Museum Figures

Sculpture

El Diablo Inc. creates life-size, realistic, human figures, using an underlying metal armature, based on the human skeleton. This armature allows each figure the advantage of being poseable and adaptable to a number of different positions.

The heads of the figures are painted, and cast in fiberglass, plastic polymer, or lifelike silicone. Each head includes:

• A choice of plastic or custom resin eyes (optional & extra cost)
• Eyelashes & eyebrows
• Three-dimensional stubble (optional on silicone heads)

The hands are poseable when made of urethane or silicone, or can be cast into a fixed position using a hard polymer. Check out our Gallery section to view samples of previous work including Saddam Hussein, Al Capone, and Edgar J. Hoover.

Process

Producing a realistic figure takes many years of experience and experimentation. Creating the head involves the following steps:

1. A life-cast is taken of the subject using life-casting alginate. A plaster bust is poured from this cast (the bust is needed to sculpt open the eyes).
2. A silicone mold is made from the bust, and “the skin” (silicone or hard-shell plastic polymer) is poured into this silicone mold.
3. The skin is removed from the mold, and the head is painted using a combination of airbrushing, stippling and fine brush work.
4. The hair is then applied by laying it directly on the head, or securing a lace piece on the hard surface. Hair can also be punched in one hair at a time on the silicone skin.
5. The next step is setting the eyeballs into the head and applying a final paint touch-up.
6. If the head is produced in silicone, it is attached to a foam covered, armatured body, supplied by a local manufacturer.
7. The hands are then attached, but still removable for shipping.

Look-a-like heads are also available (i.e. replicas of historic figures, celebrities, etc.). In this case, the subject is sculpted out of clay using photographs, and a mold is subsequently made from this clay head.

Manufactured in North America

All El Diablo's museum figures are fabricated with North American labour and materials.