Make Latex Skin Over Carved Foam

[MasterXcon]

Thanks! I'm making latex rocks and never thought of coloring the latex by mixing it with my paint .

[MIGUEL2005LIMA]

excellent idea

[pistolholder]

What if you can't find liquid latex but can find Krylon latex spray?

If I spray a lot, will it act like liquid latex?

[dogface701]

does the paint have to be water soluble or will any paint work?



[gryphern]

@dogface701 Oil paint will make the latex "go bad" faster. Oil degrades latex. (Certain parties may recall the sage admonitions of their Sex Ed. teacher about latex and water based lubrication.) Enamel paints will color it, but won't mix as nicely. Acrylic paint is really the best.

[Ryuzakisenpai]

will this work on more rigid carving foam as well?

[gryphern]

@Ryuzakisenpai PT 1 I think that depends on how you cut the foam and its qualities. Latex needs texture to cling to, or it will pull away from a surface. So if you use a hot wire to cut blue foam you will have to rough up the melted foam or "stipple paint" by dabbing a very thing layer on with a dry brush to start. Once you have your first coat your next coats will stick perfectly. You can also use plastic products... see next post...

[gryphern]

@Ryuzakisenpai PT 2 I've played with StyroSpray as a hard plastic coating to rigid foam and been very happy with it. It will last longer, and still has some "give" to it, so it won't dent when bumped. Googel it and order a sample square to mess with. If you want to make soft textured sculpture, you might want to try molding expanding polyurethane. I've really liked it, but it required the extra molding steps.

[cotton509]

u got amonia latex :o get acters i belive it doesnt contain amonia

[partyhatpker]

What brand name latex are you using in this video? I'm making a big monster costume out of foam and I'm trying to figure out what to make the 'skin' out of. Latex seems ideal, but I want to make sure it's not $15 for a 4 oz. bottle.

[gryphern]

@partyhatpker I use costume latex, Mehron, Ben Nye or Graftobian brand (Graftobian is too thin for a first coat on foam.) HOWEVER you may find artist's latex, sold through art supply and fetish specialty stores, to be cheaper and more vivid. I wouldn't use artist's latex on skin, but the foam won't mind extra ammonia--just use lots of ventilation as you work. Amaco brand is sold by the gallon, as are many others. (I find Amaco to be very smooth, I use it for pottery resists.) MANY brands.

[thomasmclake]

if you took a giant peice of this foam and cut it to fit a face/head would it work as a good mask?

[brokenbrush]

To get LESS BUBBLES when mixing LAYTEX . Use a low sided container such as a tuna fish can.

then with a popsicle stick make a side to side figure 8 motion with out letting the stick come up out of the laytex.

this will keep Air from getting into it so much. After you brush or pour it on. lay it flat and in a piece of wood and tap that wood for a few minutes to make all bubbles rise. then start the blow dryer.

[brokenbrush]

I use laytex a lot for mold making here's a few tips.

You can dry it faster with a Blow dryer. so you can recoat it sooner. in minutes rather than hours. One coat of brushed on laytex is very thin. a good coat should be no more than 1 /16th.of an inch thick. It takes 10 coats to make a strong flexable mold , With a plaster backing ,mold. If you use a bigger mixing container than a bottle cap it will have less bubbles. I use common dish soap for a mold release.

[DuplessisStudios]

So I'm making an Audrey 2 for an upcoming video of mine. I've put the foam on but want to know if I could add two color coats and no base coat so that the skin is thinner and the foam's color doesn't show through.

[knuxie]

Man, your videos are uber helpful! @.@ Thank you so much for making them.

[RogerRabid]

that will work great for a monster or zombie puppet :D

[Douchebigalo3000]

If I was going to make a puppet using stryofoam that would be a bad idea?

[gryphern]

It would work fine. The only thing you have to avoid it denting the finished puppet. You can also construct it for cheap by gluing layers of styrofoam together and then carving it. That way you can re-use sheets of it from packaging. Just don't heat it. Unless you have a very, very hot furnace to truly burn it (hot enough to melt bronze) it turns into a toxic, sticky black tar when heated.

[Douchebigalo3000]

Thank you! I really needed that infomation.

[VisonsofFalseTruths]

can you use styrofoam or something like it instead of soft furniture foam? styrofoam is just easier for me to carve into the shapes I want; im hoping to do something like this to make an outer covering that resembles skin or hide for a pair of digitigrade stilts im planning as part of an anthro-dragon costume

[gryphern]

I don't know how latex would stick to styrofoam--the only reason I don't use it is because styrofoam can dent. so you get one bump, or you step on it once, and the sucker is ruined, whereas furniture foam poofs back into shape. If you can't get latex to stick, try using spray adhesize and covering the styrofoam with paper, latex will make a first layer on paper very well.

