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fallin1 posted:Oh hey foam latex is what that is. Was kind of a pain to cut too. Is it flexible?
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Aug 28, 2013 05:08
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Flanker posted:Is it flexible? Quite, I didn't mold it anything as I bought a preformed mask and modified it so I can't speak on how easy it sculpts.
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Aug 28, 2013 05:15
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Foam latex? Where did you buy a foam latex mask? Foam latex is a weird stuff, it's super flexible and kinda delicate, and it's organic so it'll start to rot/perish after a fairly short period. In the movie industry it's used a lot for prosthetics and animatronic skins but it needs constant care, repair and replacement. Outside of a specialist studio it's an unbelieveable pain in the arse to use, you need an oven to cure it and it can't be used for anything other than foam latex, and it's very sensitive to mix ratio mistakes and non-optimal working temperature. Animatronics that need to withstand constant use such as off-the-shelf for hire SFX creatures are usually skinned with silicone as this doesn't perish and is less liable to tearing. Most commercially available masks aren't made from foam latex, they'd use various synthetic foams, plastics and rubbers like expanding polyurethane or vinyl or whatever. Ones made by small studios and hobbyists are most likely to be something like flexible expanding polyurethane foam since that can be bought as kits from various suppliers and don't require an oven to cure.
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Aug 28, 2013 14:59
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Fatkraken posted:
I want to know more. For a four day con, I'll take toughness over other considerations. Tell me about silicone masks
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Aug 28, 2013 15:59
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Flanker posted:Tell me about silicone masks This site has a nice selection of silicone masks and they also have videos of most of them in action, if you're wondering how the masks look and move.
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Aug 28, 2013 17:07
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Yep, those horse teeth are as terrifying as I thought they would be. Awesome job and you're going to have to show your work with the foam latex, if you decide to go that way. I saw two pictures of you on my tumblr feed - I didn't grab any of them, because I only remembered a goon was doing Beta Ray an hour after I saw them. I think if you look at the con hashtag, you might see them floating around. Also, Frog of Thunder! 
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Aug 28, 2013 17:49
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Flanker posted:I want to know more. For a four day con, I'll take toughness over other considerations. FOAM latex is weak and lovely. CAST latex is pretty durable. Latex is a rubber. You can get it as a liquid where it's mixed with preservatives like ammonia, and you can paint or "slush" it onto an object (or the inside of a mold) in layers and end up with a thin rubber shell. You can make an over-the-head halloween mask from liquid latex and end up with a floppy and *slightly* stretchy rubber skin a mm or two thick. if you care for it well it can last many years, keep it in a coolish cry place out of the sun and it'll do you well. However, any large protrusions like snouts and so on will need some form of internal support such as expanding foam or a rigid underskull, or they will flop all over the place and look a bit rubbish. http://mandalastudios.co.uk/product_detail.php?productID=9&toplevelID=5&parentID=25 is an over-the-head latex shell mask, latex-only works best where there are no major structures like a wolf snout, but it can hold itself up for smaller parts like noses or ears When you make foam latex, you are essentially mixing regular latex with various foaming agents (soapy poo poo) and other additives to fill it with tiny bubbles. This gives you a material that will fill a space rather than just form a shell. So when you use a two part mold you can FILL it with foam latex and rather than just make a thin skin, you can make pieces several centimetres thick. It's fairly light and extremely flexible, it's used for things like monster skins over animatronics and werewolf facial prosthetics in movies. However, because it's all foamy and full of other crap, it needs to be heat cured in an oven, and because of the toxicity of some of the chemicals, this needs to be an oven you don't use for anything else. The foamy nature also means that a HUGE surface area is going to end up exposed to the air, and because it is a natural rubber, it will react and begin to perish. Take a look at some of the "before" shots here http://www.tomspinadesigns.com/movie-prop-restoration.html to see how foam latex can deteriorate. It's intended to be disposable, but will still last months-years if well cared for, so wouldn't be totally imappropriate for a few conventions worth of wear were it not such a git to work with. From what I've been told, attempting to work with foam latex is simply not worth the hassle outside of a specialist studio where someone else is paying for the equipment and the client only needs the creature to look perfect for a couple of days shooting Expanding POLYURETHANE foam is a bit different, it's a synthetic polymer rather than a natural rubber. Foam sofa cushions and dish sponges are made of the same stuff produced on an industrial scale, and DIY expanding foams are an example of the rigid form. For hobbyists, you will get expanding PU foam as two liquids which are mixed together and foam up to fill a mold (plaster is fine as long as you read up on what mold release you will need, fibreglass is the industry standard). It comes in rigid and flexible forms, make sure you know what you're getting. I've not really worked with it