Attaching cast heads to neck balls

Posted in Custom Workstation

Because no one asked for it, here's another idea.

Head casts usually aren't flexible so you may have difficulties trying to attach them to a neck post. Drilling the hole wider than the ball is the only way to "pop" them on but then obviously they fall off easily. Hot glue is one way to attach them but I've found that later on people complain about it because the hot glue tends to be super grippy. One hot day and is all it takes to slightly activate the hot glue and have it seize up the joint. So, let's try Mod Podge (white glue).



Once you have a cavity in the head, dab some MP in there.





Take a little bit of tissue paper and ram it in there with the stick, working the paper in and around the sides of the cavity. Do a test fit, just shove the head on there and see if it's resting at the height you want. If it's too low, add another piece of paper. It it's fine, take the head off and leave it alone so the MP can dry and harden. When it has hardened, add a little more MP to the hole and add the tissue paper like before. This time you're trying to fill any empty space from before, use as much as necessary. Just be sure it's enough that when you jam the head on there the paper will squish out a little under the ball, so it traps it in there once it hardens.

Don't use water, it just makes the MP runny and won't dry quick.





And that's it, let it harden. Turn the head like once an hour, just to make sure nothing is seized up. When the MP and tissue paper dries it becomes a tough semi-flexible material. You could even use it to bulk up armatures if you wanted.