I don't know if Van Aken clay is sulphur free or not. When I did tests, a plaster mould made from a sulphur based clay was no good - the Platsil Gel-10 did not cure on it. So check on their website.
I have some Kleen Klay which is sulphur free but to soft and greasy for good sculpting, but ok for building the wall to separate the mould halves. aFor sculpting I used Chavant NSP (Non Sulphur Plasticine) Medium hardness which is better, and both of those work fine with platinum cure silicones. I have some Hard NSP as well but haven't used it yet. Both are dark reddish- brown in colour.
All my no-name industrial plasticine, and my Roma Plastilina, are useless for silicone puppets since they contain sulphur.
I also found that if I previously cast latex in a mould, the platinum silicone would not cure on it.
Armature wire - check.
Ultra Cal 30 - check.
Mould release - I used soap - pieces of a bar of soap shaved into hot water and mixed. It worked. It also works for foam latex.
Platsil Gel-10 - check. I also tested Smooth-On Ecoflex 00-30 which is softer, another animator brought some and we cast a head in it. I like it. Unlike Platsil with Smith's deadener added, it doesn't go tacky on the surface. I will still add deadener for the stuff I pour inside. I just bought some old stock Ecoflex at half price, a big risk but I'll see if it works.
Psycho Paint - check. You need the base, and paint or pigment to colour it - I got the genuine pigments but acrylic paints also worked when I tried mixing them in.
Clamp straps for mould - check. For some moulds I use spring clamps - they are cheap, made of black plastic, and available at all hardware stores. I used to have a bunch of rubber strips cut from old car inner tubes but most tyres are tubeless now - still, you could ask at a local garage or tyre store if they have any they are throwing out.
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The foam is called 'Soma Foama' and you can order it from 'Smooth-On Inc'. I can't help you with locating a local supplier to you, you'll need to Google that for yourself. :)
Sunday, 18 July 2010 19:48
Gene,
When you say foam silicone, what is the product and from whom do you purchase it from? I am looking for a local distributer in Virginia for the Ultra Cal 30 because shipping will cost more than the product. But the rest I am sure I will need to order online. I really want to express my thanks, in how every one shares information. It is a true love of the craft. I so admire the work of Ron, Marc, Nick, and so many others. You guys keep the art alive!
Sunday, 18 July 2010 19:44
Emily's right, I should have mentioned the deadener. That's called 'Smith's Deadener' if you wanna look that up. But bear in mind that the Deadener only softens the rubber and makes it more stretchy but, it won't lighten the puppet in any way.
When I started casting in silicone, I used the Deadener to make the puppets bend better but, I needed to find a way to lighten them because the dense rubber is so heavy that it makes it nearly impossible to put a puppet in a running pose if all that weight needs to be supported by a single ankle joint. So I switched from using the Deadener to the foam and that really helped a lot!
The foam is a bit tricky to work with so if you try it out, let me know before-hand and I'll clue you in to how much I don't know. :) (just kidding, that'll be a good discussion to have)
When I started casting in silicone, I used the Deadener to make the puppets bend better but, I needed to find a way to lighten them because the dense rubber is so heavy that it makes it nearly impossible to put a puppet in a running pose if all that weight needs to be supported by a single ankle joint. So I switched from using the Deadener to the foam and that really helped a lot!
The foam is a bit tricky to work with so if you try it out, let me know before-hand and I'll clue you in to how much I don't know. :) (just kidding, that'll be a good discussion to have)
Sunday, 18 July 2010 19:18