Castor and Gem Tron Tutorial with step by step photos-PIC HEAVY!!

[Annisse]

Is that ink really meant to rubberize? To me it looks like it's ink that can be printed onto rubber items. I don't think it will actually rubberize anything though. I'm not sure, I could be reading it wrong. If it does though I would think my biggest concern is is it safe to be applied to skin? When we do a new suit and rubberize it again it will have to be on my body and that stuff definitely seeps through. But it's definitely interesting and worth a test!

Here is where I was thinking of buying balloon rubber from, though I have no idea what color it is. I know it has to be dyed so it's either natural, white or transparent. Probably white or natural though. Plus they're in Van Nuys so you can just go there and pick it up or ask questions about it. Though whenever I talk to them on the phone they haven't been super helpful lol.

BURMAN INDUSTRIES*::*LATEX & ACCESSORIES *::* BALLOON RUBBER

Here is some clear latex I found:

Professional HD Makeup - Graftobian - Liquid Latex - Clear - One Gallon

You can get them in small bottles to so I'm thinking of getting a small bottle and testing it on grey fabric and see what it does. If it colors it at all it'll be a no go and I'll have to resort back to attempting to spray two different colors on the suit.

And for the gloves, I had this idea when I saw your gloves from that same pic actually. It looks like you have a flap or something in the glove...is there or is it just a panel piece? I know the underside of the siren gloves had some kind of upside down U shaped seam but I didn't do that for mine. If that isn't an actual flap then I was thinking I may make a large hole in my glove that is covered by a flap that gets velcroed down or something so that way when I eat I can try and slip my hands out of the gloves and roll them up to my wrists. Sort of like convertible ballet dance tights.

Also if anyone wants to add more info to this thread that involves Castor or Gem please do!!!!! The Tron stuff is so huge (and will probably get bigger as the sequels come out) that it'd be nice to maybe have sections/threads for specific characters or characters that share certain likeness.

I'd defintiely love to see a tutorial on the fingertips! It's funny, I normally don't do tutorials like this showing everything I did because I have my own business making costumes but I know for a fact that I would NEVER want to do these costumes for someone else lol! Maybe Castor, and maybe Gem if I got loads of money out of it and I have my pattern perfected.....but even then.....if someone can make it themselves with a little help I'd much prefer that hahahaha!

OK as for the rubber ink from inkcups.com yeah, that is an ink for adding to rubber objects. I am using that stuff for another project of mine and thought maybe it could be used to paint on spandex, yeah don't think that's the right stuff.

Now, the link you posted is for the clear latex is for Liquid Latex. That is all I have been finding online myself.

What they used according to the movie and the Tron Wiki site, this is a great site by the way, Tron Wiki - SIREN, they sprayed spandex with ballon rubber.

I really didn't search for ballon rubber, I always looked for latex rubber and never found actual ballon rubber, just that inkcups site.

I finally think I found the right stuff and just like the Van Nuys place you linked, this one is like 10 mins. down the street from my work in the valley.

I am at work right now. They open at 8am so I am going to go right over there after work and pick up a bottle of this stuff. I will test it over the weekend and let you know if this works and dries clear over my spandex I used for my Siren suit. Cross your fingers. If this doesn't work, I don't know what will. It says Ballon Rubber right on the label.

I'll ask someone that works there what they think and show them the Siren photo too so they can understand what I want to do.

Friends Beauty Supply


On my gloves, I only had a panel on my right hand which is the compartment to insert the batteries, wiring and LED light for my finger tip light I too saw on Serinda Swan's hand (Siren #2) that there was what looked like a cut out panel in the middle inside of her hand. I figured maybe that is what they did to insert the finger light for the movie? Well, it worked for my finger light beautifully, that is once I got the damn thing to work. It broke 3 times and finally at Comikaze Expo last weekend I got it to work. It works by me touching the copper wire from my middle finger to my palm inside middle of my hand copper wire. Again, I will need to make a tutorial so everyone can understand. Just making the little LED finger light contraption was a process on its own, then you have to shove all that stuff into a glove that is practically falling apart from all the glue holding the rubber tipped fingers, was tons of fun! HA!

 

[Eveningarwen]

Now, the link you posted is for the clear latex is for Liquid Latex. That is all I have been finding online myself.

