Painting Rubber

I've made poseable/flexible dragons - soon to be put up on the Realm -

Boba Ferret has seen them - so he'll vouch for their quality

They were painted in liquid latex tinted with acrylics and green metal powder

You have to work reasonably fast for applications - so I only make up small amouts at a time
but you can paint a solid thin layer on that will flex with an armature underneath

I personally use twist ties and baking foil as cheap and durable armatures

Greymonks right about Special FX makeup and Mold making tho Latex is also great for that and as long as you don't mind the "dead fish" smell to it - its pretty fun to work with

The best stuff for molds isnt Latex Rubber tho - Its Silicon rubber - which is more expensive - but doesn't degrade over time as latex Molds do - they become brittle over time

Mixing latex with acrylics really does work tho and its great for things like a batmans cloaked neck - making a batcape (mixing in acrylic black with the latex) yu can even technbically cast with it if you have a solid mold made from Avis/Miliput or Sculpey/Fimo

I've made a 12" Judge Death head purely out of Latex rubber

LOL! sorry for all the hubub, I'm so sick of the commercials from walmart where they have lines of people standing there holding crap to have color matched, I just had to joke about it.

well crap greymonk I was all kinds of ready to get a van .... now im not sure what im gonna do

yes, I am definitely joking about that buddy, that's why all the winks and the emoticon. I did have an African American friend with me one time and for fun we asked the walmart guy to try and match his skin tone, the guy was so freaked out he thought he was going to have to get a supervisor to see if that was something he could do. Me and my buddy finally let him off the hook, but ever since then it's been quite a joke for the two of us. I was just being evil here. (kind of like the reference to masking fingerprints for a crime). Sorry if anyone was offended I have a grim sense of humor at times. Latex housepaint would not be a good choice for figure modding at all!

Greymonk, youre joking about the Walmart and skin tones right???

well, there are other good uses for that same latex, like mold making. You can paint it onto a figure in multiple layers and eventually you'll have a mold of that section...just after you build it up nice and thick, take some scrap cloth and wrap it to add some rigidity to the mold.

You can also use the same liquid latex to make cool makeup effects, like wounds and junk.

Another handy use for the liquid latex is to paint it on your hands, and let it dry, then sculpt. If you get the latex thick enough, you won't leave any fingerprints on your sculpture and you'll still be able to feel unlike wearing rubber gloves when you try to sculpt.

You could use the liquid latex painted on your fingertips to mask your fingerprints for a crime too. )

Also, if you don't want to mix your own latex, you can go to walmart, and get latex paint - rumor has it they can color match any color you bring in too...

I get one every week

Every 4 weeks Michaels sticks a coupon in the paper for 40% off one item. That would be $8 + tax. there was one in this last Sunday, so 4 more weeks from now. Not sure if they are put in the same week throughout the whole U.S. or not.

What brands of liquid latex are there? I was at Hobby Lobby and Michaels and only found one kind, but I diidn't get it because it was in 16 oz containers and I don't think I'll need anywhere near that much right now, so what are th good kinds of liquid latex and what sizes do they come in?

I used superglue (applied with a toothpick) to dab the studs on the loin straps on my Garrador custom, then painted them silver, then another dab of superglue to seal it with. I think this process worked out pretty good, but I would only recommend it for small areas and details.

Hmm okay. I usually just make capes from cloth anyway.

I used to take it from my art classes...never thought of asking where liquid latex came from xD Home improvement stores should have it, it was meant to be used that way anyway, lol.

art stores? ^_^ hehe

~Gj

Now my question: where do you get it?

Yup it does! Gives the paint elasticity.

I've heard that mixing latex in with the paint prevents chipping.