CREATING prosthetic masks and body parts for the fantastical creatures in films like the upcoming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a marathon process, with actors having to sit for hours on end covered in sticky goo. But a little chemical wizardry is coming to their rescue. Make-up artists can now use a silicone polymer that is fast-setting and doesn’t burn actors’ skin.
For a perfectly fitting prosthetic mask, they first make a mould of the actor’s face or a body part and then create a plaster or fibreglass cast, which acts as a base to build the…