much, and it can be tempermental (voids/large bubbles are a big issue, I'm told it behaves rather like souffle). Proper PPE is essential, read the safety data sheet and follow it I cannot stress this enough, you can do yourself a serious injury with foam there has been at least one death from people being total idiots with this poo poo. Expanding PU is employed for masks that are too large or protuberant for latex only, stuff like this http://mandalastudios.co.uk/product_detail.php?productID=54&toplevelID=5&parentID=39 where the whole structure would collapse if it was just a thin shell. A lot of walkaround monsters use lots of expanding foam, like this guy http://www.nimbacreations.com/library/charr-rytlock.jpg who is pretty much entirely made of the stuff. Some foams form their own skin, some require a skin of latex or other materials to be applied to the mold first. Silicone is the dogs bollocks. It's also expensive, the CFX masks linked before aren't just charging for labour, the actual material is not cheap. Silicone is a synthetic rubber containing the element silicon. There are a lot of different kinds, which use different metals to cure, if you're wearing something against your skin you will likely want platinum cure silicone of some kind, tin cure can cause adverse reactions and is not considered to be skin-safe. Silicone masks would be case with a two part mold, and they fill the space between the parts much like foam or foam latex, but because silicone is a liquid not a foam (the consistency is often honey like or thicker) it will fill the spaces a bit better and be less of a pain to work with, though you still need quite a bit of equipment. A silicone mask will be floppy but have thick sections, not just be a thin shell, and will weigh quite a lot in comparison to a shell mask. It will last pretty much indefinitely bar wear and tear damage (literal tearing can be an issue). For pieces that need to be VERY stretchy, you need deadeners and all kinds of advanced poo poo. I have used plat and tin-cure silicones to make molds and I plan to use plat cure silicone extensively in a near future project. A friend has already made good use of it on his skeksis head http://th05.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2012/260/1/e/xaerael__great_britain__as_skeksil_by_cosplayatmcmexpo-d5ezqz1.jpg though it (and the live hand) also has an internal skeleton made of rigid resin, silicone is floppy and needs support for large structures. Platinum-cure silicone is fairly safe to work with as even the mixed liquid is skin safe (you can use it as a glue to apply prosthetics made from the same silicone). All the above methods require MOLDMAKING, where you make an original in some sort of clay or wax then make a mold and use that to reproduce that sculpture in a different material. In general, a rigid piece requires a flexible mold, and a flexible piece a rigid mold. A simple slush-cast latex piece will often only need a single one part hard mold which can be made from an inexpensive material like plaster. On the other hand, even a relatively simple animatronic head might need ten+ molds all in plus their associated multi-part rigid mother molds, for the skin, the back side of the skin, the rigid underskull, the teeth, ears, supports for the servos and so on. I am planning on making an animatronic head and budgeting $500+ JUST for materials. A simple slush-cast latex head with no support or a papier mache or wonderflex underskull could be done for well under 50 bucks (though the initial outlay would be more, a lot of this poo poo is cheaper to buy in bulk) Fatkraken fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Aug 28, 2013 |
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Aug 28, 2013 17:58
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Why (Robot) Hell-o there.
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Aug 29, 2013 01:19
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Fatkraken posted:
tell me more
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Aug 31, 2013 20:02
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Flanker posted:tell me more Oh man I don't even know where to start. What sort of thing were you planning on making, and what materials appeal to you? If you want a rigid final piece the approach is quite different to if you want a flexible one, and the material you want to use will influence the best approach for a mold too.
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Sep 1, 2013 14:06
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I love casting for producing final products, but be wary of the monetary investment. It took me awhile to realize why a lot of cosplayers fabricate rather than mold and cast. It adds up very quickly. Especially with flexible molds.
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Sep 1, 2013 14:37
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oneof27 posted:I love casting for producing final products, but be wary of the monetary investment. It took me awhile to realize why a lot of cosplayers fabricate rather than mold and cast. Yeah, it's not cheap. If you start off with rigid plaster molds and cast in latex or expanding foam then you're only investing in one expensive tub-of-goop, plaster is very cheap if you buy in bulk. Unfortunately from what I've been told expanding foam is a pain in the arse to work with, and while I like latex a lot it too has it's limitations. Fibreglass isn't TOO expensive as resins go, but it's so horrifically nasty to use it's not much of an alternative unless you have a dedicated garage, workshop or other outside space to work in. Silicone rubbers and PU resins are pricey. I LOVE the finish you get with things like silicone and resins, but if you're going that way it's better to treat cosplay as a "one major project per year or two with some simple sewn things in between" proposition rather than expecting to complete multiple complex costumes for every event. I've been planning my latest costume for years on and off, and I'll be treating each element as a separate project.
