Achieving mottled flesh with "tie dye" silicone casting technique?

Dan Cullen · February 2020

Hey,

As background, I'm making a semi-opaque monster half mask and want to show off the depth of the flesh through casting tricks, if possible.

I saw a yt vid a while back which outlined a "tie dye" casting technique. For the life of me I can't find it, but I could have sworn it was a BrickInTheYard vid. The steps went something like this:

Set aside a small quantity of your A and B parts, and pigment them a darker color than your main flesh tone
Mix each batch separately.
Pour a layer of the main batch into a container
Pour a thin stream of the darker batch, forming rings or squiggles on the surface of the first layer. Don't stir.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until everything is in the one container.
Pour high and thin into mold.

I'm hoping I can achieve the vague impression of varicose veins, or at least densely marbled flesh, by tweaking Step 4 slightly:

the diameter of the streams of the darker batch should be veery thin, like, stirring straw thin
forming fairly "dense" squiggles, keeping lines min 1" max 2-3" apart

If anyone has experimented with this before and can recommend any techniques, I'd appreciate it. So long as I land somewhere, anywhere, between this--

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/m6/kqqd4r7zryfg.jpg

--and this--

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020761/uploads/editor/b5/7vvz079cqj8j.jpg

--I'll be happy. Thanks for reading!

Chris Ellerby · March 2020

That process could produce interesting results. My concern is there is a lack of control over the marbling, which could be a good thing, or create undesirable . Normally this process is done in paint via a "breakup pattern" where you airbrush on different skin tones in a random squiggly pattern to create variations in skin tone.

Here are some of our courses that demonstrate that painting process (or variations of it) with different mediums, and different instructors.

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/Platinum-Silicone-Mask-Painting-How-To-Paint-Monster-Masks-Part-1

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/latex-mask-painting-techniques

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/creature-mask-painting

https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/sculpey-painting-techniques-how-to-paint-aliens

If you try that marbling effect I'd love to see the results!

/Chris

Dan Cullen · March 2020

Thanks Chris, I'll give the vids a watch before pulling the trigger. And thanks for making me aware of the Steve Wang vid. The "Vampire King" sculpt is a favorite of mine, didn't realize there was a course involving it (where he paints it Pumpkinhead-style, no less!).

Out of curiosity--I'vs used my iwata with acrylics in the past. So long as it is thoroughly cleaned, it is probably fine to use with plat silicone paints, right? It's not like the airbrush is "compromised"?

Chris Ellerby · March 2020

As long as you clean your airbrush you are fine. Because silicone does not really stick to anything but silicone it is not too hard to clean out.

/Chris

Achieving mottled flesh with "tie dye" silicone casting technique?

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