What Happens to Old Prosthetic Makeup?

I've had these lurking around my workshop for some time and thought it'd be interesting to see a side by side comparison of a prosthetic stored properly and one stored very improperly.

The white-ish one was obviously stored properly, the one that looks like overbaked bread was not. These were both made around the same time, give or take a couple weeks, approximately 3 and a half years ago.

The one on the left is still totally usable, the foam is slightly stiffer (but then again it could have come out like that in the beginning, I don't recall) but otherwise totally useable - in fact I'm planning on using it tomorrow perhaps. It was stored in a sealed bag away from direct light.

The one on the right was left in the back seat window of a car, during the summer, for maybe 7 months or so and has just been left out ever since. It's incredibly delicate, in fact a few tiny pieces crumbled away just picking it up to do this shot. It's totally stiff, the underside (not in the sun) is a yellow-ish colour and you can see the topside is that golden brown (slightly burned) bread crust colour - although totally rigid and a little shiny.

This is a good demonstration to customers who by prosthetics who wonder why things need to be stored properly and how long they can last. In a sealed bag (everything prosthetic piece I sell comes in a zip lock bag anyway) out of direct sunlight - and definitely not in the back window of a car for several month during the summer.

As I said, it's been about 3 and a half years and the piece is still totally useable. You hear some people go on about how foam latex (and latex in general) will degrade over time, it will, but it will take a LONG time, so there should never be any concern about buying a prosthetic piece like this and no using it right away - just store it properly and you can still use it years later.

The Witch's Jawbone prop finally for sale.

I started working on these awhile back and things just got really busy with the Halloween season so I had to put it aside, but it's finally done and ready for sale. It's a limited run of 5 for sale, although there's 1 prototype with resin nails that was given to a friend, and two more - one of which I'll be keeping for myself and the second will be held until I decide what I want to use it for, a prize for a contest or something. I don't know yet.

It's a full sized jawbone, moulded and cast in clay from a medical skeleton jawbone, I resculpted the clay jawbone to incorporate the nails and give a more distressed look. The clay jawbone was moulded for the final pieces, which were cast in resin, all hand painted and finally real antique steel nails were driven into it (there were hole already, but the nails are pretty firmly held in place)

The box is wood and glass (I didn't make it, it was purchased), I stained it myself though. The jaw rests inside on a bed of packing moss, with a Certificate of Authenticity underneath it, stating the number of the limited run each particular piece is.

 I haven't sorted out shipping costs yet, I'm planing on making them available for shipping by November 25th, I estimate $30 for US and Canadian orders, overseas will be pretty expensive I would imagine. Each one will have the jawbone wrapped in bubblewrap inside the display case, to prevent the nails from possibly cracking the glass in shipping. And the case itself will be padded and the package marked fragile. I also recommend a shipping method with insurance - it doesn't cost extra, but those methods are slightly more expensive in general.

And as for the cost on this piece, supposing you made it this far and you're still interested, is $75. To order, send me an email at themoneyrodeo@gmail.com, include your address so I can get you a shipping quote as quickly as possible, I will then send you an invoice through Paypal, or through email if you're in Canada and would rather use Email Interact.

And that's it. I'll be posting these on the website later this week as well as on Etsy.