To make the knee back straps, I decided to layer some ABS plastic sheeting.
After cutting out the main shapes and gluing these together, I set them up for molding inside a makeshift box made from more ABS strips hot-glued together.
I whipped up some Rebound 25 silicone, and poured this into the box.
I put this on top of my dryer, turned it on, and let it run for 20 minutes; the shaking would help work any air bubbles out of the silicone.
Once the silicone cured, I dismantled the walls of the box, peeled out the ABS back strap master, and ended up with a perfect silicone mold.
Next, I used a product I'd never worked with fore called “Dragon Skin” silicone. Someone who follows me on Facebook had suggested I give this a try for the soft parts of the armor, and I decided to give it a try. So, I purchased a trial size sample, some black pigment (called SilcPig), and got to work!
Following the instructions on the package, I mixed up equal quantities of part A and B by weight (requires a gram scale), mixed in some black pigment into part A, and poured this into the mold. It’s very important that the mold be sprayed with a release agent such as Mann 200 Ease Release; since both Rebound 25 and Dragon Skin are silicones, a release agent is crucial in ensuring the two separate properly. In the future, I think I will remake the mold for this part of the costume out of a hard resin - sort of the opposite of the normal “silicone mold for resin casting” approach.
An hour or so later, I had my back straps!
Thanks for looking!
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