At first glance you may not think, but I’m an obsessed gamer geek.
The Mortal Kombat series was one of the first games I really got hooked on. I played Mortal Kombat 2 as a little girl for the first time and since that time I have tried all the sequels. I really loved Mortal Kombat 9 when they started the story from the beginning and the gaming experience developed so much – just like the characters. Mileena became so interesting and exciting with her twisted personality that she became my ultimate favourite (before her I preferred Liu Kang in almost all episodes).
After MK9, I was so happy when MKX was announced, I pre-ordered the game and could hardly wait for it to be released. I was also quite excited about the new Mileena – and when I saw the first preview images of her, I immediately decided to cosplay her. I was already planning the MK9 Mileena, but I wasn’t really sure about her extremely revealing suit – but with MKX my problem was solved. Mileena’s new outfit is more conservative than ever – and her body proportions are very realistic.
And her new face… Just wow! Finally, she’s got lips but still remained super scary. So I started my Mileena cosplay with her teeth – and this is how I made them:
~ Step 1:
I covered my face with transparent foil and drew the dimensions of the prothetics on it with permanent markers. Then using the foil I drafted the teeth on paper. (Sorry, I forgott o take pictures of this step.)
~ Step 2:
I scuplted the teeth from polymer clay (I used translucent white FIMO clay) then baked them according to the clay instructions.
After this I used my drawings to sculpt the gums from oil-based clay (I used white Newplast). This was the first time I used oil-based clay and I was totally amazed how easy it is to work with it. This is the best material to make sculpts for mold making. Oil-based clays are made from various combinations of oils, waxes, and clay minerals. Because the oils do not evaporate as does water, oil-based clays remain malleable even when left for long periods in dry environments.
This is how the clay gums look with the polymer clay teeths (or should I say fangs?)
~ Step 3
The fun part began with molding. I used professional gypsum (or Plaster of Paris) for the mold. I just placed the scuplts into a plastic dish, then used a brush to cover the surface of the scuplts with gypsum. Then I poured the gypsum mixed with water on them (the exact mixing ratio is always stated on the packaging of the plaster). I had to wait for less then 30 minutes for the mold to dry.
*TIP: after pouring the plaster into the dish you may hit the bottom of the dish gently to remove the bubbles
*CAUTION: never pour the excess plaster into your sink or drain - it may clog your pipes! Wait a bit until the gypsum dries in your dish then you can easily remove it and throw itt o the rubbish bin.
~ Step 4
After the gypsum/plaster had completely dried I removed the sculpts – but I left the polymer clay teeth in the mold.
~ Step 5
I used one-component liquid latex to cast the gums. I also used a brush first to cover the mold then poured the latex into the mold (remember, the polymer clay teeth remained in the mold). I let them set overnight.
~ Step 6
I could hardly wait the next morning to remove the latex prosthetics from the mold. I was so happy that they came out great! After removing the latex parts I also ’digged out’ the teeth from the mold.
~ Step 7
The last step was the painting work. I mixed up acrylic paint with some liquid latex and painted the flesh pieces. I also stained the teeth with some acrylic and varnished them to achieve a tooth-like effect. After this I glued the teeth into the latex parts with spirit gum.
And we’re done! Here is my first make-up test photo – I still need veneers and some professional make-up fixers, but I’m quite happy with the results.
