ISSUE 41 : WORKSHOPS

How To Make Dental Fang Caps

Fang Tutorial by FX WAREHOUSE INC.
The Professional's Choice for Make Up With Attitude

These are the same Fangs used in the movies. They will look natural. People wearing cosmetic caps or crowns should NOT use these.

This is the equipment we used:

  • Dental Alginate - 3 minute set
  • Upper Dental Tray
  • Dental Acrylic Powder  (we used #59 shade)
  • Dental Acrylic Monomer (liquid activator)
  • Dental Foil Separator
  • Dental Labstone
  • Klean Klay
  • Dental Base Former
  • Plastic Pipette (eyedropper)
  • 2 small graduated cups for
  • measuring the alginate and water
  • Mixing bowl and spatula
  • Latex gloves
  • Scultping tools - Minarettes
  • work nicely
  • Dremel tool
  • Safety glasses

For a permanent Silicone Mold also used were:

  • Mold Silicone Tin Based
  • Large cup or container
  • Glue gun
  • Tongue depressor for mixing

Read all the instructions before you begin. We suggest working in a well ventilated area, as the Dental Monomer is pretty strong. Lay all your materials out on a protected surface so you're ready for each step.

Always wear gloves when you are working with body fluids in the mouth. Wearing gloves also keeps your hands clean and ready to work on the next part of the project. Wear safety glasses. You don't want to get any acrylic or labstone in your eyes.

Show the person you will be making fangs for what they should expect. Let them try a dental tray on for fit. Use a different tray for each person. They're cheap enough that you can buy a few. They're meant to be disposable.

If you've never worked with these type of materials before, you might want to mix up just a bit of each to see how they work before you take on your project.

 

Mixing the Alginate

Measure 2oz. of alginate and place in mixing bowl. Add to that 2oz of water. You have 3 minutes from the time the water hits the alginate until it sets up - plenty of time to mix it well and get your impression. It will appear a bit lumpy, but that's the way dental alginate mixes; don't worry.

 

Filling the Tray

Scoop the alginate into the dental tray. Don't overfill it, as you don't want to make the victim gag on excess. Since we're only doing fangs and not a full set, fill the whole tray, but don't overload where the back teeth will go. Fill up to the rim of the tray to include the fronts up to about the 4th or 5th tooth. Make sure there's enough in the tray to cover the front gums, as well. I usually mix my alginate about 1 Ω minutes, which leaves the person with only a minute or so to get it situated before it sets up.

 

Taking the Impression

The tray has been loaded (remember the 3minute set time). Let the person place it in their mouth. They'll need to sit still until it sets. You'll know when the alginate is set, as it will feel like a solid in the bowl, and you can pull it away from the sides in one piece. Carefully and slowly remove the alginate filled tray from the mouth. It might feel stuck, but that's just from the suction. It will eventually come out easily.

 

How Did It Turn Out

Check the impression on the teeth you will be making fangs on. Not everyone gets a good impression on the first try. Place the impression, still in the tray, in a bowl of water to keep it fresh. Do not wait to make your plaster positive. Alginate will start to shrink in about an hour, so your positive needs to be made right away. Also, if there is part of the plastic tray showing through in the middle (not rims), brush a little petroleum jelly there so the plastic won't stick to the Labstone you'll be making in your next step.

 

Mixing the Labstone

Put about 3oz. of water in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the same amount of Dental Labstone to the water. You'll know you've added enough stone when the top looks like a dry river bed. Then mix to a creamy consistency. You have about 20 minutes before the stone sets.

 

Making a Positive Mold

Dry the alginate impression and slowly fill it with labstone. You want to get into each crevice. Be careful not to trap air in the impression. Gently tap the bottom of the tray as you fill, so any trapped air bubbles will rise to the top. If you're using a Dental Base Former, fill that as well. If you're not using a Base Former, just wait until the labstone thickens a bit; then put a small pile of it on the table surface to form a base for your labstone positive. Wait several minutes for the labstone to thicken a bit; then lay the filled impression tray upside down on top of the setting plaster form. Wait about an hour before you pull the alginate off. Plaster takes days to fully set, so you want to give it a little time to strengthen before you pull it apart. You now have a plaster positive of your teeth. File the edges down to make a smooth working cast.

 

Sculpting the Fangs

Brush the entire mold with the dental foil separator. Let it dry. This will keep the acrylic from sticking to the mold. Sculpt the fangs you want on the plaster mold. They don't have to be perfect, as you will be filing the finished product down to perfection. But the closest you can get to the fangs you want, the less work you'll be doing on them after they're cast. Take a small piece of Klean Klay, roll it into an oblong and press over the tooth. Make sure you cover the back of the tooth, as

well. After all, these will be caps. Make sure the cover is not too thick in the back of the tooth, and just enough in the front, to give it shape. If you make the fangs too bulky, they'll be uncomfortable to wear.

