Sculpting questions for head already casted

[Promising Galahad]

Hey guys, this may be a long shot but I could use help on a sculpt I've gone back to.

A while back, I decided to use a DML head for a Douglas Fairbanks custom "Mark of Zorro" figure. However, I wasn't satisfied enough with the original sculpt, so I made a casting of it and made my alterations to the casting.

I never finished the head because I initially thought it was too small. Turns out the shoulders were just too broad on my test body and now I've gone back to finish it. Here are my questions:

1) Is there a way to add a more convincing skinlike texture to a hard sculpt? Perhaps spray over it with something? Use sandpaper?

2) I thought about just using Sculpey for the hair as the head is currently bald. Is there something that's more likely to stick to the resin casting though, especially where there is going to be little used (such as for the eyebrows and the moustache)?

 

[Headsmith]

You can use milliput for the hair. It sticks well and has a good working time before it hardens. I usually wait an hour before I do any detailing as it's kind of sticky when you first mix it thought you can use water on your tools to prevent that...
I've heard around somewhere of people using sponges for skin detail.
You can water down milliput enough to take it up in a sponge and press it on your skin surface. Then once it starts to harden, run a moist brush across to smoothen it down. Never tried it but it sounds like it can work..

You can use polymer, but you'd need to harden it before you 'permanently' glue(super glue works) it to your resin head. For thin areas like the eyebrows I'd probably chisel the section out so you can have a plug for you polymer eyebrows to grip to and not be so thin.

You can try spraying primer on your head and stippling detail with a paint brush. It's hard to control though.

Best of luck

If you're willing to make another mold for the final you might want to look into casting wax to do your skin and hair work. I've used candle wax in the past with a lot of talcum powder(for opacity). It shrinks though...sometimes unevenly!
I use wax-based clay now, it doesn't shrink, it's opaque,hard,softens in heat, but it really isn't cast-able. You end up have to do a lot of clean up.

 

[Promising Galahad]

Thanks Arsyn for the post!

I apologize for the lateness of my response. There were honestly long periods where I forgot I posted this topic. Other times I would remember and would either be pressed for time or just upset about once again not being able to work on the sculpt. (Too many problems finding high quality images of The Man smiling to sculpt in fine details like moles, wrinkles, etc., as well as affording necessary materials.)

Funny you should mention primer as that's what I used to simply get an idea of what the head sculpt looks like! I casted the head in an off white yellowish color and made alterations to the sculpt using grey Magic Sculpt. That won't happen again! What a pain. After priming, I noticed that it did give the smooth sculpt some texture which made me believe it was still possible to make the hard casting more lifelike.

Thanks for your help again, Arsyn. I (unfortunately!) intend to make two heads of Douglas Fairbanks: one as Zorro with mustache, slimmed down hair and pinned back ears (for cloth headwear), and one of Don Diego Vega. So having some idea of how exactly to add certain features already should help out enormously!