Plastics/Rubber sources

From: Jonette Stabbert
Subject: FL: more on rubber claws

I've made claws and teeth/fangs the following way: I made the prototypes from polymer clay, which I baked and cooled. Then I made molds using 5 Minute Molding Putty from Alumilite. (I LOVE this stuff!) Then I cast the claws using Alumilite's Liquid Casting Plastic. You can color the resin in advance or spray the mold with paint or paint the pieces when finished. You can play with this stuff and get all kinds of effects, so that it looks like metal or glass or stone or even wood. There are other brands that do the same. It is pricey and you have to follow safety precautions and work on days when it isn't damp. The finished product is almost indestructable and looks really good, and you can use the molds many times, I think about 50 times.

Having said all this, I am a real cheapskate and like the creative challenge of finding inexpensive solutions. I already mentioned my friend's use of pails to make claws. At the risk of boring everyone, once again I'll sing the praises of my favorite inexpensive material - papiermache. It won't hold up to heavy use such as walking with claws, but you can make very good looking claws and teeth and harden them by coating the finished papiermache with resin or numerous coats of white glue. Papiermache need not have a rough finish - you can use really fine paper pulp or sawdust to make it, and sand it or work very carefully to get a pretty smooth finish. There are also some liquid papiermache casting products like Liquiche (sp?) and some modeling powders that you mix with water for direct modeling. Some may be able to be pressed into molds.

I have made claws, teeth and noses from polymer clay for large 3 foot plus display bears. These have been moved around, banged against counter tops, etc. and never broken (yet). Depending on size, I bake the claws for between a half hour and an hour at the suggested package temperature instead of the package's advised time. The important thing is to have the correct temperature. They mustn't begin to burn or be underbaked or the strength will be wrong. Never bake longer than an hour. I cool them by either letting them cool naturally or putting them into a sinkful of cold water for at least 15 minutes. They are then really strong. The polymer clays I've used are Fimo and some European brands. A good super glue in GEL form works well for attaching these to cloth - but always try samples of clay with fabric first. The off-white color of some of the polymer clays is perfect for eyes and teeth. You can make push molds for baked polymer clay using unbaked polymer clay. Talcum powder is a good release medium. Then you bake the mold and powder it before pressing unbaked polymer clay into it. This is probably as clear as mud. I'll try again. Make a tooth or a claw from polymer clay, bake it, then make the mold from unbaked polymer clay, using talc for a release. Remove the tooth or claw, bake the mold, and it is ready to use. Slow but effective.

From: Joe Dunfee
I would like to share a recient discovery on making claws. I was working on a bird claw, and experimented with some black tubing I had. (it was about 1/4“dia flexable tubing) I simply cut out an elongated triangle from a piece of the tubing. I heated it briefly over my gas stove and then made it bend a bit.

The results were quite realistic. The tubing has the rounded shape that claws have and heating and bending it to get the overall shape was all that was needed for very realistic bird claws.

(then someone asked a question, to which he replied)

Let me try an ASCII drawing.

       \  .--Tube
 Cut    \/
 Out-. _ \        _  .-- Piece cut
      | \ \      | \/     Out
     \ \ \_\_     \ \
      \ \    \     \/
       \|     |
         \___/  

Does this help? I am not certain of what you were asking. Perhaps you thought I used more of the tubing. I cut out maybe 1/4 of the circumference of the tube. The tubing I used is a bit small for costume work, but I am sure a larger piece would work for larger costumes.

- sculpey iii
- fimo
- stuffed cloth (Stanley D. Lion's claws)
- foam