What they used according to the movie and the Tron Wiki site, this is a great site by the way, Tron Wiki - SIREN, they sprayed spandex with ballon rubber.

I am at work right now. They open at 8am so I am going to go right over there after work and pick up a bottle of this stuff. I will test it over the weekend and let you know if this works and dries clear over my spandex I used for my Siren suit. Cross your fingers. If this doesn't work, I don't know what will. It says Ballon Rubber right on the label.

Friends Beauty Supply

On my gloves, I only had a panel on my right hand which is the compartment to insert the batteries, wiring and LED light for my finger tip light .... Again, I will need to make a tutorial so everyone can understand. Just making the little LED finger light contraption was a process on its own, then you have to shove all that stuff into a glove that is practically falling apart from all the glue holding the rubber tipped fingers, was tons of fun! HA!

Yeah I was looking at liquid latex mostly because I know how to work with it and figure if the balloon rubber doesn't work I'd give the liquid latex a try.

I'm SUPER hoping the balloon rubber works though! I have a feeling it will just give a better texture (the liquid latex is fine but not as smooth...maybe it just needs more layers)

If the balloon rubber doesn't dry clear then maybe it will come down to dyeing the rubber white and grey and then spraying the white on all over like we did with the latex and then painting the grey rubber on like we did with the acrylic paint. The painting worked fine, it's just the acrylic wears off in areas like under the arms.

I have yet to decide if I'll do the fingertip. I think once my suit is redone and rubberized and lit up I'll think about it then lol! I can't even believe I'm thinking about the suit now since I just finished it. These outfits are a neverending story lol!

 

[Annisse]

ok so the rubberizing test using the my spandex fabric I used for my Siren suit was a total fail. It wound up doing the same thing as when I rubberized with the liquid latex. When I pulled the rubberized fabric off the mannequinn leg I was using it all stuck together and you can't pull it apart.

How the hell did they rubberize the Siren suits in the movie? I just don't get it! I am using exactly what they said they used and it's not working.

Maybe it's the type of spandex they used. I need to know what they used exactly. I just ordered a sample of some white and silver Shiny Milliskin fabric online. Maybe the spandex needs to have a shine coat on top of it. That is what I am also seeing in the movie costumes. Some type of gloss sheen coat on the suits.

When I rubberized my sample it produced a dull sheen to it, no gloss at all. Now I am really stumped and if rubberizing this milliskin fabric doesn't work, I think I am about to give up on this unless someone else can figure it out.

Eveningarwen, did you have that problem after you rubberized your Siren suit? Did the fabric start sticking together when you put the suit on and took it off? If it did, what did you do to control it from happening? Because your suit rubberized does not look crinkled up at all. That is what my swatch test looks like, a total crinkled rubberized mess. HA!

 

[Eveningarwen]

Eveningarwen, did you have that problem after you rubberized your Siren suit? Did the fabric start sticking together when you put the suit on and took it off? If it did, what did you do to control it from happening? Because your suit rubberized does not look crinkled up at all. That is what my swatch test looks like, a total crinkled rubberized mess. HA!

Did the rubber at least dry clear? Can you see the spandex color underneath?

I used baby powder. Loads of baby powder. Now there is also a liquid that you can use to stop it from sticking that is supposed to produce a high shine (at least when it's on your skin) but it comes in tiny bottles and isn't really cheap. One bottle is supposed to do an entire body but when the latex is on fabric it seems to eat up that liquid pretty fast without allowing it to spread around.

So while the baby powder kind of mattes out the shine aspect it at least keeps it from sticking. Now that the suit has been worn and most of the excess powder has been shaken off I might try that liquid again to see if I can buff up a bit of shine on mine. I also had my latex on pretty thin so next time we may try and do another layer. Although next time I'll make sure to do it in the daytime at least lol and not at 7pm in the fall when it's freezing outside!!

And when I rubberized the suit I let it cure on my body for an hour so there were some areas (like under my right arm, but not my left) that made a little crinkle here and there but overall the spraying of the suit kept it super plastered against my body and didn't move. Of course it also bled through and stuck to my skin but when the suit was dry and baby powdered we slowly worked it off of me. Then when I got the arms off and the waist off we slowly unrolled it off of me to get the legs off. (so the legs ended up inside out and we turned them back right side out).

