Teef.

The beginning of a custom denture...for myself.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So here's the finished mouth prosthesis I've been working on. I was able to get it done by Thanksgiving and freak out my family a little. I still want to go back into some areas and add gore with my favorite blood-colored acrylic paint and silicone adhesive. But here goes:

Final wax-up.

I used a few different types of wax to get an impression of what the finished silicone piece would look like. I'm always fascinated by how closely red sticky dental wax compares to blood.

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Final mold with the acrylic teeth primed with Gold Primer (to help it adhere to the silicone) and glued into the mold using just a tiny bit of silicone adhesive so they don't move around while packing in the silicone - not too dissimilar to how one would make a denture. I decided to use a pourable plastic for the anterior half of the mold to pick up on the fine details and because it's so lightweight. My only complaint is some minor bubbling issues, but I'm pretty sure that's my fault.

How I usually have my silicone stuff laid out; everything nice, tidy, and in order. I ended up mixing six different flesh tones to match my own (surprisingly complicated) complexion: A red glaze, brown glaze, freckle, gum, lips, and base.

Silicone prosthesis fresh out of the mold. Some unfortunate bubbles on certain areas (due to the porosity of the plastic), which I ground off with a silicone bur. It's just extra texture!

Added some extrinsic coloring with dry earth pigments and silicone fluid - turns out I have more freckles than I originally thought. Also, I wanted to make my lips rosy and bruised looking.

Prosthesis on! Using "It Stays" water-based prosthetic adhesive, which was almost confiscated at the airport. It is hypoallergenic but has a strong odor, similar to rubbing alcohol, so applying it directly under my nose was a little unpleasant. That, and I can't talk/laugh/smile while wearing this prosthesis.

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PUPPY BRAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNSSSS. <3 Even the lady on the television is freaked out.

New prosthetic in process.

And it's going to blow your mind:

Wax-up with acrylic teeth. I'm going to use this sweet new pourable plastic I got from Smooth-On. I think it'll prevent breakage in the mould and pick up on the nice details I've got going on.

Ring-holder.

My mother sent me this photo today:

Lovely, and functional! Love you, mama.

My friends only get horrifying gifts.

So whenever I have spare parts lying around that won't be worn by a patient, I like to spruce them up a little and, sometimes, send them to friends as tokens of my love and appreciation:

A cute little boy holding one of my "gifts". I'm sure he'll turn out just fine.

Another finger, only this time it has blood spray on it. Hot.

An ear, severed by a chainsaw.

Another view of the finger.

The severed ear, among Dan's exercise accoutrements.

Toof.

Sometimes when it gets a little slow at work, I like to play around. Since I work in a dental lab, there are plenty of spare teeth rolling around without a mouth to call home. Feeling inspired by an episode of Parks and Recreation in which Ron Swanson pranks his entire staff into believing he extracts one of his own teeth with a pair of pliers in the middle of a meeting, I decided to add some gnarly-looking roots to a molar I found in our spare tooth drawer. I used Jet-Set tooth shade acrylic, and gave it some final touches with oil paint mixed with acrylic liquid. I wasn't able to bake it in the lab because of some time constraints (and I didn't want to disgust my coworkers) so I cured it at home under a 70 watt lightbulb. Worked out pretty well I'd say:

The tooth after adding the acrylic roots and polishing - according to a fellow lab tech (who knows way more about teeth than I do) it looks to be a third molar, or wisdom tooth. Every other tooth in the human mouth has no more than three roots, which could explain why wisdom teeth are so damn hard to extract. Who knew!

After throwing on some paint to really bring out those freshly uprooted roots.

::shudder::

I love you, Ron Swanson.

Dear Mom,

My mother is the best mother because she puts up with my crazy shit. She has always told me that I march to the beat of my own drum (which I made myself). The following is a special project I thought she would appreciate:

A wax-up of my right index finger (the nail-bed has been relieved for an acrylic nail after processing).

Added some gashes. Why the fuck not?

After processing in silicone - mostly intrinsic coloring, but the gashes were exaggerated with some acrylic paint (which I don't recommend because it doesn't adhere well to silicone unless there's some kind of primer involved).

Completed finger, with custom handmade acrylic fingernail, ready for shipping.

The ransom note I sent to my mother (from my pet rabbit, Silke, who really loves bananas and is sometimes aggressive) along with the severed finger.

I love you, mom! <3