Opaque Silicone Pigments

Fred KempFred Kemp
in General
Hello all, 
     We are making a medical model with fleshtone skin, fat and bright red musculature.  The red musculature is showing through the translucent fleshtone.

     Is there a way we can make the fleshtone layer opaque?

    Thanks.

Comments

  • Chris EllerbyChris Ellerby Admin
    Adding more pigment/flocking will reduce the opacity, but one of the main reasons people choose silicone is it's translucency.  I'd be careful with adding too much flocking though, as it will reduce the tear strength.  You could also back the silicone with a more opaque material to prevent the red muscle from showing through, but this may impact the behavior of the skin layer for things like making surgical incisions. 

    My suggestion would be to apply the skin in multiple layers if possible.  One highly pigmented base layer to block the color of the muscles from showing, followed by a layer with less pigment to retain the translucency of the silicone and help make the skin look more realistic.  That would retain the sub surface scattering effect that is associated with human skin.

    You may also want to look into other types of rubber that have less translucency, which are also typically less expensive than silicone.  

    /Chris
  • Fred KempFred Kemp
    Chris, 

    Thank you for your comments.  We are keeping the outermost layers translucent with an inner opaque layer.  

            Should have our new FX pigments (to have long-term repeatability) tomorrow.

    Thanks again!

    Fred
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