So, who else is working on a Crystal Skull?

[Tiki]

Aloha folks!

I've been eyeballing the crystal skull props myself. It looks to me like a clear resin skull cast around a clouded resin core. I am guessing that the cloudy cranial cavity is a separately cast piece done in a pearlescent clear resin. This piece is then placed in the crystal skull master mold (held in place with registration pins or by a cleverly designed sculpt - perhaps a "key" that goes up through the "spine hole" at the base of the skull (yes - I am not a doctor!). The skull itself would be easy to cast using a water clear casting urethane. We used a ton of it on the X-Files movie and I loved the stuff. Very easy to use and it was clear as glass. Didn't yellow either - in fact the famous "Water Tower" sculpture in New York is cast with the stuff. Simply mix, evacuate in vacuum chamber, and pour. Most likely they placed the entire mold in a vacuum chamber and poured it in a vacuum.
To get things totally clear you need a really smooth surface. If your sculpt wasn't ultra smooth, the casting would have a frosted surface. A great work-around for this is spraying on a thin coat of the urethane (or automotive clear coat).
Everyone in the shop was SO stoked when this clear urethane was developed. Lots of talk about how much work and heartache could have been saved making the clear Abyss aliens, Species monster, or the crystal skulls from the House movies if they had this stuff back then. It really opened up a lot of production possibilities at the time.
All this casting conjecture aside, I am sure that there will be an "officially licensed" skull on the market very soon.

Tiki

 

[Kylash]

I am sculpting a crystal skull, but OI am unsure of the size, it aspears to be a regular sizes skull but slightly longer on the side view. Does anyone have any pics that show scale?

My plan is to sculpt one of these and then mold it and vacuum cast it in crystal clear resin, maybe leaving some airbubbles in the cast, I will play around with it and see what i come up with.

theres a Indy boardgame that i believe has a picture on the front of indy running with it in his hand, looked pretty big.

 

[itsalive]

All this casting conjecture aside, I am sure that there will be an "officially licensed" skull on the market very soon.

Tiki

Exactly and more than likely produced off of castings from the props master mold. So whats the point then!

 

[Kylash]

we want one now

 

[southreplicas]

... and don´t forget that it happened a lot of times:
Oficially lisenced replicas are most of the times less accurate than fan made replicas.
On the other hand, I love sculpting...:angel

Regards,

 

[CTF]

Indy holding the skull:

 

[tk1055]

I am sculpting a crystal skull, but OI am unsure of the size, it aspears to be a regular sizes skull but slightly longer on the side view. Does anyone have any pics that show scale?

My plan is to sculpt one of these and then mold it and vacuum cast it in crystal clear resin, maybe leaving some airbubbles in the cast, I will play around with it and see what i come up with.

according to Indy's lost diary it appears to be 5 inches high, 7 inches long, and 5 inches wide. If anyone can do one cheaply let me know!!

 

[DocTony]

according to Indy's lost diary it appears to be 5 inches high, 7 inches long, and 5 inches wide. If anyone can do one cheaply let me know!!

The picture above your post looks a lot bigger than those mesurements

 

[Kylash]

The picture above your post looks a lot bigger than those mesurements

comparing that phot with the painting on the boardgame box, the picture on the box appears accurate, which does look pretty large.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

Here is are a few good shots for size comparison:

Kind regards,
Magnoli

 

[southreplicas]

... If anyone can do one cheaply let me know!!

As I said, I can do it if anyone else can do the castings.

 

[Ramiel]

As I said, I can do it if anyone else can do the castings.

Knowing your skills I'm really curious to see how it will look like!

 

[YenChih Lin]

It really looks like someone just spun something around in the mold when the resin was being poured. It is almost a complete circular motion with the trapped air bubbles.

I am working on a crystal skull, but not this one . Mine is going to be a bit more "human" looking. Also, clear. The crystal factory can't do the bubble/quartz inclusion effect that the prop shops can.

Chris

Haaa! I wondered when "Captain Crystal" aka hydin aka Chris chimes in lol

 

[Stormer]

Haaa! I wondered when "Captain Crystal" aka hydin aka Chris chimes in lol

i was wondering the same thing, although this seems way to complicated to actually reproduce in actual crystal. and WAY out of my price range if it actually were:cry

 

[TMP]

If you take a thin transparent foil and wrinkle it up and place it inside the transparent head you will get that effect. Its like the foil used to wrap arround food or foil thats used for giftwrapping both can make a very similar effect.

 

[stapleton13]

the casting would have to be heavily buffed and polished with power tools, not hand.

You could always put a thin clear coat over it to bring the surface to a shine after the imperfections are sanded out.

 

[tk1055]

Here is my crude try. I was going from the dimensions in the Lost Diary of Indiana Jones. I would say its about 1/2 the size it should be. Oh well It will do.

 

[propcollector]

ok lets do one of these......I want one....who else wants one, southreplicas said he would do it. southreplicas can you do these at a low cost?

 

[ToNIC]

I definitely would buy one, too, if it would be huge and spooky like in the movie :angel

 

[southreplicas]

ok lets do one of these......I want one....who else wants one, southreplicas said he would do it. southreplicas can you do these at a low cost?

Yes, I can sculpt it. The problem is I had bad experiences with clear resins.
If someone else do the casting I am in!