Human Skin?!?!?

[devont007]

they mentioned using real skin so i thaught i would give a little known fact

[ludothegreat]

Wow great response guys! Thank you for all of your input. I have a couple other people suggest dragon skin to me also, but being that it is expensive I’m still considering latex the most. To me it doesn’t matter if its soft or hard and actually something that would turn hard would probably be a better way to go in the long run. As for the real skin... this though has crossed my mind, but I too though it be rather gross lol. Coming from me that must mean its pretty bad.

Mach any way I could get a list of places to find some of the products you mentioned? I did a quick Google for it but I’m not getting any sites that really are giving me a good idea of where to get it or how to use it.

If I got with something soft it will definitely be hand stitched as much as possible. This is a mod I have been thinking about to a tremendous amount of time now and want it to be as realistic as possible.

Again, thanks for all the help guys; I had a good feeling about posting this question here Keep the ideas coming! I’d like to know what you think about it and your ideas of what else to do with the project. One other thing I have in mind is to find a way to make my fans look like they were made out of human bones of some kind.

[Mach]

I'm not sure where you are located but you can get sculpey in most chain hobby , art, or sculpture stores. It comes in small blocks or a larger block called Super Sculpey which is a tan translucent color..

http://www.sculpey.com/Products/prod...supersculp.htm

You can check the Sculpey website for stores in your area.
http://www.sculpey.com/scripts/distributors.cfm

The flexible stuff is a little harder to find in larger quantities and you may need to order it on-line.

For an idea of what you can do with Sculpey, check this out. Nice!
http://www.southerngfx.co.uk/general...s/tutorial.htm

Good tutorial here: http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...7&page=1&pp=60

The chamois can be found at any larger auto parts store that stocks car care products. I always heard them called a shammy but that might not be correct. Look for them where they keep car soap and waxes. They are very thin sheep skin and are used for drying cars following washing. You will need to treat them with some type leather protectant or sealer as final step once they are on the case. They should be about $10-15 and look like this:

When I mentioned stiching I was thinking something like Joe Lester's Harvester mask. http://www.imageworksfx.com/harvestweb.htm

[ludothegreat]

Exactly what I was looking for. Again thank you so much Mach and the rest of you too!

BTW that sculpey tut is absalutly awesome!

[Mach]

No problem! Just feed the addiction and give us pics.

[ludothegreat]

there will defanitly be pics. This mod is still only in planning stages atm though. I'm going to have some concept art soon if anyone is interested.

[FX]

liquid latex would work fine if you only used thin coats, and if you wanted to get a skin texture, just apply it to something like a transparency and roll the bottom of your arm over it. If you want something bigger than small strips, you can always have someone apply it to your back, it'll cure fast, then you can peel it off, and apply it to your case.
I used to work with the stuff when making halloween masks etc, and it's quite easy to work with. Just remember, that it's very fragile and brittle if it's done really thin.

If you're going to stitch it, as long as you're not going to be applying too much pressure to it once stitched, you can go up to 1/8th of an inch without worrying too much about adverse heat issues with the case. Make sure your ventilation is good though.

[ludothegreat]

Using my back as a mold for the latex was one of my ideas too. I would probably be doing this about as thick as a latex mask if I decide to use latex. RD407 latex was what I have had suggested to my by almost everyone I have asked. Would it be smarter to do a plaster casing of my back and then use it as a mold for the latex or just apply the latex to my back? If I don’t use latex for this mod I am most likely going to use it in another at some point. I really like Mach's shammy(sp) idea too. That though had never crossed my mind, but seems like it would work really well and be pretty inexpensive.

[ludothegreat]

I have been surfing and gathering info for a long time on this project now. While looking for materials by means of Google I ran across this:

That is almost the exact mental picture of how I want the skin to be... with the exception of the color. From the look of the wrinkled/aged leather right on down to the hand stitching! Does anyone know how to do this or can point me in the direction needed to learn how to do this on my own?

[Crimson Sky]

Natural liquid Latex would not work very well for a few reasons:

First off finished pieces will eventually dry out, shrink and get hard. In about 6 months.

Cured latex will also eventually rot out and smell really bad. It will also turn a nasty brown color, destroying any paint finish.

If you want anything that lasts, try leather or pigskin(you can paint it with acrylics or even dye it) or if you want even better results, use the same silicone compounds used for special effects makeup and such--there are so many types for this I couldnt mention them all--