Foam latex bodysuits?

[Pigeonnuggets]

I just cast my first foam latex prosthetic the other night, and now I'm already dreaming of a future foam latex full body costume. However, I sometimes hear artists talking about using a foam latex + ??? hybrid for the body. If so, what is this other component, which I assume is to prevent most possible tears or damage?

Secondly, Can you pour multiple batches of foam latex into the body suit mold as long as you reduce the amount of gelling agent used as to delay the gel time and allow more window to mix and pour enough for the rest of it ?

Right now I'm just dreaming, but I'd love to be a full bodied foam latex creature next Halloween.
(apologies if my questions are newb-ish, too)

 

[BcoleFx]

I think when you're talking about the hybrid you're talking about a latex poly foam situation. That is different than foam latex. You can layer mask latex in your body suit mold put in your body form core and fill the void with poly foam. When you mix the 2 part foam it will expand like crazy and fill your mold so after you pour it you got to close your mold quick and clamp it so it doesn't explode. That poly foam is the the biggest most awful mess ever if it spills out. Also if you do the suit out of foam latex you can add injection points up your mold and inject the latex instead of pouring. If you start at the feet and work your way up you can get away with doing multiple batches of foam if it gels on you. Hope that helps.

 

[WrenW]

I was under the impression that poly foam isn't supposed to be used for body applications because it's fairly toxic. Have I been misled?

 

[Pigeonnuggets]

Hm. Sounds about right.

How many gallons would you estimate, of foam latex, needed for a full body application? (think 5'5, average sized female)

another question; I'm contemplating starting a project this summer to make a puppeteered Kaiju (Pacific Rim) suit. After I have the framework worked out, I was going to try a muslin or fleece mock up 'skin' but also, assuming I get a little ballsy and I have more confidence/experience with foam latex under my belt by then, I may attempt a Foam latex 'skin'. That aside, I was thinking chopping the mold up into separate pieces to mix/cook one by one may be the best way to do it. How do you seam/attach these spliced up pieces together, afterwords?


Thanks!

 

[booksandcorsets]

There's too many unanswered questions in order to answer you correctly. IE: What kind of expansion are you looking at for the foam? What is your final goal in size?

You might want to do an overlay and figure out how much larger your suit will be compared to you, and then just use math to figure out how much you'll need.

 

[BcoleFx]

I was under the impression that poly foam isn't supposed to be used for body applications because it's fairly toxic. Have I been misled?

if everything is covered in latex the poly foam will be encased in it. so the only thing touching the body will be latex.

 

[BcoleFx]

Hm. Sounds about right.

How many gallons would you estimate, of foam latex, needed for a full body application? (think 5'5, average sized female)

another question; I'm contemplating starting a project this summer to make a puppeteered Kaiju (Pacific Rim) suit. After I have the framework worked out, I was going to try a muslin or fleece mock up 'skin' but also, assuming I get a little ballsy and I have more confidence/experience with foam latex under my belt by then, I may attempt a Foam latex 'skin'. That aside, I was thinking chopping the mold up into separate pieces to mix/cook one by one may be the best way to do it. How do you seam/attach these spliced up pieces together, afterwords?


Thanks!

I always think of it in how many batches of foam latex it will take to fill a mold. A quart kit from monster makers will give you about six batches. To give you an idea a six foot tall monster suit with not too crazy thickness of a skin I think took about 40 something batches when i saw it done. So you're looking in the neighborhood of 30 batches so a gallon kit would probably do the trick...that and a big ass mixer

 

[booksandcorsets]

Fauno (see my last thread) took a bit more than 2 gallons of monster makers RD407 latex, so your math may be a bit off...

 

[BcoleFx]

Fauno (see my last thread) took a bit more than 2 gallons of monster makers RD407 latex, so your math may be a bit off...

Isnt that just mask latex? foam latex is different. it expands quite a bit after mixed.

 

[booksandcorsets]

Isnt that just mask latex? foam latex is different. it expands quite a bit after mixed.

Right. I'm getting confused which method we're discussing If you backfill mask latex with a cold foam you could get a very similar technique, and it may be preferable depending on how much larger the suit will be compared to the person inside.

 

[WrenW]

if everything is covered in latex the poly foam will be encased in it. so the only thing touching the body will be latex.

Cool. Thanks. I'll have to add poly foam to my repertoire

 

[Boogeyman]

You will need a couple gallons of foam latex, i'd say 5 gallons to be safe.