By day Holstein-Pouwels is a secretary at TU Delft supporting both the EEMCS Research Relations and Valorisation Team (ERV) and Netherlands Institute for Research on ICT (NIRICT). About 12 years ago she met a man who introduced her to the art of sfx makeup and trained her.
To cast a face, you use alginate, the kind your dentist or orthodontist would use, said Holstein-Pouwels. Then you have to support the alginate to make sure it won’t break or deform. Next you fill the alginate with dental plaster, which results in a plaster copy of the face. “On this copy I sculpt the monster, zombie or the creature I want to make with clay,” she said. She then uses this to create a mould which helps her to make the prosthetics pieces. Most of the masks are created with three to four separate pieces so that they can move with the person’s facial expressions, she explained.
Holstein-Pouwels has done makeup for some low and no-budget Dutch horror and sci-fi film productions. She has also given demonstrations of the sfx makeup process at film conventions. “It’s fun to do,” she said, “You always meet people at conventions. You create a bond with some of the actors and the community. They are a very special kind of people.”
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