How can I make latex or silicone gloves/sleeves ? (Pyramid Head costume project)?

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  • Hi everyone,
    Last Halloween I made my own Pyramid Head costume from the "Silent Hill V: Homecoming" game.
    (here's some pictures of the my make-up/props) [url]http://clarens-oleander.deviantart.com/gallery/26951792[/url]

    For the blood I used a mixture of corn sirup and Nesquick sirup and other stuff and food colorant.... the effect was pretty cool (not on those photos because it was just a try) buuuuuuuut. IT DOES NOT DRY. Which is reaaally not practical indoors.

    So, looking for solutions, I went on youtube, watched many videos, and found the "Composite Effects" web site and found some cool Latex Gloves.... but... it's not exactly what I need and I don't have 600$ to ask costum ones from the company.

    THE QUESTION(s) IS (are): How can I make myself latex or silicone sleeves to imitate a coagulated blood/fleshy/cutted skin ? Which sort of latex/silicone do I need ? Where can I buy it ? Do I need to make myself two armcasts ? How do I make the sleeves using those armcasts ? Do I need specific paint of just acrylic of spray paint or whatever ?

    Thanks alot for your answers.

  • Oh honey that looks like a HELL of a lot of work to do; instead, have you considered just getting a bottle of liquid latex? I use it a lot for makeup work and it's perfect for this sort of project. If you'd rather opt out of going through the entire process of making your own gloves and sleeves like this, you could just spread on the liquid latex each time you wear the costume on the places where you want to make the skin look torn or distorted. Also, for the coloring and such to go along with this, I'd assure you that the best route is Ben Nye stage makeup (possibly the body paint packs) where you can just color on what you want over the liquid latex after it dries. All of it dries on and stays all day.

    There are millions of special effect zombie-esque makeup tutorials using liquid latex and such if you'd want to look into it more. Just a suggestion if you'd want an alternative!

  • Yeah.

    You have to cast your arms. Sculpt the pieces on them. Make moulds for those. Then make the actual piece, then paint and finish them.

    And you'll need to account for the fact that you're going to make mistakes and waste material. It's your first time doing this, so the first ones are probably not going to come out quite right (not trying to be a downer, just realistic - don't want you killing your budget because you didn't take that into account, that always sucks).

    By the time you're done, you'll feel like $600 was a really good deal.

    Because with the materials you'll need to make them it's going to be expensive. And will take a LOT of time and will require a LOT of space.


    Also, if they're thin, they're going to be very fragile.


    If you go through with this, get a book on 3D makeup - it will walk you through it.



    Otherwise.... yeah, you'd be better served just finding a makeup that does dry. What you have going on isn't that difficult and you should be fine. I would only resort to latex and casting if you had something really complex (and couldn't be taken care of by stand-alone latex pieces).

  • For what you want... I would not go all the way to casting your arms, and making a sculpt(which would cost you at least $200 just in the silicone to cast your arm, not to mention the plaster for the positives and the molds, latex ext).
    Buy a pair of something [URL="http://www.westwardbound.com/content/content_prod_detail.numo?idarea=15&id=9875"]like these[/URL](there is a picture of the clear ones on the page) and then use liquid latex mixed with acrylic paint to paint the wounds on.
    Or you could avoid all this expense by using bloods that dry. It would cost more then the home made ones, but must less then making latex gloves or buying them. The REEL Blood drys the same color it is wet, and does not peel. There are also alcohol based paints(like illustrator) that have blood colors that you can make very convincing cuts and blood splatters with that dry completely.

  • Just buy some liquid latex and start putting it on your arms.

  • Although Silicone arms can look really cool, and its what they used in the Silent Hill Movie, I would not recommend it for con costumes.

    Daguru made skin for his arms in his Valtiel costume. I've helped him put it on and take it off for shoots a few times, and although he likes how it looks, he can't wear it for more then a little while before its full of his sweat and turns him into a prune. THEN you gotta wait for your skin to dry out because its really sensitive.

    I think the silicone skin works well in movies because they can take breaks in it, its not very conducive to a con setting.

    I would suggest making a shirt with gloves built into it. Like a zenti suit, but I don't think you need a full suit. Use a fabric that is somewhat stretchy and has some cotton in it. Then you could do your latex over the cotton. It soaks in really well. On Siam, Daguru and I covered all the fabric with a few layers of latex. We covered seams with it and it just disappeared and it give that flacking skin special effect that most monsters have in Silent Hill and almost all have in Homecoming. Heck, you could even do the cuts into the fabric and then paint in some red so the gashes look even more deep. (I'd recommend using a fray check or something... would look silly if it started to fray in your wound)

    As for the arms I personally would use Mehron Coagulated Blood Gel. It comes in the same bottle with a brush, like a small latex bottle normally does. You'll probably need to buy a few. Its more of a gel, and it goes on goopy, but dries squishy and opaque so it looks like its fresh wet blood, but it doesn't get all over the place. You could then put that on the gloves part to cover up the seams. Infact, now that I think of it, you could make th gloves separate from the shirt and just have them over lap and snap on or velcro on. This would be easier for eating/using the bathroom in costume.

    The shirt and the gloves will need to be wrapped in plastic before you hang them up. I'd wrap them in plastic wrap around the arms and the body to keep the latex from sticking to itself and then put a bag over the whole thing like you do a suit.

    Doing all this keeps your costume consistent. And it would be tons easier then doing 2 hours of makeup every time you did the costume. Plus, if you buy cheap stretch cotton of the shirt (its gonna get destroyed with latex and paint, so all you gotta worry about is durability) the whole piece would be waaaaay cheaper then 600$ I think when all said and done, a tight fitting shirt/gloves with latex, fake blood and paint would cost you about 150$ as an average. Give or take if you want get more detailed or not.

    I plan on doing the same thing with a Butcher costume one day.

  • I'm planning on making a Pyramid Head costume as well! But I wonder what I should start working on first though.. the head area or the clothes first.. But since I'm a girl, I should start getting the clothes together soon! :bigtu: