How I Made My Cardassian Prosthetics

how did you make those holy shit!!!

jfjskdk okay I'll take any excuse I get to talk abt this more

How I made my Cardassian prosthetics

Picture of a cosplayer dressed as Garak from DS9, cropped to above the shoulders. Their face is painted gray, with the characteristic Cardassian ridges, blue eyes, and black hair. They're wearing a red shirt with copper and black accents.

Disclaimer: I'm no expert, it's my first time doing this!! All the resources I used can be found online. In fact, here's a playlist of all the youtube videos I followed, in case you don't want to read the whole post. You can pretty much make any facial prosthetics following these steps, not just Cardassian ones.

What you'll need:

Materials on a desk. A bottle of liquid latex, a cube of gray modeling clay, a roll of plaster bandages, and a bag of white powder (which is plaster of Paris).

Plaster bandages, plaster of Paris (a lot more than is pictured here), modeling clay, and liquid latex. You'll also need some things you probably already have around the house, like vaseline (or cooking oil), plastic wrap, wood glue, rubbing alcohol, q-tips, cotton balls, and setting powder (or baby powder).

Step 1: Face cast

A selfie cropped to above the shoulders. The person's face is completely covered in white plaster bandages, leaving only the eyes showing. They're holding up a peace sign.

The goal here is to make a plaster copy of your face that you can sculpt your prosthetics on, by covering your face with plaster bandages and then casting that in plaster of Paris. This is the video tutorial I followed for this step. There are many methods, and you'll find tutorials for all of them on youtube, but this is the easiest way if you're doing it by yourself, and it results in a perfectly useable face cast for our purposes. And, if you're cosplaying Garak like me, it's a great way to get into character by experiencing claustrophobia for the first time in your life!! (Jk it's not actually that bad. I lived.)

The video explains the process better than I could, but here's some tips I learned from doing it! Wear a shirt that you don't mind ruining. Go a bit closer to your eyes than I did here. When you're propping up your mask in a bowl, make sure you're not squishing any parts of it or tilting it! I ended up with a dent in the chin of my face cast because I accidentally dented the mask while I was casting it. And make sure you have enough plaster of Paris! I probably used 2-3 pounds for this part. Here's what I ended up with, before sanding or sealing it with wood glue:

A plaster face cast on a desk. It's a replica of a face, but flat where the eyes should be, white and gray with a rough texture.

Step 2: Sculpting

The same face cast from the previous photo, now with Cardassian ridges sculpted on it with white modeling clay. It's laying on blue bedsheets.

This is pretty self explanatory, but also probably the hardest part. Just use lots and lots of reference photos. I've got a pretty good stash for Garak, if anyone's interested hdjkfhk. I found that gifs made better references than still photos, since they give you a better sense of the 3D shape. You want to make sure you're using modeling clay that doesn't dry. You don't need any fancy sculpting tools! I used my trusty palette knife to get the small details, but you could probably accomplish the same thing with, like, a spoon and a toothpick. It depends on what kind of clay you're using, but you can dip your finger in a solvent to smooth out the surface of the clay and blend the edges into the face cast. I used rubbing alcohol, but I also heard people recommend acetone. Once you're happy with your sculpt, you can move onto the next step!

Step 3: Casting negatives

The face cast, now with a cylindrical wall of clay built around the nose. Within the wall is a white liquid. The face cast is propped up on a book, with a carton behind it that reads "plaster of Paris."

This step is technically optional. The video I followed also outlines an easier way that skips this step, by simply building your prosthetics directly on the sculpt. But casting negatives allows you to get a lot more fine detail, and a smoother finish on the final prosthetics, so that's what I chose to do. Basically, you pour plaster of Paris over your sculpt, and it hardens into a mold you can use to build your prosthetics on.