 

Making a Negative Alginate Mold

You'll be making either a temporary mold of the fangs with alginate, or a permanent one to be used many times with silicone. First, I'll show you the one with alginate.

Take 2oz of alginate and 2oz of water; mix up a small batch. Overfill the dental tray you've already used. Then carefully, slowly and not too tightly, place the plaster mold with the sculpted teeth into the alginate, down to and including, part of the gums. After it sets, pull the cured alginate- filled tray off the plaster cast. Clean the clay off the cast, and brush some dental foil separator onto those teeth that are now exposed and clean. Let it dry a few minutes.

 

Making a Silicone Mold Instead of an Alginate Mold

Get a large paper cup or container. Use a hot glue gun to glue the Labstone Plaster cast with the sculpted fangs to the bottom of the container. Make sure the container is tall enough, so when you fill it, the tips of the fangs will be covered by at least 1⁄2 inch. Again, wear gloves and put plastic on the working surface.

Mixing silicone is easy. You can use regular tin Mold Silicone, along with a marked, graduated cup to pour out the components. It's best to weigh them, however, using a gram scale. Depending on your container size, you'll mix up different size batches. You might start with 10 oz. of Part A, which is the white base. Add 1 oz. of Part B, the activator. It's a 10 to 1 ratio on most silicones, but check your instructions to be sure. The silicone used for this story has a pot life of about 35 minutes,which is plenty of time to mix and pour. With a tongue depressor thoroughly mix the silicone. You'll know it's mix when the the mixture becomes one color.

Pour the silicone slowly and in a thin stream to about 6 to 8 inches above the container with the plaster cast. This will help keep air bubbles from being trapped inside the mold. Cover the sculpts completely, adding about 1⁄2 inch more. Hitting the table with your fist and jarring the mold will also help the bubbles rise to the top of the mold to make a more solid pour. Let it cure. Most silicones will take 16 to 24 hours before you can pull the piece. In this case, it took only about 6 hours, since it has a faster setting catalyst. That's it! Cut the container apart and pull the mold away from the plaster cast carefully. Then continue with the following steps in the same way you would if you used alginate. This one, however, can be used many more times.

 

Using Dental Acrylic and Making Fangs

Now it's time to fill the alginate mold you just made with dental acrylic. Squeeze in enough white acrylic powder to fill the fang cavity. With an eye dropper or pipette, add a couple drops of the dental liquid. Mix the two together, using a small tool or a tongue depressor cut to a point. Be careful not to tear the alginate. It will mix easily. If you need to, add more powder or liquid. Overfill the cavity as necessary; any excess will be filed off later, after it cures.

You have only a few minutes before the dental acrylic sets, so you will need to place the plaster mold of the teeth into the alginate side where you mixed the acrylic as soon as possible. Hold the molds tightly together for about 10 - 15 minutes. You want to make sure the acrylic is totally cured. Then pull the molds apart and pull out your fangs.

 

Cleaning and Shaping the Fangs

Using a dremel tool or small file, clean up the edges and file down the back or front of the fangs as needed. Fit the fangs. If they feel loose, you can add a little more acrylic inside and have the person put them on while it's still liquid. Also, you can use Denture grip when wearing them.

Buff them up with the dremel tool. For a nice shiny look, brush the fangs with clear nail polish. Warning: wait at least one day after applying the nail polish.

Note: We sell a complete Fang Kit on our website and at our retail shop. The white acrylic powder included in the kit is shade 59, which is the color of most people's teeth. To make them darker, you can wear them while drinking coffee or tea, or when smoking. You can also drop them in a weak tea solution for a little while to darken them.

These fangs should fit comfortably and well enough for you to be able to wear them for hours. Don't bite anyone, though! They will puncture skin. These fangs are made of the same materials dentists use for regular false teeth.

 

This Fang Tutorial brought to you by:

FX WAREHOUSE INC.
The Professional's Choice for Make Up With Attitude
online: www.fangkits.com
phone: 386-254-0497

 

Calhaunts: If You Build It They Will SCREAM!

By Chris DeVaux

Arriving at what surely must be the Southern California home of Tom Henke and Monica DiFranco, I got out of my car and approached the front door. Yes, judging from the black-clad ghoul floating above the entryway on a March morning, this must be the right place. What’s going on? It’s another gathering of CalHauntS!

