Prosthetic Pregnancy Belly

[mprego2]

OK, so you all should know of this movie, right?



Well, when I was looking around the archives of this one recently closed gainer site, I found something VERY interesting, which I somehow overlooked, lol! They had a collage of pics from a segment from a episode of ET ("Entertainment Tonight") shortly after the release of the movie, "Junior" (1994) starring none other than the former Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, which the segment was also about. It was about then ET correspondent, Bob Goen, who went to the same place and same make-up artist, Matthew W. Mungle, who did the pregnant belly for "The Terminator", lol! So you know, blah, blah, blah, Mr. Goen becomes a pregnant man, lol! And I have to say, the results aren't too bad, lol!!! :D

Here's the collage I got from the Internet archives of "The Oinquirer":



Pretty cool, huh?

I was trying to look for any trace of video of this segment, but to no avail, I found nothing...

Well, the reason why I'm posting this thread, is that since I'm an aspiring director and anthropologist, I'm going to be dealing with make-up artists for pretty much the rest of my career, lol! I'm sending the Mr. Mungle a e-mail asking him how to make a prosthetic pregnant belly! And then where I can possibly go to get one made for me for personal, private use, hopefully, since I'm a director-to-be in the film industry, he'll lead me in the right direction, hopefully. It he in fact does, I'm probably going to be getting a new belly, lol! (Along with the latex inflatable pregnancy suit, lol!) ;)

Wish me luck!!!

Yeah, here's the link to the make-up artist's site:
http://www.matthewwmungle.com/


I have some info on making a prosthetic belly, not from Mr. Mungle though, but from another prosthetics person. Ask me and I'll happily send you the info.

Helpful References and Links:

"The Prop Builder's Molding & Casting Handbook" by Thurston James (1989)

A lot of useful prosthetic materials

Some more prosthetic materials

Some silicone paint

Prosthetic application help

Hair punching (putting hair on your work)

A lot of good resources and materials

A lot of extremely helpful how-to vids on Lifecasting

More helpful lifecasting info

Instructional DVD on Casting

12 Pics of ET segment on my Photobucket page

[mprego2]

OK, for those who are also trying to learn how to make a prosthetic belly, and have done research on their own, here is another helpful resource!

http://www.lifelike-figures.com/demo-video/

http://www.lifelike-figures.com/portfolio/making-of/

These show the process of making a prosthetic, not a prosthetic belly, but any prosthetic in general, if you can put the pieces together, you can imitate the process for making specifically a pregnancy belly!

[mprego2]

Here are easy-to-follow instructions I wrote to help those who want to try and make their own prosthetic belly! Please understand though, that this is not a very detailed list of instructions, and you still need to do research on each of these inidividual steps on your own. Also, you must keep in mind that safety is the MOST important thing with everyone involved and Mpreg Central and I will NOT be responsible if something happens as I CONSTANTLY remind you about safety. The ONLY one responsible will be those who choose to attempt this project themselves, it is a very easy project, but if not done right it could be VERY DANGEROUS. Please, just use common sense, be safe, and have fun with this project! ^_^

How to Make a Prosthetic Pregnancy Belly

SAFETY: Safety is VERY important, because you are dealing with potentially toxic and dangerous chemicals and products here. You need eye (goggles), skin (nitrile gloves and long sleeve shirt and pants), and mouth (paint and pesticide respirator) protection. (You could also get a full body protection suit) Please do serious research on all of this before you start. You MUST know how to do this safely above all else for everyone involved in the making of prosthetics.

~Rough List of Materials You Need~

Protection

Goggles
Respirator Mask
Nitrile Rubber Gloves

Lifecasting:

Alginate OR Skin-Safe Silicone (i.e. Smooth-On Body Double)
Medical Grade Plaster Bandages
Vaseline

Cement Model:

Gypsum Cement (i.e. Ultracal-30)
Release Agent

Sculpting:

Sulfur-Free Modeling Clay (i.e. water-based WED clay OR oil-based Chavant Clay, Klean Klay, Plastiline Clay, etc.)
Clay Tools

Fiberglass:

Epoxy Resin
Fiberglass Cloth
Fiberglass Tools

Molding:

Release Agent
Gelatine OR Foam Latex Rubber OR Silicone Rubber AND/OR Polyurethane Soft Flexible Foam (See Details Below)
Flesh Tone Color Pigmentation
Airbrush
Brushes for Painting on Skin Color
Paint for Skin Color
Synthetic Hair [Crepe Hair] AND Hair Puncher (optional)

Application & Removal

Medical Adhesive (i.e. Pro-Aides Adhesive, etc.) AND Medical Adhesive Remover (i.e. Pro-Aides Adhesive Remover, etc.)