Again, the video explains it better, but some tips! If it's possible with your sculpt, do it in small pieces instead of the whole face at once. I did the chin, nose, and forehead separately. If you try to do the whole face, there's a greater chance of it getting stuck or breaking. Of course, if you were doing, say, Odo, then it might not be possible to do it in multiple pieces. Another thing to watch out for:

A screenshot from a youtube video. It shows a face cast in profile on a table, with clay on it sculpted into the shape of a hooked nose and pronounced chin. The shape of the underlying face cast is digitally outlined in white, with arrows pointing to below the nose, lips, and chin. Overlaid text reads, "Potential undercut areas." The video is titled "Makeup Effects Tutorial: Silicone Prosthetic Mold" and is by the channel "Brick In The Yard Mold Supply."

If your underlying face cast has any "undercuts," or places where it's, like, concave, then if plaster gets into those areas and hardens, your face cast and your negatives will lock together, and you won't be able to use either of them. For me I was worried about the sides of my nose and under my bottom lip. As long as those parts are filled in with clay, then you should be fine. It's okay if your clay sculpt has undercuts! You can see in the (shamelessly stolen) diagram that their sculpt has a lot of undercuts, but that's okay because the clay is soft and won't lock with the plaster, it'll just come off. The video I got the diagram from was also pretty helpful, even if it's meant for casting with different materials than I used. Here are the completed negatives:

Three chunks of off-white plaster laying on blue bedsheets. They're shaped like a face with Cardassian ridges, but concave. The forehead and eyes are one piece, the nose is another, and the chin is the third.

Step 4: Making the prosthetics!

Now you have negatives! Your sculpt may or may not be intact, but if your negatives turned out okay then that's fine. This step is also covered in the video for step 3. Using a stippling sponge, foam brush, or q-tip, stipple thin layers of liquid latex onto your negatives. I found that a q-tip worked best, even if it took longer to cover larger areas. Make sure the edges are very thin, so you can blend them into your skin when you apply the prosthetics. Wait for a layer to dry before adding more latex on top of it, or you'll end up with fucked up results like I had:

An off-white latex prosthetic appliance shaped like a Cardassian chin, held up by a hand. Parts of the chin appear dented and wrinkled.
A similar latex prosthetic, but without any dents or wrinkles.

(Left: first draft, where I didn't let it dry enough before layering more. Right: second draft. Much better!)

Build up bulky areas with pieces of cotton balls, then cover the cotton with a thin layer of latex. Emphasis on thin! It'll take forever to dry if you saturate your cotton with too much latex. This step mostly involves a LOT of waiting. When the latex is fully dry, brush everything with a liberal amount of setting powder or baby powder to prevent the latex from sticking to itself as you peel it out of the mold.

Latex Cardassian prosthetics laid out on blue bedsheets. The forehead, with the central spoon and ocular ridges. The nose, with ridges running vertically up the center. The chin, with two sharp ridges creating a cleft shape.

And now you have your prosthetics! You can tear away some of the excess latex at the edges to make it fit your face better. I ended up tearing away almost all of the edges around the eye ridges, so it would blend better and I wouldn't have to get adhesive so close to my eyes. Tear, don't cut! It'll result in a more natural edge that's easier to blend. This video shows how to apply prosthetics. Use whatever prosthetic adhesive you want! I used spirit gum because it's what I had on hand.

Now you can go forth and live out your lizard alien dreams!!

A professional photograph of the same Garak cosplayer from the first image next to Andy Robinson. Andy has his arm around the cosplayer, pointing at them with his other hand, his eyebrows raised. The cosplayer is smiling giddily. They're wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with copper and black accents and a wide fabric belt, and matching red pants. Andy is wearing a light blue button-down shirt over a black t-shirt and khaki pants. The background is solid purple.

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Okay so I saw atsv recently and while I love reading everyone’s takes on the art styles, I have to bring up the music

I’m a pretty basic music nerd with minimal theory study, but I’ve taken to just playing the soundtrack. (I’m referencing specifically the Metro soundtrack, I prefer songs with lyrics, but I’m positive this will apply to the other soundtrack too, the crew of spider verse are that amazing) And in doing so, I just need to bring up how carefully these songs are constructed??

