Silicone and other doll making "stuff".
@TBuilder: there are different forms of Ecoflex, Ecoflex0010, Ecoflex0030 and Ecoflex0050, where the 0050 is the less stretchy one ....
About vacuum the silicone, I first have to make (clay)models, then to try out the stuff... it's for personal use, so there is not a direct need for professional quality.... but then again, I'm a perfectionist, so....
@Crazyhorse: how is your doll project going?
so this http://www.nakka-rocketry.net/rnx_vac.html is no option?Crazyhorse wrote:
Making your own chamber should be pretty straightforward so you can save a few bucks on that but there's no getting around the need for a strong pump. It needs to be able to pull about 20 inches of mercury. Hand pumps and "Venturi" pumps won't work, although they can supposedly reach full vacuum. If you do find an inexpensive source for vacuum pumps, please let me know I'm going to need one soon. Ebay seems like the best bet but its a bit of a gamble.
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Its got the right kind of pump and you could do small amounts of silicone in that, but not anywhere near enough for even a small doll. Something like this would be much better http://www.housatonicrr.com/VacChamber.htmfemdoll wrote: so this http://www.nakka-rocketry.net/rnx_vac.html is no option?
(the moldmaking link at the bottom of this page is well worth checking out too, excellent info on molding complex shapes.)
You need it to be able to hold a lot of silicone, at least a gallon would be good. I've got a large steel pressure cooker I plan to use for the chamber on mine, should hold at least 4 gallons and there's not much (if any) construction involved. As for the pumps I've done some looking around ebay and there seem to be quite a few good ones in the $50 and under range, which was a surprise to me because a lot of these go for over $500 new. I've only used pro built pump/chambers in the past (gotta love big studio budgets), but now that I'm looking into putting one together for myself it seems to be doable for a lot less than I thought.
Unfortunately its on hold at the moment, I probably won't be able to do any serious work on it for about 2 more weeks. Luckily I don't have to deal with anyones timeline but my own so the delay isn't really a big deal, but its still getting on my nerves.@Crazyhorse: how is your doll project going?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVvGc7VD ... re=related
Did ya know about the 'bombs away method'? Not sure if it will work with a bigger mold, but.... looks funny.. and if it works.......
- Crazyhorse
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Never heard it called that before, but yes pouring rubber from a few feet above the mold is pretty standard practice when using non-degassed material, most good moldmaking instructions will mention it (see the Dan Perez page indirectly linked above). It helps a lot with the bubbles compared to just dumping it straight in, but there will still be some and they always seem to find the worst places to settle. Its less of a problem when making molds because the bubbles tend to rise AWAY from the surface of the model, but when using silicone for casting its even more important to get rid of all the air, because when the bubbles rise INSIDE a mold, they will tend to settle against the inner surface, causing craters in the skin.femdoll wrote:You gotta watch this video on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVvGc7VD ... re=related
Did ya know about the 'bombs away method'? Not sure if it will work with a bigger mold, but.... looks funny.. and if it works.......
Also, while it works ok for small quantities, pouring it this way is very slow. Most silicones only give you about 15 minutes to mix, degas and pour the material (pot life). When working with several gallons to make a full size doll, there's a good chance the rubber would start to harden before the pour was done using this method. You could add some retarder to the mix I suppose, but for pouring a large quantity it still seems iffy to me.
When dealing with materials costing $200 a gallon like Dragonskin, I think its worth the extra $50-$100 for a pump to not have to worry so much about wasting material on bad castings. It really sucks to spend so much time and money, then find out your beautiful model is missing her nose, because of an air pocket.
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Should be as safe as any other high-quality platinum silicone. Same goes for DS. This type of silicone is inert once cured. I'm pretty sure there are no significant differences between it and the stuff used for implants, it just isn't "medically certified".doodman wrote:dose anyone know how safe Ecoflex is?
If ya don't wanna take any chances... don't use it. But then ... you couldn't live in a city, skip almost 80% of the foods/drinks in the supermarket, not driving a car, don't wear synthetic clothings, don't drink, don't smoke (that's a bad thing anyway), etc, etc.....
Chances are the most of 'us' run risks on cancer from way 'normal' things then using silicone sextoys.
It's funny to see where people are worried about. It's a bit like some people I know, who where 'warning' me about taking vitaminpills and Whey protein (<- are just plain proteins, I lift weights, and know a lot about food and health stuff), 'can't be good, risk of getting cancer' they said, while they smoke heavily and eat a lot of fast food...
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There are ways to use so you dont have to degass (vacuum)femdoll wrote:
Is it necessary to degass silicone?