~Steps~

1) Lifecasting: First you need a "lifecast" of a pregnant belly torso (though this may be optional as I will explain later) and the person who will be wearing the prosthetic's torso (this on the other hand is required), this can be done by using either alginate or a skin-safe silicone, such as Smooth-On's Body Double, and a hard cover of plaster bandages. You will have a weak, soft, flexible "negative" mold of the body. You will need to do research on how to properly and safely take a lifecast of someone's body.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure before you purchase ANY product you intend to put on your or anyone else's skin, that it is SKIN-SAFE (i.e. NON-TOXIC), I cannot reiterate enough on this fact.

SECONDARY NOTE: If you are planning to use alginate for lifecasting you must go on to the next step IMMEDIATELY, as alginate starts to dry and shrink once you remove it from the subject.

2) Ultracal-30 (Gypsum Cement): Next, you will need to make a hard "positive" copy. You get this by pouring gypsum cement (most commonly used is Ultracal-30) into a "negative". Now, you really only need to do this on the prosthetic wearers' "negative", but you could make it from the pregnant belly too, but that is for something a little different, that I will not be going over in this step-by-step list. Once you are done, you should have a cement version of the prosthetic wearer's torso.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Gypsum can be toxic and it rapidly heats up when water is added to the gypsum powder, so you need to protect yourself, and whatever you do,do NOT touch the gypsum mixture with your bare hands.

SECONDARY NOTE: You can either make a casting of ONLY the front half of the torso OR the front and back, however to do the front and back making a 3D positive of the original casting, you will need to do a method called rotocasting (rotational casting), and this is a bit hard as you have to cover one end and then pour the gypsum mixture into the other and then slowly rotate the cast until it covers every part of the cast, and you have to do this 2-3 times.

3) Sculpting Clay: The third step is to sculpt the prosthetic form on the prosthetic wearer's cement torso, in this particular case, you need to sculpt the pregnant belly on the cement torso. Now, I'm going to go back a bit, remember when I told you about getting the optional pregnant belly lifecast, well, here's the reason why it is optional, on this step you can make a pregnant belly completely by yourself by hand OR you can use the "negative" lifecast mold and melt clay (using clay that is able to be melted), pour it into the "negative", let it set, pull it out and attach it to the torso cement, a little easier and quicker than making it by hand. Then you just fix any problems with the clay, with sculpting tools of course, and you can also add or subtract things on the clay to your liking, pretty much make it how YOU like.

NOTE: An easy way to make a clay sculpt of a realistic pregnant belly is to look at various pictures of pregnant bellies at different angles, but beware, all pregnant bellies are unique, so really just make one that you like the look of on the subject's cement badoycast, maybe there is a pregnant belly that looks good on certain individuals and not others, just experiment with it!

4) Fiberglass Mold: This fourth step may require some skill, as you can make a fiberglass mould. For this step you can either make a fiberglass mold or a mold similar to how you made the "lifecast" in the first step, this time, you do not have to use skin-safe products since it will be on a inanimate, nonorganic object. This step you're going to have to do some research on, there are tutorials all over the place on how to make a fiberglass mold, watch a few and pick up what you need. You will end up with another, this time harder, final "negative" mother mold.

5) Run Prosthetic Piece: Last but not least, the fun part, making the prosthetic belly. Now, there's some things you must know, there are different types of material you can use to make the belly, I will go over them all, also, tinting and painting the belly, as well as hair punching, these are all things you can do to make you belly with a flesh tone and hair looking like it's growing out of the prosthetic piece, to make it as realistic as possible, you will have to do research on how to do those, as I am not that familiar with it at the moment.

There are 3 products you can use (4 if you count the last one, which is a special case):

• Gelatin(e)
The cheapest of the products you will be able to use, it can be bought or home-made.
▪ There are two types of Gelatin(e):
⁃ Standard
⁃ Foamed

• Foam Latex
More expensive than gelatine, but less expensive than silicone. This product requires baking, so you will need an oven big enough to bake prosthetics in, and this oven can be, and is usually, handmade.

***Note: Some people may be allergic to the foam latex. Latex allergies are becoming increasingly widespread. So watch out for that.

• Silicone
The most expensive of the products, that has the best, most realistic results, it is also very heavy, which is why you should really only use this as a "skin" for prosthetics (usually 3/8" or 1 cm thick).

• Flexible Polyurethane Foam (Soft Foam)
This is flexible foam which is very lightweight, and it is used mostly as a flexible hard "core" of prosthetics which another product acting as the skin. You can use this alone, but it is really only used for scenes not requiring the prosthetic to be seen, i.e. under clothing, unless you intend to use a "self-skinning" type of soft foam.

Prosthetic Application and Removal

To apply and remove the prosthetic piece on the subject's skin is pretty much an art and skill you just have to learn, cause you must also put makeup on in order to blend the subject's skin with the prosthetic piece.

[mprego2]

Here is a very good visual on prosthetic make-up, especially application!

[mprego2]

Here is an EXCELLENT free 7 part mini-ecourse that is sent to your inbox.

This is VERY good and detailed information on how to do fx prosthetic make-up!

Just do one for a pregnant belly!