See, backing track songs need to be subtle. That’s what (in my experience) can make them boring or difficult to compose - how do you make something interesting but able to blend in? But these people, they’ve just - pulled back layers?? And spread them out???? Rarely is there more than about 3 things happening at any one point in the songs, and it means they can pack so much into them. And more than that, it gives them room to give every song a style, a reference and a character to link them to!

Take ‘Hummingbird’, for example: it’s the song that plays when Gwen opens the portal above Miles’ bed. Then compare it to ‘Sunflower’, from the original movie. The artists are completely different, the tone of the movie has changed entirely, but the songs mirror each other!! The way the vocals have a little flick (flick? Reach??) at the end, the bass and trap in the background, heck, even the emotions they convey! Miles, in each instance, is at a turning point, whether he is aware of it or not.

But the composers haven’t just decided to mimic Miles’ song from the original song - they’ve dampened it to fit the tone of the movie. The trap beat and pulses are muted, and the vocals are slightly subdued. And of course, the lyrics are very different. They are both about love, but one is optimistic, and one is resigned. GOD these people!!

And it’s like this with basically every song I’ve come across! While a lot of the characters have less (or nothing) to compare to, the composers have put bits and pieces in to make the characterisations and emotions peak through. Just look at the percussion in ‘Link Up’ (a mixture of the clicking from ‘Self-Love, which kinda was Gwen’s theme in the album, and the percussion from ‘Silk & Cologne’, which I think is supposed to be Miles’ family and their party (?)) which I took as showing Miles’ split between Gwen and the Spiders, and his family.

Just, this soundtrack has som much care and love stuffed into it. I don’t know how much this makes sense (It’s 3 AM), but I didn’t see anyone talking about it and that is a CRIME


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Hmmmnnnnrgh

Lookity look, I am an avid fan of what some may call “comic books.” I am also a fan of fanfiction.

I like to read the comics that inspire people to write! Comic books inspire writers inspire artists inspire comics inspire writers and on and on! It’s beautiful. The way the world is meant to be.

Anyway, that isn’t important. What is important is the blatant misunderstanding of Tim Drake’s parents.

Now look, I am with you one hundred percent if you want to make a story where Tim’s parent(s) is decent. That’s fun, I love those stories. But, at the same time, you have to understand that those are AU.

I haven’t read every single comic that Tim Drake has ever featured in, nor have I read every single comic either Jack or Janet Drake has featured in. What I have read, is quite a bit, so I will try my best to explain.

There’s a certain page going around from 90’s Young Justice where Tim is talking to his dad while his dad tries to make coffee. The whole scene is played as a joke, but also, it shows an important difference between Tim and the other members of Young Justice.

I don’t know if this will make sense, but we see a lot of parents in Young Justice. Cissie’s mom is trying to be better, while Cissie is making her work for her forgiveness. Cassie’s mom is pretty cool, she’s worried about her daughter but lets Cassie be a superhero because Cassie is brave and it makes her happy (and Cassie would’ve snuck out to do it if she wasn’t given permission).

Bart’s parents are in the future, but we see him hang out with Max a lot, and they have some realy touching moments of old man vs ADHD child. Kon hangs out with Superman, even though Superman is super uncomfortable around Kon, but we see Superman really try to make an effort to spend time with Kon and understand him.

Tim is a more difficult case.

We see Tim’s dad in the aforementioned page. That’s about it. Any other time family is brought up, Nightwing is his go-to for big bro and Batman is his parental figure. We get a reference to Tim’s dad when Bart says something about getting Tim in trouble with his dad and Tim thinks he’s talking about Jack before realizing he meant Batman.

