Before I run and paint my final pieces, I wanted to experiment with different black pigments and materials to paint my latex pieces. As i was only using a black colour, If one of these experiments failed then i wouldn’t have to worry on huge costs of buying other products to test as i didn’t have a full range of colours to experiment with.
I began by mixing a little drop of black acrylic paint with latex, at first the colour mixed well with the latex and was easy enough to apply into the moulds building layer by layer. When it came to removing the latex out of the mould i began to have problems. I forgot that mixing latex and acrylic wouldn’t work as this breaks the bond of the latex resulting in the layers to break apart and split into separate layers again.
Luckily this was only a test piece i did only decide to only try one little monkey out before wasting more materials. As you can see within these images at first the paint looked fine, would dry and build layers nicely.
And when it came to peeling the latex out, this is when the bond would break and the latex would come out in layers again just as i applied them in the first place.
Second test
When i previously coloured latex, i used grease paint in first year! this works well but doesn’t stick well as it rubs off after a while. For a short term alternative this works very well, as i had previously worked with these as well i feel comfortable using them. If i wasn’t successful in finding an better alternative this would be a great source of colour for a quick shoot.
For this i began by apply latex into the moulds, sponging the latex in a thin layer then hair dry the latex dry before applying talcum powder to finish before redoing the same process for another 6-10 layers until i was happy enough with the thickness of the latex.
After the pieces was dry and i was happy with the thickness, it was time to remove them from the moulds by peeling them off. I was very happy with the outcome, although i did have a lot of excess latex i decided the best option for these was to cut the unwanted latex from the pieces, so i then can glue them directly onto the skin. I was very happy with the outcome of the animals after doing this.
I have also included images of these pieces painted with grease paint, which looks very well in my opinion! the only down fall is that i have to keep touching them up due to finger marks etc.
Third test
I started with colouring my flat pieces in black, I wanted to make sure these were evenly covered in black so they look like realistic silhouettes not fake looking.
For this I used a black spray paint satin based. I found this the easiest way to colour these pieces as i could easy just spray over the pieces and would make sure i got every little detail painted rightly. There wasn’t much reference images needed for this unlike when i needed them for sculpting.
I began with only spray painting one of the pieces at first to see if it would work out well or not, once i was happy with the result, this gave me confidence to go ahead and paint the rest of my latex pieces with the product as it was fast, quick drying, reliably and looked great.
Firstly i began with a coat of grey spray paint (primer) by spray this along a cardboard sheet, after waiting a few minutes to dry i then went over this with a black spray paint.
I was really happy with the effect that the spray paint had on the pieces as it managed to pick up every little detail that i had sculpted.
As experimental pieces these latex pieces turned out really well, i was very happy with the outcome as they all looked like real 3d silhouettes. Obviously there are little errors in the cutout of some of the animals in which can be sorted when next casted which will improve the overall outcome of my final pieces. But experimental work is great to improve of my learning and development of skills and techniques used within this project and myself.
Next step is to test these pieces with the body paint colours, more photos to follow on another post 🙂
Specialist practice 