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Sep 1, 2013 14:58
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I'm in graduate school for puppetry and this semester I'm doing a research project on materials. One of the things I'm working on is paper mâché casting techniques and recipes. I'll work up my results if anyone is interested.
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Sep 1, 2013 15:04
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oneof27 posted:I'm in graduate school for puppetry and this semester I'm doing a research project on materials. That would be awesome! I'm a big advocate of papier mâché as a technique since it's so cheap and versatile, but my knowledge isn't really advanced enough to put it to good use for anything other than internal supports for other materials. Also post about puppets! Make a thread if you have to, I've done a little bit on that front but nothing advance and it'd be awesome to get inspiration from someone who does things properly
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Sep 1, 2013 15:34
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Went to D*Con this weekend and did a group with a bunch of my friends. I was the engineer.
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Sep 2, 2013 22:42
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Holy loving poo poo.
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Sep 3, 2013 08:27
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WaterIsPoison posted:Went to D*Con this weekend and did a group with a bunch of my friends. I was the engineer. Wow. That is amazing! Thank you for sharing. did you get mobbed?
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Sep 3, 2013 11:21
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Svarotslav posted:Wow. That is amazing! Thank you for sharing. did you get mobbed? Yeah, most people came up to us to apologize for killing so many Kerbals. Only wore it two evenings because the Kerbanauts had a much more difficult time wearing it than I did with just the head. If you guys were curious, here are instructions for making the helmets/heads. http://imgur.com/a/tGaxR
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Sep 3, 2013 15:30
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WaterIsPoison posted:Yeah, most people came up to us to apologize for killing so many Kerbals. Only wore it two evenings because the Kerbanauts had a much more difficult time wearing it than I did with just the head. If you guys were curious, here are instructions for making the helmets/heads. *Crashing rockets full of kerbals into various planets for funsies.
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Sep 3, 2013 16:07
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Still need to attach some leather straps to secure the mask but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. 
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Sep 3, 2013 22:37
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How did you decide who got to be Jeb?
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Sep 4, 2013 00:51
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Germstore posted:How did you decide who got to be Jeb? Our friend who came up with the idea got to be Jeb. I was the late comer and was relegated to a non-kerbanaut role. Still, I think I came out ahead due to significantly less work in addition to being able to dance and party with my costume on.
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Sep 4, 2013 04:37
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WaterIsPoison posted:Went to D*Con this weekend and did a group with a bunch of my friends. I was the engineer. You're famous! http://fashionablygeek.com/costumes/only-at-dragon-con-will-you-find-kerbal-space-program-cosplay/
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Sep 4, 2013 17:56
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New project start due to the last one stalling all the time. Zinogre armour from Monster Hunter portable 3rd. Day 1 progress  Few alterations need making, overlooked the top "claw" not being in line with the others. The ribs need flattening out a lot more too, but it's just clay.
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Sep 5, 2013 00:11
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 The Robot Devil damning R2D2 to Robot Hell at Dragon*Con, doubly so for his stupid Jayne-hat. I'd say the costume was a success, during the Futurama panel we got as big an ovation entering the room as the voice actors.
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Sep 5, 2013 04:40
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I went to dragoncon as a Legionary Decanus from Caesar's Legion in Fallout New Vegas http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/amazing_tito/9680376230/
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Sep 6, 2013 03:42
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I ended up with two costumes for Dragon*Con. The one I put all the time and effort into was Girl Stinky, with the frustrating wig:  Unfortunately, by the end of the day I had a blister so bad on my foot it felt like I was walking on a balloon, so I didn't stick with that one. Just as well, really, I wasn't recognized very much. That's what I get for being an obscure video game character. My other costume was a maneki neko.  I did this for Halloween a couple years ago and it went well, but I got some different white clothes and didn't go out of my way to do cat face makeup this time around. I didn't intend for it to look like the socialite version of a lucky cat, but I kind of like it that way. I made the purse out of gold lamé, and it lasted until the end of the con, but it's kind of exploding into gold shards around the edges. Next time I do this costume I'll make another one out of a more durable fabric. The husband went as Colonel Sanders, which is always two steps shy of rock star status no matter where you are. (He's the Colonel on the right.) 