But more than that, Jack doesn’t have any parental scenes with Tim. Bruce gets all of those. Bruce learns to ease up from being an overbearing parent, Bruce tells Tim he’s proud of him, Bruce spends hours at a computer trying to figure out what happened to Tim. Bruce gets the parental moments.

The panels with Jack in them make me uncomfortable, as someone who stays home to care for my mom. The whole scene is sort of like a joke, where Tim acts more like a father and Jack acts more like a son. That’s why you have the narrative positioning of Tim seated at the table, reading the newspaper, rambling about current events, not even having to look up to warn Jack that he’s about to drink rat poison. Jack is supposed to take the role of tired teenager, slow thinking, not really paying attention, wandering the kitchen. It’s a reversal of the typical father-son role you would see in movies or tv.

It’s making fun of Jack for being less grown up than his fifteen-year-old son.

It makes me uncomfortable because Tim acts as the caretaker in that scene. And, it’s hard to be your parent’s caretaker. It’s hard to see your parent act weird or childish. When Cissie’s mom acts self-destructive and childish, Cissie gets taken away by Child Protective Services. When Tim’s dad almost accidentally drinks rat poison, Tim is in charge of making sure he doesn’t. Do you get it? It’s hard to explain, I don’t know how to explain it… it just makes me feel uneasy.

Then, there’s the scene where Jack tears Tim’s tv off the wall and breaks it. That just is abuse. There’s no debate.

But there are subtle things in the comics. Tim becomes Robin and his parents don’t find out until after Janet has been dead for a few years. And it isn’t like Cassie and her mom, where her mom accepted that Cassie was going to fight crime, there isn’t much she can do to stop her, and so she would rather let her daughter go, because then Cassie trusts her enough to talk to her. She deems it more important for Cassie to trust her, and she knows Cassie is a reckless teenager, and she wants to keep that line open. So she lets Cassie go as long as Cassie tells her what’s happening. And we see how it affects Cassie’s mom, how scared she gets, how worried she is, how relieved she is when Cassie comes home because that means she’s safe.

Tim’s dad makes him give up Robin. He doesn’t think about Tim, he thinks about his idea of Tim. The Tim in his mind is a well-mannered young boy who studies and has a handful of friends. It doesn’t jibe with the reality that Tim is a well-mannered young boy who kicks criminals in the face and finds himself falling from tall heights worryingly often. Tim’s dad doesn’t understand why Tim wants to be Robin, and Tim has to push and push and push to be Robin again.

There’s little things. Tim was capable of jumping on the first flight to Hawaii with Alfred in World’s Finest Three, presumably he was gone for at least a day, and nobody was too concerned about it. Tim was turned into an adult in that age swap arc with the Young Justice, but we only ever see how he speaks with Bruce. Everyone else has a scene of them either confronting a loved one in their aged up or down form (Bart, Wally, Cassie) or has Superboy pretend to be him to talk to Lois (Superman). In fact, we see a scene like that where Bruce (Robin) makes Tim (Batman) talk to Commissioner Gordon. But, we never see Tim even think about confronting his dad like that.

Tim apparently has all the free time in the world to fight bad guys and almost die every other day, and people think his parents weren’t neglectful. When Tim’s dad does die, Tim gets adopted by Bruce, and sure, he says it hurt when Jack died, but he even said that he felt kind of empty about it. Then Bruce died, and he felt completely different, despite viewing them both as his fathers.

This is long and rambling, and I’m sorry, but I need you to understand that when people say Tim’s parents are abusive, they aren’t pulling it out of nowhere. Neglect is abuse. A kid having to take care of their parent with no one to take care of them is neglectful. Yelling and screaming and throwing things is abuse. Maybe Tim’s parents don’t leave physical scars, but they don’t treat him well. They aren’t good parents.


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thisisahyperfixationnow - Goddammit, what ninja turtle are you
Goddammit, what ninja turtle are you

Hi, Eli here. He/they, ADHD, and very gay, thanks

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