Once it's been rubberized and dry the suit basically retains the shape of your body. It doesn't contract back as much as just the spandex suit does so it doesn't roll up on itself while hanging or off of the body.

 

[Annisse]

Yes, the ballon rubber dried clear and I let it air dry on the mannequinn leg over night.

Maybe prying it off a stiff fake leg is part of the crinkle sticking problem. I will have to try another test with the same fabric on my actual body, let it dry, then put the baby power and roll it off my leg. See what I get, but tha is a good idea.

Oh and I know that little bottle of spray you are talking about to apply to your body so the latex won't stick. Yeah, tried it, doesn't work the same on the rubberized fabric, it will still become all stuck together when trying to turn the suit inside out and yes, it's so expensive.

Maybe with the baby powder, getting into the suit, then whipping it off with water THEN applying silicon lube will make the suit shiny? That is what I am wondering they might have done. Used silicon lube to shine up the suits.

You use that stuff to shine up latex clothing and at the same time will help the latex not all stick to itself.

I remember seeing I think in the Tron Legacy Blu-Ray behind the scenes, someone holding a bottle which to me looked like it could have been a bottle of shiner/lube when they were shining up Olivia's suit I think it was, maybe on the Siren's suit too.

But who knows, I am sure there is alot more to those Siren's suit than we'll ever find online of how they actually made them. We just have to keep trying at it to make them work for us.

[quote="Eveningarwen, post: 2005549"]Did the rubber at least dry clear? Can you see the spandex color underneath?
 
I used baby powder. Loads of baby powder. Now there is also a liquid that you can use to stop it from sticking that is supposed to produce a high shine (at least when it's on your skin) but it comes in tiny bottles and isn't really cheap. One bottle is supposed to do an entire body but when the latex is on fabric it seems to eat up that liquid pretty fast without allowing it to spread around. 
 
So while the baby powder kind of mattes out the shine aspect it at least keeps it from sticking. Now that the suit has been worn and most of the excess powder has been shaken off I might try that liquid again to see if I can buff up a bit of shine on mine. I also had my latex on pretty thin so next time we may try and do another layer. Although next time I'll make sure to do it in the daytime at least lol and not at 7pm in the fall when it's freezing outside!!
 
And when I rubberized the suit I let it cure on my body for an hour so there were some areas (like under my right arm, but not my left) that made a little crinkle here and there but overall the spraying of the suit kept it super plastered against my body and didn't move. Of course it also bled through and stuck to my skin but when the suit was dry and baby powdered we slowly worked it off of me. Then when I got the arms off and the waist off we slowly unrolled it off of me to get the legs off. (so the legs ended up inside out and we turned them back right side out). 
 
Once it's been rubberized and dry the suit basically retains the shape of your body. It doesn't contract back as much as just the spandex suit does so it doesn't roll up on itself while hanging or off of the body.[/QUOTE]

 

[moviebuff5]

Have you looked at Solaris silicone encapsulation rubber from Smooth-On? It claims optical clarity suitable for solar cells and has a hardness of only 15A.

Solaris® Silicone Encapsulation Rubber for DIY Solar Panels

 

[Annisse]

Have you looked at Solaris silicone encapsulation rubber from Smooth-On? It claims optical clarity suitable for solar cells and has a hardness of only 15A.

Solaris® Silicone Encapsulation Rubber for DIY Solar Panels

Looks cool but I doubt that stuff would be safe to be on a human body. Remember. we have to paint these on the suits while wearing them. That stuff would go right thru the suit to our skin.

If I have the money to make a replica of my entire body like they did in the movie, then maybe but, as for me, that is probably never going to happen. No way do I have money to invest in something like that.

 

[Eveningarwen]

Looks cool but I doubt that stuff would be safe to be on a human body. Remember. we have to paint these on the suits while wearing them. That stuff would go right thru the suit to our skin.

If I have the money to make a replica of my entire body like they did in the movie, then maybe but, as for me, that is probably never going to happen. No way do I have money to invest in something like that.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Even if it was safe for the human body, it's so thick I doubt you could spray it as is and it doesn't seem like it would take to being diluted very well either so it could be. But definitely an interesting find. I think the balloon rubber will work fine since it dries clear. I'll probably get a sample and then make a quick glove and cover it to see how it works.

