New to THL and have some newb questions =(

[JoeSomebody369]

Hi guys, I recently was looking into buying a predator mask on ebay to go with my AVP alien mask and i saw someone who was selling a full custom made predator costume and had a link to a youtube video show it at a convention and then finally a link to this website. So i said...screw buying a mask I want to make a full suit. Now I have the help of my sister who is very artsy and crafty to help with the whole process me on the other hand not so much lol I provide the funds haha.

now to my questions

Me and my sister talked about it and she has worked with latex material before she wants to know how to actually mold the design for the suit

heres what we came up with...

-Make imprint in clay w/ body part, carve out details, fill (shallow) w/ latex, outcome = finish latex piece fits to body part.

now i'm sure its not that easy after looking at alot of your suits on the forums and youtube vids they are amazing im really impressed. I'm not asking someone to explain the whole process to me but that would be great =(, or even a list of materials that would be good to use for good quality but also not that costly (short budget at the moment). we could really use a lot of help and any help at all would be so appreciated

 

[Ei luj]

Welcome to the Lair!

you will wonder where your spare time went

Anyway, as to your question on the molding, what has been kicking around in my head is doing the "life cast" of the body part using the plaster bandage method (I think theres kits available). Thing is, you have to figure for "wiggle room".

What people usually do is do a ducktape dummy, wrap the area in saran wrap, then wrap the tape (not too snug!) over it, and then carefully cut the tape along one length, and then retape and stuff it. Then they have the same size as their body and can use it as a form.

hope this helps,

---
Ei'luj

 

[JoeSomebody369]

Thank you , quick question, just generally stuff it with foam pieces the easiest thing to stuff it with?

 

[Ei luj]

Thank you , quick question, just generally stuff it with foam pieces the easiest thing to stuff it with?

if its a whole body ducktape dummy, then you have to use the lightest stuff you can find, but still be able to hold its shape.... I used shop towels from Home Depot in mine, and boy was it heavy... I had to hang it from an industrial strength hook that had a 3" woodscrew on one end.. only spot that could handle it was the small garage door top section.

Some have tried packing peanuts for the whole body.

If its a small section, like an arm or leg, then shop towels are OK.

Same goes for the head...

you may get good results with newspaper for the small sections also.

---
Ei'luj

 

[JoeSomebody369]

Alright sounds fairly easy to get started, been looking at some of the finished costumes on the forums and with the advice your giving me the skin doesnt seem like the hard part. What my question is now when your make the armor for example, the wrist blade or say a small chest armor that covers half of the predators chest are those formed with say a clay mold and than poured with latex until getting the desired thickness and stuffed and than sew em shut? sorry for all the questions but you helping alot towards getting me started really soon

 

[crawjaw]

There are alternatives to making armour other than clay moulding. One would be the use of Sintra (Foamex) and you can get excellent advice on this technique at Belfast Neil's Armour and
VinManmac AVP Templates
Both of these guys have produced unbelievable armour without the need for clay or latex/silicone moulding,

If you want to go down the clay modelling route have a look at Carlarts Clay Forming
Carlarts technique is quite different from the above but the results are also unbelievable. Check out more of his tutorials, wonderful stuff.

Papier mache, epoxy resins/fibreglass, Jesmonite/fibre or foam sheets can be formed directly on your model but if your sculpting skills are minimal I'd go with the Sintra sheets and templates.

Of course there are other methods I've missed and there also other great examples by the talented guys on the Lair, so use the search function to check them out.

 

[4505marcel]

With the duct tape dummy couldnt spray foam be used to fill it, like what builders use around window cavities ect. THis stuff swells up and would fill the dummy tight

 

[esdain]

i used expanding builders foam for mine, works great, only thing is, depending on what you are using it for is that eventually the foam compacts and he will begin to bend in places. mine went at the knees first with the weight of a full suit, but i designed mine to be free standing.

second time i did it i built and internal skeleton from plumbing pipes, you know the white plastic ones

 

[4505marcel]

I want to use a duct tape dummy purely for making a skin (latexing on), and not for display. So should the spray foam be ok for this? Ive also been told to use a lycra suit of some description on the duct tape for the latex to stick to, which will hold the latex better and stop it from splitting.

 

[esdain]

hold on, let me get this straight, you are gonna be painting the latex straight onto the duct tape?
most ppl would use the dummy as a master to build clay onto and then make a plaster negative mould of that, then pour the latex into the mould

 

[4505marcel]

I was in the understanding that once the duct tape dummy was made, and filled. I could then put on a lycra/cotton undresuit onto the dummy. And then start building up latex onto the undersuit, and then add muscle structure with foam and veins ect with pipeing then more latex.
I am going to be doing the legs and torso seperate on the duct tape dummy, I figured the legs would pull down once cured and the torso cut up the back and pulled off same as I would take the suit off, and then stitch a large zipper down the back of the torso through the fabric and latex ( I may even pull the torso off mid latexting to stitch zipper and put it back on the duct tape dummy to complete the final layers of latex.

Will this not work then ?

This is a one off skin with no armour parts on as I want to have these seperate, so didnt think id need to make a mould

 

[esdain]

aaah, yes that will work, find macguyvers mr incredible huntorial, it will explain it all