tutorials for making sculpted silicone tops

[NerineArcticMermaid]

I'm driving my self mad trying to find a tutorial on how to make a silicone top. I want to sculpt several kinds..including lions paws big enough for my girls since no one else has yet. This is purely personal stuff.. but I'm wanting to do tops along the lines of what raven does... not copy.. but that kind of sculpting is what I mean...

I've no clue how to make the mold.. I can sculpt it no problem.. but then I get stuck.

I need a visual tutorial please..

Thanks!

[BriannaPixieDee]

I'm driving my self mad trying to find a tutorial on how to make a silicone top. I want to sculpt several kinds..including lions paws big enough for my girls since no one else has yet. This is purely personal stuff.. but I'm wanting to do tops along the lines of what raven does... not copy.. but that kind of sculpting is what I mean...

I've no clue how to make the mold.. I can sculpt it no problem.. but then I get stuck.

I need a visual tutorial please..

Thanks!

This tutorial series is good. It has the basics.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-CtuR3F-GU

[NerineArcticMermaid]

yeah i looked at that one... doenst help with the kind of mold i need to do..


Thanks though

[Dancing Fish]

I'm in the same boat. Flat sculpts and molds? No problem? 3D Boobs?? Umm.... :confused: I have some ideas:

(1) get a sturdy bra, sculpt the scales in clay (or foam circles) over it, make the mold, and then just try brushing on the silicone in layers. Dragon skin can be thickened, but it's gooey enough even plain, and hardens quickly enough, that you could probably get away with painting it on in thin layers. Or you could pour it in stages, rotating the mold as you go. I'm going to try this first.

(2) If the bra underneath is sturdy enough, you can stretch a flat (thin) scale sheet over it to fit. It might distort the bra but would (hopefully) stretch back out when worn. You might not get as pretty of a shape and the scales might be distorted, though.

[Aziara]

^For most scale tops, I think the second method is what most people use. As for a sculpted top, check out this thread:
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?8697-Perth-Mers-Silicone-Top-Adventure!

[PearlieMae]

Another way is to make a form with duct tape. Much like a tape dummy for your legs, you make one for your chest. Don't make it tight, use short pieces of tape to get your exact shape. Take it off and lay it out on a tabletop and make cuts into it to get it to lie flat...think about how a globe is cut to lay it flat...create your sculpt over the top of this pattern, and make sure your cut edges are sculpted in such a way that the overlap fits into your design. Once you make a mold and cast it, you attach the overlaps into place, shaping the flat piece into the original form.

Does that make sense? Hard to type on my phone and I think I'm not being clear.

[Dancing Fish]

Pearlie- I thought about that but I couldn't figure out how to get the scales to come together in a uniform pattern (seaming looks tough enough). But if you're doing something forgiving like seaweed that could overlap where you needed it to, I'd bet that would look really great! I'd just planned on option 3: pasting individual scales to a swimsuit top, LOL. :)

And Azaria, thanks for the link-- looks like they did method 1 in it and it turned out fab! I'm going to see if maybe something more spreadable would work for making the mold (like maybe fiberglass cloth + resin, or smooth-on's trowelable stuff) to cut down on the amount of mold-making material used.

[Rogue Siren]

A two part mold is best. If you have a plastic mannequin you can sculpt on, then cast, that would work best. As you could pour the silicone then press the mannequin to the back of the mold so it still fits the chest (if that makes sense?)

For Mystique I used two big lumps of clay to mold out my breast size, and used a bra to check and make sure the size was right. Then I molded put the scales I needed. I used plaster of paris over that. after pulling out the mold, I removed the scales from my clay form. Poured silicone into my plaster mold, then put the clay breast lumps I made on top. It worked. It had to be perfect as the silicone, once cured, was applied directly to the skin. No lumps, bumps, etc and the scales weren't distorted.

Boobs ahead. Lol

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