 

[Laamberry]

This...this is why I love you so much,

 

[emelieanne]

How were you able to get in and out of your suit for bathroom use? I am in the early stages of designing the same costume, but as I move forward I feel that an issue comes up. Right now I have a white full body long sleeve unitard in nylon/spandex (no zippers). Originally I was going to have EL lighting wired to the back of my costume, but now that my boyfriend and I think about it - it will be too difficult to keep in intact when I need to go to the bathroom. So I may not install the lights anymore and stick to reflective tape. Now my main concern is when I have to use the bathroom. We are thinking of altering the unitard to add a zipper in the crotch area or sticking to the zipper down my back. But I feel that it would conflict with my identity disc. Any advice? How did you get in and out of your costume without it affecting your identity disc?

 

[Eveningarwen]

I answered the previous question in a PM but figured I'd put the short version here.

I have a bladder of steel so there was really no concern for me about having to get in and out of the suit lol. But in the future I will most likely put a crotch zipper in the new suit.

Also the wires to the lights can disconnect from the power packs and inverter so that way you can remove the disc mount and disc before going to the bathroom and have someone hold it so you don't worry about it falling down. I would suggest also taking off the lower power pack (which I did not add to her costume this go around due to time) as well.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the second post on the first page I talk about the disc hub and how it gets inserted into the suit which shows how I was able to get the suit on and off without disturbing the hub and disc. I put the suit on first, zipped the lower zipper, had my fiance slide in the hub and then zip the top zipper. The pressure of the tight suit held my hub perfectly in place since there was no electronics or anything in it. That may change though when I add lights to my suit.

 

[Dracoo9]

I know this must seem like a silly question but how do you attatch the wires from the EL tape to the inverter?

 

[Eveningarwen]

Ummm...it's a bit hard to explain, especially since my fiance is the one who did all the wiring but it really is pretty simple. You have to prep the wire and then they get put into this clamp and the clamp is what plugs into your inverter. I think that's more for ease as I believe you could just clamp the wire directly into the inverter but it makes it difficult to get on and off. All I can tell you is that is the inverter under the battery pack. If I remember I'll have my fiance tell me how he did it and post it here, unless someone else knows then they can feel free to mention it.

 

[Kasu Quinn]

I'd like to resurrect this thread in hopes of recording my own findings with my Siren suit, if that is alright with you?

I made a suit back in 2010 that was atrocious. I used the reflective tape and made the mistake of ordering the stick-on kind that cracked in areas like the inner arm and crook of the leg. It was extremely last minute and I hang my head in shame when I look back on it.

My boyfriend and I hope to have Castor and Gem done by May, which is when we have Phoenix Comicon. While the pattern itself is going to be a masterpiece of it's own (if I complete it correctly), the rubberizing is the part I'm most fearful of. Thankfully, Annisse has tested it before. If it dries clear and, when powdered, does not stick to itself, it should work fine, right? Has anyone experimented with this further since this thread was last active?

I do have a concern though. Would you recommend rubberizing the spandex pieces first...or rubberizing when the suit is sewn together? I'm worried about running that balloon rubber through my sewing machine and messing up needles.

 

[Eveningarwen]

definitely after. you need the suit to be rubberized while it's on your body or a body form of your body so that when taken off and put back on it retains your shape. You loose some of the elasticity when you rubberize it and you need the suit to be stretched out so the rubber doesn't peel and crack when you put the suit back on etc. sorry I just now responded to this lol but I'm just now getting back into things after the baby. But please feel free to use this thread and post stuff or ask questions!

 

[Riku Hoshizora]

Hey guys, I'm doing a Futuristic costume like that with led strips and all, anyway I'm not in the electronic, so I would like to ask you some things for lights...can you answer me for some questions about the Castor's Costume? :/

 

[Eveningarwen]

Hey guys, I'm doing a Futuristic costume like that with led strips and all, anyway I'm not in the electronic, so I would like to ask you some things for lights...can you answer me for some questions about the Castor's Costume? :/

Hi! Sure! I'll try my best anyway. And if I can't answer it I will ask my fiance to tell me what exactly he did.