Newbie Needs Help on BIG Project

[GMM]

Hello everyone!

A buddy of mine and I are working on a project, which I will try and describe below. We have been beating our brains out trying to figure out how to best tackle this. After MANY hours between us of googling and reading on this site and many others we have hit a wall in terms of which avenue to best proceed. So far this has by far been the most knowledgeable and helpful forum so I decided to finally bite the bullet and ask for help.

The Project

- An ALIEN themed chair. It will have internals, and will not be functional (for display of something inside).

- I own and want to base it on one of these:

Note mine is a very old model and not shiny plastic, but what seems to be fiberglass. So it will have a bit of tooth to it.

- The design I am after:

I will be sculpting and painting something inspired by this, all over the chair.

The Problems

- The chair is flexible. It is not made of rubber, but it will vibrate when carted around and taken to a convention. The materials will need to adhere and be at least somewhat flexible.

- The chair has many vertical and upside down surfaces to stick to. This needs to be very well adhered to the surface.

- It needs to look organic. I can work with this one more than the others, but I would prefer something smooth. If the only solution is a carved foam, then thats just how it is though.

- It needs to last. I believe, through my reading, that latex is out because there will be no way to store this optimally, as one would latex masks. It will be big, out in the open, taking indirect sunlight and in room temperature.

The Possible Solutions

These are possible solutions we have. None are perfect so far. We are hoping someone has an "aha!" or knows of a product that fits our needs we have not run across.

1. Sculpt in clay, mold in plaster, cast in silicone.

- This seems to be the optimal solution, albeit very expensive and cumbersome. It will take all my brainpower to figure out how the $%@# to make a multi part mold of this. I jokingly suggested we just cast the whole thing in two halves then chop it up.

- It would only really work if we could "slush" cast the molds in silicone as far as I am aware.

- Silicone may need some sort of special glues, or additional hardware fixtures to really stick to the egg.

- Alternatives to plaster may make this more viable, my friend suggested hard rubber. The science of what can go against what is proving to be just as complex.

- The hole would be filled with a wood board and caulked.

2. Great Stuff Over All Stuff.

- Same as above, but instead of plaster use some sort of spray foam that is lighter. May not work too hot with silicone...

3. Straight Sculpting.

- My ideal solution would be to find some sort of material that could be sculpted directly onto the egg AND adhere and take sculpting moderately well.

- Is there ANY sort of paintable, sculptable, non-clay sort of material out there? Something that lasts, is like silicone (or maybe IS) and would be good for this project?

4. A "Pelt"

- This was before latex was out, but we had the idea to make the detail on a large flat surface, cast that, then adhere and wrap the egg with the cast. Details would have to be made thicker to compensate for stretching.

Any Advice?

Well, this is where our past couple weeks of furious brainstorming has left us. We are hoping someone has some advice, and would enjoy this little puzzle. I certainly have, but I think the solution is out of my newbie grasp.

Thank you so much in advance.

 

[Propsjonnyb]

Fibreglass mother mold, inner silicon glove mold, cast in 40 to 60 shore silicon , epoxy adhesive to fix silicon to chair as a fairly simple answer , the mold will be big and you'll have to slush cast it my hand , with lot's of little helpers !

 

[GMM]

Fibreglass mother mold, inner silicon glove mold, cast in 40 to 60 shore silicon , epoxy adhesive to fix silicon to chair as a fairly simple answer , the mold will be big and you'll have to slush cast it my hand , with lot's of little helpers !

Thanks for the post! This raises a couple more questions.

- How would you suggest tackling the mold? In two giant halves?

- Can a shore 40-60 silicone such as smooth ons be painted?

- What about replacing the soft part of the mold (silicone) with latex since it is a one off. Is that feasible? Would save a ton of money.

Thanks!!

 

[Propsjonnyb]

In simple terms YES ! a two half mold , add a divider all the way round the half first , the inner mold could be latex ,no problem with that, apart from you'll have to build it up with many layers to get the thickness needed to reproduce any detail I'd estimate about a dozen coats , should build a layer about 1/4" thick , I would prefer to have a thicker layer myself , so might add more If I were doing it, what will take time is drying , if you do use latex you'll have to wait until each layer is dry before adding the next.
Once dry , make up the outer 'mother' fibreglass mold completely cover the half including the divider , ( you'll need to connect both halves together so include the divider in your mold, all ow this to dry , now do exactly the same to the other half after giving the outside rim a good spray of release agent, when dry, drill connection points around the rim , remember you want a good seal when casting . and use nuts and bolts to connect them together . when making a old of two half , you 'll need to decide where you going to make the join for the two halves , not too bad if you going to join and hide the joint afterwards, 40-60 can be painted with either latex based paints or you can use Plastikote or Plastidip as we'll most harware stores sell similar types of products , just check on the can.

 

[GMM]

Hello again all

I have come to the conclusion that, while it might be the most fragile route, doing clay straight onto the egg might be the best way to go for me personally. Being new to all this I see too many potential complications with too much money.

My plan of attack now is to use chicken wire in a fine mesh epoxied onto the surface, with the clay biting into that.

Now my question is what sort of clay do you suggest? Sculpey is possible with a heat gun I suppose. Traditional clay is of course out because it would be so brittle.

Is there a clay that is flexible slightly but could dry under these conditions?

Thanks for any help!

 

[metal wood]

clay! that chair will weigh a ton and then some, i could also see it cracking just from someone sitting in it. have you thought of foam and then around the house type things like garden hoses and what nots... then adding smaller casts for things that you could not replicate with found objects. could even just go nuts with foam spray (the pressurized insulation in a can type of thing, like Great Stuff) then carve and shave till you get the base too where you want it. just a couple ideas that i would use over 2 tons of clay.

 

[Sigma-LS]

Build an armature of tubes and bits bolted to the shell, then sculpt over it with apoxy sculpt. That stuff is tough as sin. Smooth on also makes a lighter fluffier version with the consistency of biscuit dough.