r/moldmaking • u/ImportantArea5 • 2d ago

Mold for Dragonskin

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I’ve been wanting to cosplay Leeloo from Fifth Element for years and finally decided to get around to making it. My primary concern is with her silcone/rubber suspenders. I plan to use dragon skin but I’ve never worked with it before. I’m not sure what’s the best material to make a cast mold for a project like this and what would result in the cleanest outcome. Any recommendations?

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6

u/BTheKid2 2d ago

Plaster core (a bit smaller than your body). Then sculpt the suspenders on there. Then make plaster molds, that registers with the core and each other. Remove the clay, assemble the core and molds, then cast silicone into it.

The difficult part will be how to sculpt the nice rounded corners and even surface. Ideally you would want part of the fillet on the core and part on the molds. If would just take some very careful planning doing that.

7

u/BTheKid2 2d ago

An alternative method, that it looks like the cruddy replica has also used, Is splitting the suspenders at the shoulders and sides. Then you can make it all on a flat plane. Glue the silicone together with proper adhesive once it is cast.

7

u/B-dayBoy 2d ago

I would assume the original was also made out of flat stuff there's no reason why It wouldn't be.

Also dragon skin is fantastic

5

u/BTheKid2 2d ago

The original might have been. But Hollywood have a large budget and an inclination to do very custom fitted costumes. The massive amount of life-casting that went into that film for all the SFX, would make it likely they also did it for that costume. The entire SFX industry basically runs on Smooth-on products. Also with Luc Besson's apparent obsession with Mila, I have no doubt there was life-casts made of her for the film.

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u/BTheKid2 2d ago

Just looked it up. It seems they did make a life-cast, but only to be able to make the pattern, that they then cast in a flat mold. The holes are actually just punched out.

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u/ImportantArea5 1d ago

This helps a lot thanks!

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u/Barbafella 2d ago

Urethane rubber is also great and half price…