You can use a silicone spray guy to mix your silicone. also you can pore your silicone from a step ladder.You can use a vibratin table.
You can mix the silicon with the folding meteard
But all of this is a pain in the ass to learn spray guns are nice but costly to buy and use.
Well, I only found vacu pumps for around 100 euro... just missed a bidding on Ebay (germany) by 1 euro grrrrrr. Only vacuum pumps I found here in Holland on auction sites (we have 'marktplaats', like Ebay but no bidding) are uge (for milking machines! yeah real!) or so rusty that I don't trust it... most rather pricey also...Crazyhorse wrote: As for the pumps I've done some looking around ebay and there seem to be quite a few good ones in the $50 and under range, which was a surprise to me because a lot of these go for over $500 new. I've only used pro built pump/chambers in the past (gotta love big studio budgets), but now that I'm looking into putting one together for myself it seems to be doable for a lot less than I thought.
.
Oh yeah you can buy the whole stuff on UK Ebay, but..... man... that's way over my budget
UK Ebay
I must look into that 'aircompressor' tip of @tjc, I have an airbrush compressor here, quite strong one also.... The only problem with using that will be that it compresses air for a time and then stops ... besides I'm not sure it will suck till 29'' Hg...... (and still 'work'....)
I asked the guys from Alumilite, but shipping to Holland cost almost the same as the product... damn. seems those little airbubbles are getting quite expensive!
A well, no hurry..... need to go sculpting first anyway.....
Silicone Boob Mix
I bought a 1st-PC torso 2 years ago when they apparently used a tin-silicone w/ silicone oil for the softener, and while the consistency was fantastic, the oil leaching and weakness of the outer skin doomed it to failure.
So I guess the main question is:
Is Slacker the only softener for platinum-based silicones? I notice neither smoothon or fxwarehouse sell silicone oil for platinum based silicones, and platinum based is apparently the future, so is there another softening additive?
I have tried the following combinations and I have a couple of speculations for future experiments - if anyone would like to comment and potentially save me some bucks on methods they know to be futile, that'd be nice.
Results
----------------
The EcoFlex 0030 I'm using is a 1A:1B mix. I've tried altering that ratio in the following ways:
1A:3B - Seemingly softer than just a 1:1 mix, but not even close to breastmeat.
1A:3B:1Slacker - very soft, the best so far, but reforms un-naturally slow
1A:3B:2Slacker - super soft and mushy, very slow to reform.
Speculation
------------------
I assume Slacking a really soft shore like 0030 is the way to go, but maybe Slacking a harder shore will give me the softness, yet resiliance i desire.
I realize these may be sensitive questions to creators out there, so i don't expect any precise recipes, but any direction is appreciated.
Thanks
Nature uses different 'materials', with different 'qualities' and 'stiffness', in different layers....
Perhaps you could try using 'skeletons' to stiffen the to soft mix of Ecoflex... not a skeleton as in 'hard bone', but perhaps a mesh or grid of flexible plastic...
I have only no experience with silicon so I have no idea how that will 'stick' or even work at all.
Seeing the posts of Shrade with his cassidoll, it's perhaps also possible to use different 'mixes'/ratio's as different layers. A bit 'stiffer' outershelve, with a bit softer core... But then again, I have no idea how difficult that is to produce.
still need to experiment with the stuff myself.... but didn't have found the time.... And I just bought a new camera, so I probably will not 'go into it' for a while...
Have you try Ecoflex 0010. I have experience with it to make more than 10 boobs with different mix. I don't like slacker because it don't hold the shape. The way I make the boob is 1A+1B mix to make the skin about 1/4" thick. After it cured I add 1A+1B+3 silscone thinner. This works out very well. I also try put in slime inside but it's not bounce back fast enough. I also use percol this is the best. Its soft and bounce. If you push on it, it will squeeze to the side like the real boob. But I am going to try one more mix with slacker. 1A+1B +4 slacker then pour into the cured skin. I think it will work well. But it is expensive.
Hope this help
I'm a dope for not using thinner before, it's just that it's description on the smoothon site made it sound more like a pouring additive like thi-vex just to affect viscosity, I didn't think it had an effect on the cured state.
Fortunately, Smoothon just opened an outlet store a few miles from me, so I don't have to wait days or get raped on shipping to keep me in materials and keep the experiments flowing..
My goal is to replicate the look and feel of the lifedoll's tits as seen in their example video. (look in japanese forum if you haven't seen this doll). THey look very soft, but very light in weight as well, which almost makes me think there may be foam softening technique that may be of use in one of the breast layers... Any thoughts? Ever tried thinner on Soma Foama or an equivalent?
Will keep updated on mixes and results. gracci