Adhering Fabric Over A Worbla Piece?

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  • [URL="http://imgur.com/KgOctua"]Lineage 2 elf[/URL]
    [URL="http://imgur.com/t9lKVCz"]Close-up of side/back[/URL]

    I'm making a breastplate that has a lot of detail and cool designs that I feel like would look much better done in fabric instead of only worbla and paint.
    What I was thinking about doing is first making the worbla piece, then layering my fabric over the parts with the pink iridescent colour. Second, I would layer up worbla pieces for the 3-dimensional details and then paint them.
    Does this sound doable? What type of adhesive should I be using to attach the fabric onto the worbla?
    Thank you ahead of time!

  • I would advise against using a liquid adhesive to adhere the fabric directly onto the entire worbla base, as the fabric may absorb the glue and change the color darker to something you don't want. However, it can be done if you turned the edges of the fabric under to the "wrong" side of the worbla and glued the edges down instead of the entire area of fabric. I'm sure any basic glue will do. Perhaps Gem-tac would be good, which is designed to adhere porous and non-porous surfaces together, but I've only used it for rhinestones. You just need to make sure to smooth out the fabric on the surface first, and make darts where needed. In regards to then gluing more worbla back onto the fabric, since the fabric would then be "floating" on the worbla base, the weight of the worbla pieces may or may not weigh/stretch/sag the fabric depending how heavy it is (I have never worked with this material before so I cannot tell you). You could probably test it out to see if it's doable.

    Also, I would actually build up the worbla pieces seperately and paint them before applying the to the fabric. you don't want to accidentally paint the fabric you worked so hard to apply on to the base, haha

  • Yes my fear was that the fabric would look splotchy from an adhesive. And the other issue is that fabric I'll be using will have an overlay with another sheer fabric as well. So like double the trouble. I'll research different glues though.
    Ok, that's a great suggestion! Do you know any good glue for attaching the painted worbla pieces onto the fabric/original worbla piece? Since it would already be painted I wouldn't feel safe heating it up to attach the worbla the normal way.

  • Assuming you don't paint the underside of the wotbla pieces (as the glue would actually attach to the layer of paint rather than the piece itself) I would suggest gemtac again, though I think any good glue would do. This time, the splotchiness doesmt affect anything because it's covered by the worbla anyways. Hot glue, or white glue even should work.

  • Okay, thank you so much for your advice!

  • I'd be careful on using hot glue, just because worbla is a thermoplastic. Both the worbla and hot glue work because you're adding heat, and you may deform the worbla in the process. (I've had this happen with thibra, another thermoplastic, when testing hot glue. Granted, thibra has a lower working temperature than worbla, but same idea applies.).