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Sep 8, 2013 14:01
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 Incredibly lovely cellphone pic incoming - turns out it's really, really hard to use a smartphone screen in these gloves. Anyawy - makeup and eyes are a quick GIMP hack-job, but that's the basic look that I'm going for. I'll also be shaving the sides of my head for more of a faux-hawk to better accomodate the headpiece, and give a better head profile. And the pants will have to be black as well - gray isn't really working. The armour is no longer only black - there's a coat of gunsmoke on the raised portions which looks pretty good. I'll have to add some kind of detailing along the blank portions of the arms - they look pretty bare at the moment - possible musculature or even just simple composite-plate style designs and maybe some screws to imply assembly. I'm also toying with the idea of some rigid pieces along the shoulder and chest area beneath the shirt to give an angular appearance - try and sell the illusion of a mechanical body better.
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Sep 8, 2013 16:41
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McKilligan posted:Incredibly lovely cellphone pic incoming - turns out it's really, really hard to use a smartphone screen in these gloves. Get some conductive thread, if you really want to be able to use your phone. Problem solved. http://www.adafruit.com/products/640 It looks great. 
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Sep 8, 2013 20:23
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Does anybody have a preferred source for colored/fx contacts? I want a pair of really awesome red or red/gold ones for my upcoming Warhammer Fantasy project but I'm a bit paranoid about how to evaluate contact quality. I've heard good things about Samhain but their lenses are so freaking expensive!
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Sep 8, 2013 20:52
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Mecha Neko posted:I ended up with two costumes for Dragon*Con. I'm so sad I missed this, I love the Telltale Sam & Max games. I hope you were really rude to people who wanted your photo.
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Sep 8, 2013 23:09
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McPantserton posted:Does anybody have a preferred source for colored/fx contacts? I want a pair of really awesome red or red/gold ones for my upcoming Warhammer Fantasy project but I'm a bit paranoid about how to evaluate contact quality. I've heard good things about Samhain but their lenses are so freaking expensive! Acuvue and Freshlook make really nice coloured contacts, but I'm not sure they'd be the colour you're looking for. Vision direct has a bunch that are FDA approved: http://www.visiondirect.com/theatrical-lenses/qxc179143 as does Coastal Contacts: http://www.coastal.com/halloween-lenses. I've used the Canadian version of Coastal (Clearly Contacts), and they're always great. Basically, you want a site that requires you to input a prescription and has a bunch of warnings on it, telling you that you should get a professional contact fitting before fooling around with this stuff.
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Sep 9, 2013 00:12
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McPantserton posted:Does anybody have a preferred source for colored/fx contacts? I want a pair of really awesome red or red/gold ones for my upcoming Warhammer Fantasy project but I'm a bit paranoid about how to evaluate contact quality. I've heard good things about Samhain but their lenses are so freaking expensive! Contacts are tricky ground. I worked in optics for over 10 years as a technician, and the #1 cause of some pretty evil infections and reactions were "cosmetic" lenses. This advice may sound a little "shock! horror!", but it's pretty much what anyone who's worked in clinical optics would tell you. (In other words, it's irresponsible of me not to.) To put it bluntly, if you gently caress your eyes up that it. Eyes are incredibly delicate organs and damaging them can easily be very permanent and life changing for the worse. As an example, recently in the UK a girl bought some over the counter lenses from a vendor (actually, a very reputable dealer too) at an event. She had a very rare massive allergic reaction to the preserve suspension and went permanently blind in one eye that could have been avoided if she'd cleaned the lenses before putting them in. The first thing you really need to do, if you haven't already (and you can ignore it if you have), is see an optometrist and make sure you're actually safe to wear contacts. It sounds stupid, but no one's eyes are the same as anyone else's, and intolerances are fairly common. Next (and again, if you already wear contacts please ignore), pay for a professional to teach you to put in contacts, and how to handle them properly. This is pretty much where 90% of contact mishaps occur, from bad wetting, reusing old lenses, getting lenses "stuck", and so on. Now on to lenses. Cosmetic lenses are the devil. Especially the "off the shelf" ones you buy at costume/fashion/mail order shops. The preservative they suspend them in is stupidly strong (to the point there is ongoing campaigns in the UK LOCs to ban certain strengths of preserve) to prolong their shelf life as long as possible, and they NEVER give you good instructions, just whatever is legally needed. (This is why I say see an optom first). Generally speaking, the more you pay, the better the quality. Brief search yielded