Custom Pred, On The Dirt Cheap Route For Now.

[Impactor]

Hey guys, been here for a short while and Im finally going to start my Pred suit. First off my name is Gabe and I've got some experience with costumes but that's just limited to armor work some sewing and painting for my Mando. I'm currently a college student so I'm kinda broke, my budget for this build is $600-700, I'm aware that'll change but I have all the time in the world to accumulate funds if unexpected expenses come up lol. There isn't a time frame, I just want to make a suit that I'm proud of and represents the hunter's lair well.
Alright, on to the good stuff. I got a shitload of this clay for free: http://www.dickblick.com/products/sculpture-house-roma-plastilina-modeling-clay/
My friends school ordered too much and decided to start tossing the free extras. I got a mix of hard and soft.
Im planning to sculpt the mask, then mold and cast it. If that goes well and I don't suck too bad at sculpting, I'll try my hand at sculpting the body suit as well and casting that. I've got no experience with sculpting, like zero, never even played with playdoh, just sniffed it all the time so any advice, tips, wips, comments, anything you guys are willing to provide I'd be completely grateful. I've contacted a few of you with questions and you've all been absolutely awesome with answering them, thanks guys.
If sculpting goes to poop I plan to use this: http://www.target.com/p/men-s-spider-man-classic-muscle-costume/-/A-14090267?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=%7C14090267&CPNG=Seasonal&kpid=14090267&ci_gpa=pla&ci_sku=14090267 and apply the mr. I method. Its cheaper than a Mr I suit so I decided to go with it, anyone got any experience with it?
I'm currently in the planning phase but you'll guys get to see progress once my armature thingamabob arrives!
One question, does anyone recommend any particular airbrush set? And again, any tips you guys are willing to share would be absolutely appreciated!
Thanks guys, hope to do the lair proud with this build.

 

[Wolfmanlandin]

You'll definitely want to stay away from that clay if you plan on using any silicone or most urethanes for molding as it contains sulfur, and will inhibit most curing. It's great otherwise, but with most materials you'll end up using, you're going to want to make sure and check compatibility before committing to the work and ending up with a sad mess and wasted time. Sulfur and latex are not friends of silicone. Good luck with your build, and can't wait to see what you come up with.

-Brandon

 

[Impactor]

Yeah, one of the members here who's been extremely helpful let me know that the clay doesn't mix with silicone. I was wondering though, are most masks casted from latex or silicone? If its the latter I'm guessing I'll have to find some other clay to use?
Thanks for the help, man!

 

[Wolfmanlandin]

The casting method is going to depend ultimately on your budget and skill with the particular materials, but I would say that if you plan to cast the mask in latex, then you're typically going with a stone mold. Most of the masks you'll see are going to be latex. Silicone is definitely a great option, but it is more expensive, and heavier, so you want to make sure it will be what you want. Latex is a little more forgiving, can be seamed easier than silicone, and also stone and latex material costs are generally much less than silicone.

-B

 

[Impactor]

Gotta do some more research on this Stine molding stuff now. But I'll worry about that once I actually get sculpting. Thanks for the info man! Its exactly what I need!

 

[wonko]

There are a ton of videos on you-tube that go through the molding process. It may be worth your time to get some of that clay and do some testing. I haven't molded anything in latex, so I can't say for sure, but I do know that a good coat of clear gloss sprayed over the sculpt really helps in getting the sculpt out of the mold. I would think that that clay, coated with a few gloss coats would be okay if your using RD407 latex. There are many people with tons more experience than me that will probably step in and tell me I'm wrong (I probably am). Also, I was taught that anything soft uses a hard mold, and anything hard uses a soft mold.

Brian

 

[Impactor]

Would clear gloss be the same as like, pretoleum jelly? Or is that the loosening agent? Again. I'll be asking tons of annoying ass questions for a while cause this is still pretty new to me, terms and all. So thanks for putting up with it ahead of time LOL.
I have a mix of hard and soft. I might just use this clay for practice and sculpt something smaller and not cast it. I might just invest on some of the medium chavant stuff I keep hearing about, use that for my pred head and cast that.
Let me just say though, this is pretty exciting its been a while since I've been challenged to learn something new like this.

 

[wonko]

I've heard of people using a thin layer of petroleum jelly over the sculpt, but the gloss I'm talking about is the stuff in the spray cans (just regular old gloss clear coat spray paint). Not sure if one is better than the other, as I've only used gloss clear coat.

Brian

 

[Impactor]

Somewhat of an update, got a concept sketch done, I'm not a very good artist its just to give you guys a jist of what the head sculpt should look like. And no scanner. Sorry.
I wanted to go with an angular crown and spikey brow just cause it looks meaner.
Oh, and I'm currently hoarding clay so things should be moving faster by January.

No dreads:

Dreads:

Longer dreads: