MARTIAN TENTACAL HELP!

[charliesg22]

Any advice massively appreciated.

I was asked to make a martian tentacle, it needed to be 2.4 m in length, be strong enough to be dropped from a ceiling everyday a few times a day for 3 years have flexibility and look slimey.

I was only given a small amount of time to do this therefore was unable to test materials.

I made it from tights with stuffing beads and wadding. i dipped the tights in a rosco paints with glaze to create paint affect. I then sprayed a few layers of clear plastidip and glossifier on it. This didnt make it slimey or strong enough so then i added hato clar and a pearl powder for shine but still not slimey enough but defo added strength. So i then sprayed with a gloss spray top coat.

I was sure that it would be strong but i think from all the layers of paint it weakened it and so in testing the top layer ripped.

I now feel like I need to start again with limited budget and time. My questions are..... if i took out the plastidip option and just used hato clar and gloss spray would this be a better idea?

Would layers of bona mega be a better idea?

How can i create the slime whilst also keeping its strength?

Should I be looking at coating in silicone?

Would really love some advice on this!

Thanks so much,

Charlie


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[udog]

You could coat it with latex and then go for the slime.
Silicone could do too. Latex is cheaper, but being an organic material it degrades along time depending on the conditions. Silicone is more expensive, but won´t degrade.
Latex is very strong though, with less you´ll achieve good strength.
As for silicone (platinum), always make tests before as it can be inhibited by certain materials.

 

[charliesg22]

thanks for this response, I can’t use latex due to people touching it with allergies. I am now thinking of putting a cheese cloth layer over what I have made attached with contact adhesive and then putting layers of silicone, do you think this would work ok?

 

[udog]

Not sure if contact glue will inhibit silicone (if you are talking about platinum silicone). You should make a small test first to be sure. Also take in account most contact glues harden a lot with time, don´t know if that could be a problem. Cheese cloth is also fairly rigid
I´ve also seen people that used silicone caulk for these things. Not the same as platinum but no inhibition problems in first instance. Tin silicone could be one too. But platinum is the most durable.
I would make tests, also with silicone on top of what you have to see if it works.

All in all silicone looks like an option if latex isn´t. But you will have to find out if it works on top of what you have.