Experimenting with latex and casting.

For my upcoming animation which will start shooting next week I have begun experimenting with animatable hands using pretty basic latex casting techniques.

I first sculpted a hand out of Super Sculpey and baked it.

Then when it was cured I pushed it into a two-part mould making compound called Siligum which sets almost instantly.

I then popped the hand sculpt out of the mould and dusted the interior with talcum powder, I then painted in a thickish mixture of casting latex.

I repeated coats of latex until it was of good thickness.

Without removing the latex "glove" from the mould I began cutting small lengths of wire and twining them into finger shapes, then laid them into the mould and "glove" and brushed more latex over them.

I repeated adding the latex and when it had dried added a couple drops of glue to the wire armature to ensure it was held in place.

At this point when everything had dried and solidified I popped the hand from the mould and trimmed the latex flashing around the edges.

I then cut small panels of sponge and stuck them in place to bulk out the structure without adding too much weight. 

To finish off I gave the sponge parts a wash of glue to seal everything together. This somehow caused the sponge to contract tightening the latex, so a spot of serendipity.

As of yet it is still the translucent yellow that the latex forms into when set, to get the proper skin colour I shall mix my usual flesh tone paint with a little latex and apply it to the hand.

Obviously I could have added the paint to the latex when brushing the first layer into the mould but…well, the thought never occurred to me. Obviously. 

Production should last approximately a week and should with any luck be ready to show about a week or so after that.

More to come….