[Graphicsk8]

how could i make a telletubby mascot mask?

[gryphern]

Easiest, paper mache. harder:I would make a face shape out of pottery clay, take a really big sheet of 3mm pale pink/beige/white craft foam, and dip it in boiling water until it stops being perfectly smooth-flat, and while it's really hot place it on the clay and force the foam into the clay shape, also try spot heating the foam with a hair dryer and shaping it with your hands. You can stretch and fold craft foam by heating it up enough to soften BUT NOT melt it.

[zammap]

I've been doing a test run on a scrap piece of foam (my costume is made of foam) but I can't get a good thick layer like you've shown because the foam keeps soaking the latex. Should I wait for the first layer (the one in the foam) to dry or continue to add more latex while it's wet?

[gryphern]

Don't add more latex while it's still wet. You could add a very thin layer first to seal the open air cells of the latex, like priming wood so you don't spend lots of money on nice house paint only to have the wood planks absorb it all. You could also seal it with acrylic paint, maybe white glue, or anything else that you can cheaply spread thin over the large air cells of your foam. You want to block up those cells before you add lots of latex.

[zammap]

:)

thanks for a reenforcement on the priming idea. I have a rather large area to cover so even if I got cheep stuff it would cost too much. Also was worried of it making the foam stiff.

BUT

I got spray sealer. Covers a lot of space, and is very thin. Was afriad that the spray didn't work. but stared painting the rubber on and it's not seeping! yey! Two cans of spray for 8 bucks each is worth it.

[MarshFacev2]

Could I make a mould of a detailed thing by making the part from somthing that becomes solid like air drying clay (letting it set) then covering it with plasticine, pulling the plasticine carefully off and then pouring the latex into it?

[gryphern]

The latex will roll right off the plasticine, so you could cast a solid object into plasticine, but it's not good for painting thin layers onto. Plasticine also has oil in it so it may weaken your latex, which is why I do all my latex stuff in air dry clay even though I do all my modeling for metal pouring in plasticine and wax.

[ilikethisand]

can you put that on your chest? i need to know cause im making a costume for halloween and i need to know if you can put that on your chest

[gryphern]

I can't think of any reason why you couldn't, can you?

[gryphern]

I find it comes out a little too shiny for my tastes, but the color sticks well. If you really work at it you can scrape the color off or overstretch it, but it sticks nicely.

[gryphern]

If all else fails buy cheap off the 'net. Ben nye and mehron are thicker while graftobian is thinner and offers a smoother application.

You can seal latex with a bunch of stuff, including clear acrylic, there's a fair amount of discussion on this in the comments of these videos and on tons of web forums.

I have used my Badger airbrush to paint handemade latex masks, and it works nicely.

[gryphern]

Local costume stores are good, if they sell brand name make up latex. For example here where I am currently living there's a hard core costume shop and then there's a seasonal Halloween "super store." The superstore sells latex that is NOT FIT for skin use, it's not a brand name like mehron, ben nye, graftobian or whatnot, it's just "latex." the costume store sells a variety of latex and skin putties.

[chuschalos04]

oh ,and something that I forgot to ask is how can i achieve a skin with pores , thanks gryphern

[gryphern]

you can intentionally introduce tiny bubbles by mixing air into the latex with a Popsicle stick or a paint brush dipped in dish soap. They'll pop and collapse making small pores. Painting on latex will never give the same detail as pouring latex into a mold, but by adding textures like sand and bubbles to your painted latex you can add additional texture.

[chuschalos04]

ok, thanks alot :)

[chuschalos04]

what if you use liquid latex on fabric like for a costume that will be stuffed

[gryphern]

Stuff the costume first, then paint on the fabric. Latex stretches, but if it stretches and unstretches a bunch of times in the same place it will end up looking bad. If you paint it flat, then stretch it, it will try to pull flat again, fighting your stuffing. That MAY be the look you want, but the costume will slowly shift in size and shape. Avoid stretch fabric, like Lycra and Spandex brand, they are way stretchier than latex can be.

[CharnNutter]

Is furniture foam the most realistic-to-use 'fake flesh' appliance? IE if you are making an "incredible Hulk" costume, would furniture foam be the best 'muscle' to use underneath the latex skin, or is there a better type of foam to use? It looks like it would be better for use with 'fat suits' then for muscle suits!

[gryphern]

Furniture foam has very little bounce when carved into organic (body) shapes, but can take a lot of damage and maintain its shape. So it offers form with very little weight, and as it's pourous you can easily layer other materials onto the surface. For a fat suit that needed to look like fat during use I'd use something that had bounce to it, even stuffing a mostly inflated beach ball with water at the bottom into a shirt.