All you have to do is sign-up, I have and I got the entire series, so I HAD to recommend it!

http://www.learnprostheticmakeup.com/page9.htm

[Sugar Kitten =^_^=]

Have you made one yet?? I would try but I already have one from Moonbump! (Formerly Fake Belly!)

[mprego2]

No, not yet, I will make one later this year for my short film, and then start making my own personal ones for myself, then I''ll start making some for others, but I want to be comfortable with making one before I start doing it for others. I've been doing intensive research on FX makeup and asking prosthetics people for a few years now, and I'm just starting to understand and put everything together. I made this thread because people have been constantly asking me how to make a prosthetic belly, and I honestly have nothing to hide, so I'm sharing it with everyone, because it is MUCH less expensive to make one for yourself than buy one from someone else, and you can continuously make new bellies when the old ones become too ragged and unusable with a hard, long lasting, fiberglass mold. I'm nearly finish with my research now, at the moment, I feel like I'm about 98% done, there's just some little things I need to learn about first before I can start making prosthetic bellies.

But, no, I have not made one as of yet.

[Sugar Kitten =^_^=]

Ah! I have been researching a non-baloon version of a weight realistic belly which can be constantly added to and progress is good, now I'm implementing the system into full-time use! I've done a test at 3 months and it worked perfectly! I just used some shapewear so its washable, and velcro to stick a pouch to hold the weights on the inside.

[mprego2]

Here is a pretty nice vid I found on making a silicone mold and making a cast from it, it shows how I tried to explain it in great detail:

[mprego2]

Ah! I have been researching a non-baloon version of a weight realistic belly which can be constantly added to and progress is good, now I'm implementing the system into full-time use! I've done a test at 3 months and it worked perfectly! I just used some shapewear so its washable, and velcro to stick a pouch to hold the weights on the inside.

That's pretty cool, I'm trying to find out a way to make a belly that actually grows, like the latex one I found I few years ago, just more realistic.

[mprego2]

Here is one example of a really nice pregnant belly sculpture, done for Jennifer Aniston!



There is another example in the Mpreg Sightings section in the 'Testees -"Gas Pills"' thread, that one was done for a male form while this one is for a female form, but the concept is basically the same, after getting a negative lifecast of the person you are making the belly for, make a positive by pouring in Ultracal-30 (Gypsum Cement) [that's the lighter area on the model], and then sculpt the belly on using a Sulfur-Free Modeling Clay (could be water-based or not).

Shape the belly how you want it and to your liking, and use certain tools for pours, skin texture, etc.

[mprego2]

Here is another very good visual tutorial on making a nose prosthetic, again, the same rules apply when making ANY prosthetic piece, including a prosthetic belly!

http://www.fxsupply.com/prosthetics/nosep.html

[mprego2]

I just bought this SFX makeup instructions book, and it is GREAT!!! It teaches you ANYTHING and EVERYTHING about SFX makeup! Including how to safety do them! And much, MUCH more! I'd suggest that if you are at all interested in doing this project for yourself, you get this book!

If you're interested in it, it is:

"Special Makeup Effects for Stage and Screen: Making and Applying Prosthetics" by Todd Debreceni

ISBN-10: 0240809963
ISBN-13: 978-0240809960

[mpreglover6969]

i've been tempted to try the ballon thing! but iam not sure if i will like it casue to me it doesnt seem like it would look like a really pregnant belly but i will give it a try! what kind of ballons do you get the regular sized ones or the huge ones??

[embarazado]

just a little question. I bought this prosthetic belly http://www.ebay.com/itm/221094671967?ssP...1497.l2649 and my question is how i can fixed with my body? what's the best product to fix it??


I found out this one (I use to work with proffesional make up for my job and we used to use the product of this company)
http://www.christy.es/Adhesivo-Mastix-So...ml-/46122/

if you know a better one and cheaper.I will thank u.

[cecicruz]

I've been using the middle of a pantyhose as a belly holder and it feels and looks great...
Maybe it wil work for u too

[embarazado]

the thing is I want that the belly looks a part of my body....to take some pictures....that's why I want to find a kind of body glue

[mprego2]

Hey guys, I am really trying to push through to start making prosthetic bellies, hopefully I can be able to make them later on in the year! I had to put this on hold for various reasons, the main being funding, as well as getting a location to make them at, like a workshop, but since I recently got a job and I am about to get a 2nd job, I should be able to save up for it (and maybe try Kickstarter), which by the way, if you are planning or thinking about doing this project for yourself, I must warn you that this isn't cheap, for me buying all the materials and tools I need it's going to cost me like $1,000-$1,500, this is the reason why Moonbump sells their bellies at the price they do, lol! XD But it will all be worth it! XD

Anyway, I will be making a belly for myself first, and now I'm trying to find a professional photographer to do a male maternity photoshoot of me! XD After that, and I feel more comfortable with my skills, I will being to make bellies to sell, and then I will be doing male pregnancy photoshoots of my own with male models wearing my bellies! I'm even trying to get some "big names" to model for me, so we'll see how that goes!

[mprego2]

I also just updated the steps!

[Junior]

where?