up to his hairline and a second piece that goes from the nose over to the ear. We have a piece that goes on his lower lip to separate those two silicone appliances because of ripping and the mouth stretching. And then there’s the hand piece; we basically glue his pinky and tape his wrist down in the most uncomfortable position possible. And then we wrap the silicone appliance around his hand, put a couple of transfers on his knuckles. From there, it’s just a paint job and Monte Haught puts the hairpiece on. So there’s no movement in Denis’ left hand, he can’t hear out of his left ear and he’s got a scleral lens in his left eye. It’s amazing that he doesn’t run into stuff on set!”

Larry Harvey - American Horror Story

Advice From Kristyan Mallett

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When Kristyan Mallett came to visit AUB, during the Q&A I asked him about his method of applying prosthetics into hair, and he said to use telesis or gafquat and work out where in the hairline the prosthetic precisely and then brush the hair that will be covered all towards where the centre of the prosthetic will be.

Then use telesis to apply the prosthetic, you will not be able to blend out the edges into the hair every well, so it is better to have a minimal amount of flashing on this edge.

Once the prosthetic is applied, then carefully lay hair over the edge to cover it.

Adhesive to Use

- Kristyans advice for sticking prosthetics into the hair or over the eyebrows is to use Telesis over prosaide, as it is easier to remove.

Gafquat is the brand name for Polyquaternium-11, which is a water-soluble copolymer. It is the primary active ingredients in many hair products such as mousses, gels, and hairsprays. In special effects makeup, Gafquat is used to hold down hair under bald caps or wigs. Extreme hair flattener. Good for using to shape the hair, especially for body painting. It dries hard and will wash out with shampoo.

Gaf Quat

Materials

There are a few different ways to flatten the hair down, mostly this is used for bald cap applications, but also works for applying prosthetics, or paint into the hair.

H-10

Recipe

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Telesis

(Alternative) Methods

Examples of this technique by Odd Studio

An example of this technique is shown in American Horror Story, where they have used silicone prosthetics in the hair and then applied a postiche hair piece over the top to cover the edges.

Best options to apply prosthetics, either Telesis 5, with a thinner.

Just as strong, but with longer working time, is Telesis 7, which is a newer product which is becoming more and more popular.

The method below is taking from Stuart Bray's online blog. In this post he created a burn makeup with gelatine directly applied to the skin. But he flattened the hair down with gafquat using spatulas. It is a very effective method, especially with long hair. However I think I will try to be more precise with my application and use a smaller tool.

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As I mentioned earlier in this blog, i really want to create a makeup that goes into the hairline, I believe that it is an appropriate amount of risk-taking for a 20 credit unit. I like how simple Odd Studio make this technique look, and how they have shared their whole process on their website.

Below are the photos from this. it shows how they have sculpted the makeup, notice the pores and the texture they have used in the clay.

I think that it is important to note how they have life cast the whole head to sculpt onto so that the prosthetic fits the model exactly.

You can see in the sculpt how it comes just below the model's hairline, I think that this is to make sure that there is enough material to cover the models hair and head, and also to confuse the audience, and trick their eye to where the edge is.

Talking about edges, I am not sure of the moulding process of this makeup, but the edge is almost invisible, if I didn't know it was a makeup, I would have thought this was real. I think that the paint job was partly the reason for this.

It is interesting to note that the artists have left it unpainted on application, so that they can really match the skin tone on application. the prosthetic is also a little lighter than the models skin colour, so they can paint it up, which is easier to do than paint it to look lighter, especially when they have also used an airbrush to really subtly paint the piece to look like a shaved head. I have never seen this before, I am sure they have used some mottles and splattering in this paint job also, but its fantastic.

Lastly the piece is laid over the model's real hair, and it is assumed that there is a hairpiece covering the edge in the hair, but it is not obvious. I will need to do some more research into this.