these guys who seem "OK", but I can't honestly recommend them due to never actually dealing with them: http://www.fxeyes.com/ As for suppliers, I actually don't know. Read and research people's experience with sellers, and you should find a decent one. "Cheap chinese" are notoriously bad, though. And they seed good reviews. In reality, you should expect to pay around $50-$80 for a good pair. But, when it comes to lenses being "too expensive" the best thing to think, rather than "buy cheaper" is "what is my vision worth". tl;dr: 1) See an optometrist and get them to teach you to handle CLs properly 2) Don't buy cheap. [Edit] PezMaster posted:Acuvue and Freshlook make really nice coloured contacts, but I'm not sure they'd be the colour you're looking for. Vision direct has a bunch that are FDA approved: http://www.visiondirect.com/theatrical-lenses/qxc179143 as does Coastal Contacts: http://www.coastal.com/halloween-lenses. I've used the Canadian version of Coastal (Clearly Contacts), and they're always great. Basically, you want a site that requires you to input a prescription and has a bunch of warnings on it, telling you that you should get a professional contact fitting before fooling around with this stuff. This seems like pretty good advice, and the companies both links have on offer are good and trustworthy. Not being from America, it's difficult to gauge a lot of things like how lenses are regulated and how much the standard prices are. Xaerael fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Sep 9, 2013 |
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Sep 9, 2013 00:27
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Xaerael posted:snip
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Sep 9, 2013 01:02
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McPantserton posted:Thank you for this! I do already wear regular contacts so I'm alright in that regard. Those 2 links that PezMaster posted have some styles that are about what I was looking for for more like $60 per pair, when I said the Samhain ones were pricey I meant they were ~$120 per lens, which is just out of my price range for one costume (although they look amaaaaaazing!). No worries. As long as you know what you're doing you should be fine. We've had a bad spate of incidents in the Uk cosplay community ever since they made it legal for anyone to sell Plano lenses several years ago, so I err on the side of caution whenever posting CL advice.
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Sep 9, 2013 01:14
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I would also recommend wearing the colored lenses a fair bit before the day you costume in them - colored lenses cover a little more of the eye generally, and it takes getting used to.
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Sep 9, 2013 01:22
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Xaerael posted:Contact stuff I've been planning on getting a set of lenses for a while - do you know anything about EOS lenses? I'm planning on ordering from them and they seem to have a barrage of positive reviews, youtube and otherwise. But the leneses I want are in the $30 price range, with what you've said about cheaper makes me a little cautious. Plus, you know, my eyes are kind of important. http://www.eoscl.co.kr/include/content.php?pageID=ID13019717061
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Sep 9, 2013 03:30
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McPantserton posted:Thank you for this! I do already wear regular contacts so I'm alright in that regard. Those 2 links that PezMaster posted have some styles that are about what I was looking for for more like $60 per pair, when I said the Samhain ones were pricey I meant they were ~$120 per lens, which is just out of my price range for one costume (although they look amaaaaaazing!). To add onto other tips, never ever ever try to make your own contact lenses by soaking contacts in kool-aid drink mix. I used to be friends with a person who would do that when she did costumes. I have no loving clue how she hasn't hosed up her eyes yet. Or maybe she already has and she just doesn't know it.
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Sep 9, 2013 04:55
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McKilligan posted:I've been planning on getting a set of lenses for a while - do you know anything about EOS lenses? I'm planning on ordering from them and they seem to have a barrage of positive reviews, youtube and otherwise. But the leneses I want are in the $30 price range, with what you've said about cheaper makes me a little cautious. Plus, you know, my eyes are kind of important. I really couldn't comment, they're not a brand I'm familiar with. All I can say is look for the negative reviews rather than good. Many of these "cheap" vendors/manufacturers seed everywhere with "good reviews". Look for people complaining of sore eyes, lenses de-laminating, lens colour layers chipping, etc.
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Sep 9, 2013 15:00
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My brother no longer wants to attend so it turns out I've got a (1) BlizzCon ticket to sell. I'd like if it went to a fellow cosplayer, so I'm posting the offer in here. I'll still be attending so you can either come with me on Thursday when I pick up my badges, or Friday morning I can pass it off to you. If anyone is interested, PM me and we can work out the finer details.
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Sep 9, 2013 17:30
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