Creating Texture Stamps Custom Tutorial
How to use liquid latex to create texture stamps
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I hear it all the time, "How do I add cool details to my sculpts and become as amazing and beautiful and handsome as you?" Just kidding, no one ever talks to me. But here's an easy way to duplicate and recreate existing textures on your custom sculpts.
Materials needed for this method:
•Liquid Latex
This stuff is cheap, you can find it online or places that sell make-up and halloween things.
•Applicator
Something to apply the latex with. A brush works fine, though it'll be ruined after. Liquid latex has the consistency of white glue.
•A texture to copy
Dig through your box of junk, never know when you'll find a cool texture.
For this tutorial I'll be duplicating chainmail from a LOTR figure because chainmail is notoriously hard to sculpt convincingly. Try to find a figure with a large patch of it so your texture stamp can be that much larger, and applied to larger areas at once.
•Wash the area you'll be applying the latex to.
Any gunk on the surface will be absorbed into the latex. Here you'll see that the white latex turns yellowish because the brush and figure were dirty. It doesn't affect the final result, and you may prefer to purposely color the latex so you can better see the texture stamp detail when it's done.
•Add a light layer of latex directly onto the figure.
I've tried this on hard and soft plastic, nothing is damaged, the factory paint doesn't even get torn up. In fact, I think the latex actually sucked up the years of gunk on the figure, leaving it squeaky clean!
The goal here is to work the latex into all the grooves to pick up maximum detail, being careful to eliminate tiny bubbles. We'll build up the stamp's thickness gradually.
•Once the coat is cured, add more layers.
Adding multiple thin layers lets the latex cure thoroughly, and faster, between coats. The most important layers are the first 2 or 3 because these hold all the detail. Any layers after that simply make the stamp thicker/stiffer, so keep going until you're satisfied. I only did about 5 quick coats for these and they turned out fine, they feel like rubber bandaids.
Heat makes the layers cure faster.
You can tell when the latex is cured because it goes from white to a more translucent color, like dried glue.
•Once the last coat is cured (or you're tired of waiting), simply peel the latex off the figure.
The thinner your stamp is the more careful you have to be peeling it off. Liquid latex has a lot of stretch (it's rubber after all), but it's not indestructible. Adding a few more coats in the previous steps is usually a good idea.
Marvel at your work, and bask in the chemical fumes of glory. (this stuff smells bad while in liquid form, but it goes away completely once cured)
Here's the thing...
Liquid latex is great at picking up the tiniest detail, however, it's so flexible that you may have a difficult time transferring the texture to hard clay. All that intricate detail may look a lot softer because the flimsy stamp can't impress itself into the harder clay.
I'm sure there are stiffer versions of liquid rubber made specifically for making texture stamps, ask your local special effects shop about them.
You can also try what I did, which is coat the texture stamp with light layers of Mod Podge to add stiffness (it's basically white glue). Maybe you could even use paint or sealer or fabric starch? Experiment!
Here I made texture stamps of this fig's skin and different type of chainmail.
You can make molds with this stuff too. It's also good for making flexible things like belts or wings.
I think it's best to use your own wits to recreate textures from scratch, because it helps you grow as an artist, but texture stamps are huge time savers, especially useful if you produce large amounts of product.
Be sure to show us all the cool stamps you make!
Disclaimer
Customize at your own risk!
Customizing can be a fun, but dangerous hobby. These tutorials are contributed by other customizers. Some of the things recommended in the tutorials may be dangerous, such as the use of boiling water or sharp objects. You shouldn't attempt anything mentioned without adult permission and supervision. Figure Realm and/or the authors of the tutorials are not liable for any injuries or damages occurring from any attempt to follow suggestions in these tutorials.
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