Latex Tests!!!

Hello!! I really wanted to try out latex for this puppet, as I have never used it before, but have heard lots about it. So what better way to spend what little money I have left from my student loan than on some liquid latex?! 

I made two test hands from wire and epoxy putty. I did them quickly and roughly as they were just tests.

I then poured some latex in a container and dunked one of the hands in, so it was covered in latex. I then suspended it to dry in the ingenius contraption you can see in the above photo. The latex was very runny and only gave a very thin coat, so I had to wait for it dry a bit before I could put on another layer. The hand probably took about 8 coats in total. However you hang the hand determines how the latex shapes: if I hung the hand with the fingers towards the ground, the latex would drip that way and so gather at the fingertips in globules. So I kept changing how I suspended it to try and even the latex out. I did not do this enough though and so there are some random lumpy bits in this test hand.

This is the test hand, after it had fully cured overnight. It became translucent yellow whereas before it cured fully it was a milky white opaque colour. The fingers are quite fat and lumpy but I still think it looks cool! The hand bends perfectly and the latex moves with it with no resistance or spring back and no tearing (yet!).

I then painted the hand with acrylic inks. I did this because after researching online, the suggestion seemed to be to use something called PAX paint.... but I couldn't afford to buy any more materials, as the puppet materials I had already bought for this puppet had cleaned me out. So I was trying to use something I already had.... I had no oil paint in the necessary colours (which would have been my first choice) so I thought my best option was acrylic inks. I couldn't find any information on using the inks with latex... probably because it doesn't work! As you can see in the above pictures the paint just cracked completely when dried. I think this actually a cool effect, but it is not suitable for this puppet (or any puppet really as the paint would just flake off during animation). I tried staining the fingertips with a bit of charcoal which did work as it did not wipe off once you had rubbed it in and gotten rid of the excess. This was to make her hands look a bit grubby and like she has ash on her hands from using matches all the time.

I moved on to hand number two. I tried mixing the acrylic inks into the liquid latex before application, as I had with oil paints when using silicone. I put a small amount of the ink in and mixed it in to the latex.

The acrylic inks worked! It didn't effect the latex and gave a uniform colour with no cracking. With this hand I had tried to get a skinnier look, while the layers were drying I used a cocktail stick to gently push the latex where I wanted it to go, as well as frequently turning the hand so the latex dripped in different directions. It's by no means perfect and I am not happy that they do not look finessed, but I'm happy with the possibilities of the latex!

I also made a test hand of wire and foam. As you can see in the photo, it was very rough and messy. I dipped this in the latex and acrylic ink mix too.

It came out like a monster hand! This showed me that latex will coat foam, but it is much harder to get it with a smooth finish. If I make the foam layer very neat though, I think it would be possible. I want to use this technique to create the neck of the puppet.

So now onto the real hands!