T he concept began early in 2004 with the formation of a ladies-only group called The Southern California Ladies’ Haunting Society; an organization of women interested in pursuing Halloween related projects at monthly meetings. By the second and third of these meetings, it became apparent that something was missing. The members were passionate about Halloween and haunting, but it was decided that a larger pool of knowledge, particularly in the areas of electronics and mechanical engineering, would be helpful for some of the projects envisioned for the future. Group co-founders Deveron Shudic (Lady Kit) and Myranda Marsh (The Castle Witch) got together and decided it would help to go coed. To do this the group needed a new name. Debbie Valenta (Jersey She-Devil) a third founder of the group suggested the slightly altered: The California Haunting Society or CalHauntS for short, and the name stuck like monster mud to burlap.

Gatherings of haunters are nothing new, but what is unique about CalHauntS is that the gatherings occur every month, and every meeting (except November’s video review and social) is a workshop…a "make ‘n’ take" workshop where members build something themselves and take it home with them that evening. Each of the projects are items that the members can use in their own haunts or yard displays. A volunteer instructor rounds up materials before the meeting, issues print-outs as needed and leads the session instructing the group step by step. Some members learn new skills and the rest have the opportunity to do a little mentoring to others in the group.

Another unique aspect of CalHauntS is its lack of formal structure. There is no president, no secretary, no treasurer and, in fact, no treasury. Workshops are pay-as-you-go in every way. Food and drink are brought potluck by members, the materials for the day’s project are purchased by the instructor(s) and sold to members at cost, and donated items are given out through a drawing as door prizes, not raffled off as a fund raiser. This complete lack of communal funds, it turns out, eliminates most of the politics that might be found in other club structures. Virtually the only decisions that need to be made are where to meet next, what cool prop or tool to build and who’s going to show how it’s done! To be sure, every group needs a few movers and shakers, and CalHauntS’ three founders serve this purpose well.

A typical gathering starts with members filtering in around the appointed time, dropping off their potluck offerings, filling out nametags and door prize slips and getting caught up with friends. When it seems like all are assembled, one or more of the founders will address the group, reminding them of upcoming projects for the next month or two and soliciting ideas for the future. Projects, supply sources and volunteer instructors are as apt to come together via CalHauntS’ Yahoo message board, where members hang out the rest of the month, as they are at the meetings. Then door prizes are given away, the instructor for the day is introduced and the project gets under way. In the summer of 2004, Myranda came up with an additional activity that she dubbed "speed demos", where members may take five or ten minutes to show a prop they have made and explain something about how it was done. Members are also encouraged to bring photos from their haunts and their favorite props even if they don’t choose to do a demo. These "show-and-tell" items can and do become subjects for future workshops.

The make ‘n’ takes usually take from four to six hours, with members from as far south as San Diego and as far north as Santa Barbara attending, but most participants live within an hour’s drive. Thirty or so haunters has proven to be about the maximum number that can be taught effectively in the average private home, so if attendance rises, a muti-purpose room or other larger venue would need to be pursued. So far this has not been necessary.

To date, projects have included: web spinners, web shooters, home-brew foam cutters, talking skulls, corpsification, gravestones and proper applications and wiring for LEDs. The talking skulls were built over two sessions; one to solder the components in place and test each board, the other to modify the skulls, mount the servos and linkages and test the jaw movements with a sample voice recording. Upcoming workshops include flying crank ghost mechanisms and armatures for automated movement, with a long list of potential projects for the months beyond.

In February of this year, CalHauntS volunteered to host the Meat ‘n’ Greet the night before the DeathFest Haunters’ Convention owned by Wil Schock (to be renamed Haunt-X for 2006) in Santa Maria, CA. This exposure spread the word amongst the participants there about all the fun the group is having, and has led to the recent formation of a similar workshop group in Northern California that calls itself CalHauntS Nor Cal. Its first workshop, wardrobe distressing, took place this past April. Following the model of the original, CalHauntS Nor Cal consists of three founders: Sherri Morgan, Sandy Kimball ("Furby") and Eric Cheatham ("LoveMonk"), with about thirty members having signed on less than a week after the group’s inception. It really isn’t practical for folks to drive many hours for an afternoon project, so in a state the size of California, the the logical solution was to have more than one group!

As this day drew to a close, and I bid farewell to our hosts, Monica and Tom, I took with me my very own lighting circuitry project taught by our instructor Dave Hogan ("Grim Dave"), and some newly acquired knowledge of Basic Stamp microprocessor programming courtesy of member Terry Simmons ("Scary Terry") and his son Kyle Simmons. A small group of die-hards were reluctant to leave, excitedly discussing the following month’s workshop and, as it happens, the one year anniversary of CalHauntS.

For more information, please write to: LadyKit@kitshauntedcastle.com or check out the organizations’ websites at www.calhaunts.org for the original Southern California group, and www.calhaunts.com for Northern California.

Chris DeVaux is co-creator of The Ranch House Mortuary, a home haunt in Santa Barbara, California. He can be reached at coachman73@aol.com