[gryphern]

Other easily available foams such as PVC (rigid) urethane (expensive, heavy) polystyrene foam (Styrofoam) and EVA (dense, heavy craft foam.)

If you expand your own low-density urethane or latex foam it can be cheaper than buying pre-made and cut sheets and much lighter and more flexible than what's available commercially. A good beginning place it smooth on's site.

Uber-realistic fake body parts are going to be gel filled. Where, like the beach ball example you have bouncy goo...

[gryphern]

...with a skin over it.

These kinds ofprops are the most expensive to make. The "gel" isn't like jello or gel toothpaste that can run or melt but is a solid, stretchy, piece of material, such as silicone "jelly" material. Then the skin of choice is added on top to make the appliance as flesh-like as possible. You CAN do low-budget of this kind of high-end appliance, filling a cast of latex with a gutted old gel-filled keyboard wrist rest, but then you're exposing yourself to unknown chemicals.

[mrbanana101]

Ah, great video!! It helped! With regards to your comment about gel filled body parts, I've been trying to figure out a way for months to reproduce that type of gel in a cost efficient manner... I haven't really gotten anywhere yet though, the research has led me in circles, haha. Any suggestions on how one might go about making that type of gel (perhaps even if it's similar to the type of gel you find in certain stress balls)?

[MyNameBePein]

is it even possible to use oil based clay for a latex appliance?

[gryphern]

Oils degrade latex, making go all melty and squishy. So you can, but be aware that oil absorbed into latex will weaken it and speed its aging.

[Fribear]

These videos are great. thanks for posting it so I didn't have to suffer through trail and error myself. making an eight-foot werewolf costume for a Movie. any suggestions for eye's? where is a good place to buy them? I can buy latex at the hardware store right?

[TARAMANUSIATAMPAN]

by the way, where u usually buy latex?

[MyNameBePein]

michael's arts and crafts. 16oz for 14.99

[TARAMANUSIATAMPAN]

hwy, can u colored the latex with ordinary oil paint?

[gryphern]

Naw, oil eats away latex. You want water based paints: Acrylic artist's paints, latex paint (often sold as airbrush paints) and you want to avoid the additives found in the big cans of house paints. Acrylic paint is suuppper cheap too, the watery stuff in small bottles is 1-2 US dollars each.

[TARAMANUSIATAMPAN]

thanks! sooooooooooo much!! :)

[kelltiozim]

The perfect solution!! I'll give it a try.

[kelltiozim]

WHAT in the world are you doing? What douse this video have to do with insulating your attic space or creating fake aquariums on mars!??!

[gryphern]

Everything.

[cbankla]

thank you

[Luchastyle]

i love you. your tutorials are the best. i want to see more =D

[bboyfresco]

wow so much easier than a mold.

[ToolshedEd3TF]

she has a really attractive voice lol.

[ogunshi]

You can also use ISOflex to coat onto the latex. It is just one coat and you eed not worry about it again.

I use it to coat my latex weapons

[gryphern]

So, tried looking up isoflex, bunch of stuff with the brand name ranging from spreadable rubber to joint supplements. --I Must Know-- what particular product are you suggesting? Because I've coated my latex with acrylic, heat treated it, but it's not vulcanized rubber so eventually it gets nasty and sticky and I'd love to make my natural latex pieces live longer.

[ogunshi]

ISO Special Primer is what you are looking for.

Look on Wiki under foam sword or do a google search for "ISOflex" and "sword"

[hedorah99]

I am so recommending you for the job at the zoo :)

[gryphern]

Maaaaaan, that'd be great! I could use some kindness. I'd really rather have a facility behind me for my posters at this year's AZA. I know I finished my grad program only a few months ago, but I'm tired of freelance work already.

[LaughtasticX]

Alfred here! Thanks so much! This will totally help with the Hulk costume! You rawk!

[gryphern]

When you e-mailed last night and were wrestling with the high cost of body casting and building a positive from your body cast, then making a second mold and filling that with foam rubber--it's kind of a death wish to tackle a project like that if you're not already confident with your materials. I figure this way you won't have the chance of as great a success, but you'll have a much smaller chance of failure.

[gryphern]

It's a lot easier to cut foam than it is to sculpt, mold, and pour 10 foot costume yourself with no prior practice! And if you really like your finial piece, you'll have created a working "rough draft" you could base a foamed latex piece off of.

[LaughtasticX]

Oh you're right about that. There's the professional way and the hobbyist way. I'm going to work on both and see how far I can get. Thank you so much for your help! I'm sure I'll have more questions :)

OH, BTW...this method will really help when I try to attach my mask to the torso...with a coating of this over both mask and torso, they'll look like one piece! I'm sure I'll have to prime the mask somehow..but you've just fixed ANOTHER of my problems. Thanks again!