23 replies to this topic

[LadySilverSpider]

I got a copy of The Cell the other day for seven dollars at a cash converters store. Though an extremely disturbing movie I have always been very facinated with Eiko Ishioka's wild costume designs. I am very interested to know if anyone has any idea how she makes the red muscle suit things the people wear in this. What is the material it is made out of and how does she make the texture of the suits? I always think they look like a muscle anatomy chart worn on the outside of the body. She makes a similar suit of armour in Bram Stokers' Dracula.

Edited by LadySilverSpider, 30 December 2005 - 09:53 AM.

[El Presidente]

Not having seen the movie myself - do you have any pictures show what you're asking about, could you post them here, or as a link to your website?

[Cora]

Yea, those suits do remind you of Gary Oldman's Dracula Armour in Bram Stokers'.
I always thought it was a kind of leather...

[LadySilverSpider]

A few images I found of what I am talking about in reguards to the red muscle suits - now that I have found that one of her sitting up it looks like moulded latex or something like that ...anyone out there got any idea??

 3791_5513.jpg   74.48K   119 downloads  3791_4897.jpg   53.88K   85 downloads

[Reactor drone]

It's possible that it's a foam latex over a bodysuit,the way they did the arms and legs for the Uruk hai in LOTR but you could probably do it as a slush moulded latex-pouring liquid latex into a mould and pouring out the excess,building up layers until you have a relatively hard rubber shell.

I've seen people do batman cowls using that method.

[El Presidente]

Hey RD, You're sounding like you know all about this latex casting stuff....
Can I interest you in doing a workshop on it? ;-)

[LadySilverSpider]

Reactor Drone, you don't happen to know of any groovy websites that show visually how this is done do you or have in your possession any books? I'll have a go but I need to have some idea on how to do it and would they have painted the costume after or coloured the latex before hand?

[Reactor drone]

Sorry,don't know of any websites offhand.My information is from ye olden days of paper(Sci-Fi and Fantasy magazine).

The base colour was probably added to the latex and highlights added with an airbrush.I've tried colouring latex with regular paint and both enamels and acrylics seem to work fine.

For the bodysuit you'd need to sculpt it in clay or plasticine and take plaster or fibreglass moulds off it.From the looks of it,the suit is made in several components which are joined together later...doesn't look like it's creased the way foam latex does so it's probably the regular latex.

I could probably do a workshop,I'm no expert but I've done a couple of things...and I have plasticine,plaster and such that we could use to make a piece.

[El Presidente]

Woo Hoo! You're on - contact Starfire Pheonix and get date from her (I think there a free space in November still

Now can I interest you in doing a one hour workshop on something for the April 'Take A Day' classes....?

[LadySilverSpider]

RD I would appreciate any input you have on the making of this and getting a tour of your workshop and in progress projects... I happened to be looking for something completely unrelated and ran across this site today - which I think I might put into the guilds links - they cover latex moulding and vacuum forming and other very groovy bits and peices in a nifty step by step how to format WITH photos.

http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/

Edited by LadySilverSpider, 22 January 2006 - 06:21 PM.

[Andrew]

It's possible that it's a foam latex over a bodysuit,the way they did the arms and legs for the Uruk hai in LOTR but you could probably do it as a slush moulded latex-pouring liquid latex into a mould and pouring out the excess,building up layers until you have a relatively hard rubber shell.

I've seen people do batman cowls using that method.

The DVD Daredevil has a good section on making the close fitting latex suits.

[Reactor drone]

Woo that's an excellent website,great info.

My workshop is at various times, my shed,my kitchen,my living room and any other part of the house with free space at the time.Vacforming for example is done in the kitchen cause that's where the oven is

[Mr Walker]

I woud think that those suits are made of an injection moulded neoprene/foam latex material. Complex and costly stuff, but great results. (See the new Batman movie - thats how they did the suit)

If I was going to make a copy of those suits I would use a lycra body suit and sculpt all of the pieces out of low density EVA/PE foam and then start sticking them on. Ideally I would vacuum form thin sheets of foam over a plaster form to get the right shape, but if that isn't an option the pieces could be hand made.
There are ways to put a nice skin on the foam and it is easy to spray paint and gloss up.

The latex slush mold is another way to do it - very involved process and latex does tend to deteriorate over time. But if you have the time and inclination to do it it would look good.

That is how I would do it - I have done this technique many times to create masks and armour etc and it is quite easy once you have had some practice.

[LadySilverSpider]

I really need to get together with yourself and Reactor Drone to nut this one out - it would really be fantastic to make - I haven't seen any replicas of this one online yet. And you definitely seem to know totally what you are talking about and you are in SA!

How do you put the skin on the foam out of interest?

[Mr Walker]

I really need to get together with yourself and Reactor Drone to nut this one out - it would really be fantastic to make - I haven't seen any replicas of this one online yet. And you definitely seem to know totally what you are talking about and you are in SA!

How do you put the skin on the foam out of interest?

There are number of different glues that you can paint or spray onto the foams. You build up the layers and you have a smooth glossy skin that you can paint. If I can get my photos on the postings I can show you what I mean.

[LadySilverSpider]

Are you still having difficulty posting photos?

[Mr Walker]

Are you still having difficulty posting photos?

Sure am - it is very frustrating. I have been doing the file attatchments thing - browsing my photos, then clicking the Add this attatchment button and then the page resets and it is just like it was before, with no file name in the browse box. Maybe I need to set something up that I haven'. Any assist would be welcome.

[LadySilverSpider]

Okay you are almost there you know

browse file on computer - pick file with filename "blah".jpg or "blah".gif

choose file

click on "add attachment"

computer sits and thinks for some time and then page looks like it has reset

new box opens up under "choose file" and "add attachment" showing your selected file has uploaded

click on "Add into Post" button and you will get something in brackets like these [ ] that says attachmentid="some number blah" and you are done

Below superman picture was attached exactly like this


If it still don't work after that contact the webmaster or let me know and I will to find out what is up

Attached Files

•  01.jpg   245.85K   11 downloads

[Mr Walker]

Okay you are almost there you know

browse file on computer - pick file with filename "blah".jpg or "blah".gif

choose file

click on "add attachment"

computer sits and thinks for some time and then page looks like it has reset

new box opens up under "choose file" and "add attachment" showing your selected file has uploaded

click on "Add into Post" button and you will get something in brackets like these [ ] that says attachmentid="some number blah" and you are done

Below suprman picture was attached exactly like this
If it still don't work after that contact the webmaster or let me know and I will to find out what is up

Right. Thanks for that and here we go.

Ok, I have tried exactly what you have said to do and all is OK until the page resets. The new box that you have mentioned doesn't show up anywhere that I can see. If you can look into this problem it would be great.

Many thanks!

[mdb]

If you getthe book out Eiko on Stage there is a section on each of her main bodies of work. The cover even features a closup of the body suit.

WHat I found interesting is how often she used the idea and from several different materials.

I don't have the book on me any more, but the productions she used it in were: Dracula, The Ring Cycle (I can't recall just which of the operas it was in) and The Cell.

It's definitely not the same material as Dracula's Muscle armour, but it is discussed as well. Unless that was in the book of the film....