Some of y'all may remember me from my posts about making cable puppets. Well I'm at it again, and this time I'm wondering if I could make the rigid parts of my puppet from clay, then cover the whole thing in a flexible material like silicone. The basic workings of my puppet just requires a gap in the solid parts for the head to move around. I've been accomplishing this with fabric, but while I can sew I tend to find it very frustrating. I'd rather mold my material like clay. I'm posting to ask if anyone has ever tried something like this, and what material was used? Would a putty like Sugru work (I saw this mentioned on a tutorial for stop-motion puppets) or would a brush-on type like Dragon Skin be better?

Here's a diagram of roughly what I'm talking about. The part I don't know is, if I needed to use a brush-on product, what would I use as a positive mold for the part that has to be hollow? I'd really like to work this out, because covering the whole surface with the same material would make for a seamless appearance.

Sonny has done quite a bit of late with rubbers and latex's so he would be the one to really answer this. It has been years since I messed with so not even sure what the current products are. I would say that much would depend on the amount of flexibility you would need in the hollow moving area.

Well these two videos of my puppets in action should give you an idea of the range of motion. These were done using fabric that was loose enough to not get in the way. Stretchy fabric would have worked too, but at the time that wasn't what I had. That's why I think flexible silicone like the kind used for masks might work.

Hi Maya,

Silicone is the best, but also the most expensive way to go. Silicone in my opinion is vastly superior to either latex rubber or foam latex. It's costly and somewhat tricky to work with, but once you get the hang of it's great. We started using it last summer at work and I'm hooked.

The process is to sculpt your hands in clay (be sure to use a sulfur-free clay, because sulfur retards the silicone curing process), make a two-part mold of them and then cast the hands in silicone. You will need to make a two-part mold silicone mold of your sculpted hands; there are many tutorials on how to do this on YouTube and Instructables.

There are a variety of mold-making silicones available; I'm using an industrial food-grade silicone for molds that's fairly expensive but there are more inexpensive varieties like Mold-Max which is widely used in the special FX industry (you can order it online). The hands you cast will not be automatically seamless though...you will have a visible seam where the two halves of the mold meet that will need to be "seamed" using silicone (there should be tutorials for this available online too). It's a bit of a tricky process. I haven't mastered it yet myself, but when it's done right the results are fantastic.

For the casting, you need a casting silicone (we use Gel-10 which is expensive, but extremely good), soap, several paint brushes, silicone pigment (to colour the silicone) and Plathix. There may be other supplies I am forgetting. It's a good idea to work in a well-ventilated area and always wear a respirator equipped with the correct filter for the material you're working with.

Here's an abridged version of the process I've been using for casting:

• Apply 2 layers of soap into the head mold with a chip brush using a white bar soap.
• Decant the total amount of Gel 10 to be used for the entire process and add 1.6% of whatever pigment you're using to part A. The pigment is made from 4 parts white silc pig to 6 parts flesh (or whatever colour) silicone pigment.
• Mix a 10g batch of gel 10 (add 5% Plathix). Using a watercolour brush. ALWAYS STIR THE SILICONE PARTS BEFORE USE AND
  SHAKE THE PLATHIX UNTIL IT BECOMES MILKY IN APPEARANCE
• During the curing time for the silicone, clean your watercolour brush thoroughly with Naptha (campire fire fuel) and wipe clean.
• Mix a 320g batch of gel 10 and again add 5% Plathix (adding Plathix allows the silicone to be easily brushed into the mold without pooling). Using a watercolour brush, quickly and carefully brush the silicone into the mold. Brush in an even coat, do not allow for air bubbles, pooling, and do not allow the silicone to build up onto the edge of the mold (this will make it hard to seam). Allow silicone to cure.
• Mix an 80g batch of gel 10 (without adding Plathix) for the seaming. Using the same watercolour brush, paint the silicone up along the edges of the mold. Fill in any thin looking areas of silicone.
• Close the mold and secure it with a mold strap. Sit the mold upright (probably rest it in a cardboard box or garbage bin).

I should add that those notes are not mine, but were written by one of the technicians/artists I've been working with recently.

I can't stress enough don't have latex anywhere near where you are working. If it contaminates the silicone, you often have to start over from the scratch.

We fill the inside of the silicone with cold foam, a two part mixture than expands and cures as a semi-soft solid foam, but you could probably get away with inserting a stuffing or some sort of foam insert if you're looking for a cheap and slightly ghetto solution. Otherwise you have to cast the cold foam with the mechanism for the hand inside and that gets very tricky.

I'm skipping over a lot, but this is the basic process for casting silicone. Just be prepared to do it more than once, make mistakes and get better at it. Look at lots of tutorials online before you get started. They helped me tremendously.

Waaaaaay out of my price range and skill level there, Andrew. I appreciate the info though.

After thinking on it some more, I wonder if I could take a sheet of thin silicone and make a tube, and stick it in place with Sugru, then smooth over the whole thing with more silicone (either Sugru or a brush-on).