You're right silicone can be heavy. However, for this purpose it being a swimmer, it would natually need to be rigged with supports anyway. I also unfortunately lack the facilities to do foamed latex, someday though!

Hi there, the material used is silicone, not latex. I used Smooth-ons Dragon Skin, a platinum silicone. And perhaps! I'd like to. I've made a walrus and sperm whale since for another company. Who knows what the future will hold. But it does take a lot of time and effort.

Hello No I didn't use a vacuum chamber, it's not necessary although does help if you have one. What helped prevent bubbles was brushing in thin layers of silicone first, this allows any bubbles to escape quickly. Pouring from a height also lessens bubbles. Make sure to do some small tests to get an idea! As for the pigment, it depends on the intended colour of the skin you're going for. Here I mixed an off-white base colour. If I was making an animal or human, I'd mix a flesh colour pigment. I always mix a light colour for the silicone base layer, as I can darken it all I want with paints after. If you haven't already checked them out, Stan Winston School of character arts do some good tutorials on this.

I sculpted this puppet with the mouth closed, because I originally planned on not having the jaw move. But I ended up slicing the jaw open after finishing the puppet. But that not a good way of doing this. Looks bad on close ups, and there's no detail on the inside of the mouth. If you want your squirrel mouth to move, then sculpt it with the mouth open. To be honest with you, I've struggled with moulding and casting the jaws to move. So what I've done for my recent puppets was to mould the jaw and head separately. And once cast, I'll attach the jaw onto the head and then patch the silicone where it joins. Again, this was my solution to the problem, but not necessarily the right way.

I used ecoflex 00:30 for the main bulk. But also, I also used a thin layer of Dragonskin 10, to make the outer skin slightly tougher. This was to help the puppet be less "tacky". As the Ecoflex 00:30 can be a be. But it's not a major deal. Hope this helps

So actually at that point, I'm now filling the mould with the Ecoflex 00:30 from Smooth-on. That's the main bulk of the silicone I use. The Dragon skin is only a thin first layer I brushed into the mould. And I'd already done that at 01:07 point in the video.

is it Dragonskin 10 fast, very fast, or medium? I just want it to make a good puppet just like how you do it with 😅 I just want to make sure what type or brand of Dragonskin 10 you’re using for the skin of the puppet ❤ very cool!!

So it really does depend on the puppet you're making. If it's a bigger puppet, you'll want a longer working time, so the very fast cure wouldn't be a good option. I usually would go medium. But have used fast cure too. If it's any easier, I'm happy to talk more via email. You could give me more details on the project you're working on and I could give some pointers.

@@matt82403 what kind of silicone do you think he was using? Sure, he says dragonskin 10 for the skin of the puppet, but what kind of dragonskin 10 do you think is fast very fast medium or what? If anything, please let me know 😊

@@louiegarcia7992 I'm using medium cure. And that is still me, I happened to answer on another account.

Hi there! I used 'Smooth ons' Ecoflex 00:30 as the main filling. The outer skin of the puppet is Dragonskin 10, (also by Smooth on). I did this as I wanted a slightly tougher skin and for it to be less "tacky" whilst still retaining its flexibility. Thank you! Hope this helps, always happy to help!

I added the teeth on afterwards. The inside of the jaw had a hard armature plate (basically a jaw bone) that I glued the teeth onto. The teeth were just made from some two part epoxy I sculpted. Again, probably not the best way, as the best way would probably have the inner armature plate have the teeth already sculpted in before casting it. I'm not sure how to do this, but there would be a lot out there on how.

What I'm trying to say is, you should incorporate the teeth into the armature. That would be the most secure way. I did this with my walrus tusks that you can also see on my Instagram. In fact, the tusks are able to be removed and changed out depending on what the client wanted. You say you're doing a squirrel? So really, all you'd need is two pairs of teeth for the upper and lower jaw?

Hi there! I'm using a platinum silicone, the brand I'm using is 'Smooth on'. Silicone is different to latex, it's a two part mixture that will harden within a few hours depending on the type. With silicone, especially platinum silicone, it's very susceptible to the curing process being inhibited. In fact latex, sulphur (which is in latex) will prevent it from curing resulting in a gooey mush. So don't cross contaminate your mould because even the slightest trace will cause issues. The type of silicone I use from 'Smooth on' is 'Ecoflex 00:30'. It's important to get the right silicone for the job, as some are tougher and less flexible than others. I used a fibreglass resin mould for my puppet, you can also use plaster. I've used plaster of Paris previously, this is cheaper and far less hazardous, but the mould is more fragile. If you've been using latex, which is a one part air cure, it'll only set with thin layers. And will only be useful to make the skin, the rest will need to be a foam. Hope this helps!

@@matthewbradley4365 Yeah this really helps, thank you so much.