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Sculpture: Anyone know anything about Silicone/Rubber/?
hamburger helper
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Sorry for the cryptic thread title, but once again, I am throwing myself to you H/A! I want to create a sculpture that is probably best explained in this diagram I drew:
The sculpture is a 6' x 6' wooden plank that will have about 8 rows of 8 knobbly bits protruding from it. My query is how can I make these knobs? I want to make them soft (like a stress ball) but flexy enough to smack or rub hands over. I had thought about mounting springs on the plywood and making some sort of silicone moulding? Anyone have any suggestions as to how I could do this? Would Foam work? Ideally, I want it to have the texture of silicone.. and something I could paint without it flaking off.
If I'm unclear on anything, please allow me to elaborate. I appreciate your help in advance
Thanks H/A!
The sculpture is a 6' x 6' wooden plank that will have about 8 rows of 8 knobbly bits protruding from it. My query is how can I make these knobs? I want to make them soft (like a stress ball) but flexy enough to smack or rub hands over. I had thought about mounting springs on the plywood and making some sort of silicone moulding? Anyone have any suggestions as to how I could do this? Would Foam work? Ideally, I want it to have the texture of silicone.. and something I could paint without it flaking off.
If I'm unclear on anything, please allow me to elaborate. I appreciate your help in advance
Thanks H/A!
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You can't easily paint a stress ball with normal acrylics or oils, because most paints dry to state which is hard and inflexible. The paint will crack under the stress - you can try this with a normal stress ball to demonstrate. They can usually be inked, but I'm not familiar with the ink types needed.
Stress balls are polyurethane foams, and you can buy the resin which makes rigid or soft foams from stores. It's the same stuff in your couch cushion. They use silicone molds for forming shapes, which means you need something equivalent to guarantee the foam releases from the mold. The ridge edge circling the stress ball is where the mold halves come together (called flashing - you see it cars as well if you look hard enough.
This is a great suggestion. My only concern is that the balls might not be the right shape for what I want.. I was hoping to give the knobs a decent amount of flex so they could bend in any direction; I'm looking for a half-sphere connected to a cylinder. Could there be a different object that will give me this shape?
I had an idea, that I could pour a silicone-type gel into a bunch of mason jars and then break the jar glass (once the pour hardens) to get a similar shape... Does that make sense?
Forgive my lack of industry or material knowledge. I'm a beginning sculptor and for the last two years each project I endeavour to materialize results in me learning a million new things. Thanks again everyone.
This could work too. I may be able to cut the knobs out of the foam, but the problem will be uniformity. I want all the knobs to be the same.
My suggestion would be for you to get some party balloons, fill the with silicon (or something else soft) tie them off and then install them.
Satans..... hints.....
That's also a very good idea. I want to keep the shapes consistant though, any suggestions? (ie. same length, same size, same shape). Balloons might bulge and be all sorts of different sizes.
The consistency you are looking for is right, and some of their resins can be dyed, which will solved the problem of painting it.