Silicone Props
If you need a very lifelike specialty prop, such as a half-eaten body, silicone is the perfect material for it.
Silicone Specialty Props and Bodies
We can really build anything out silicone, with its ability to capture extremely high levels of detail. But it really shines when it’s used to simulate flesh.
What Makes Silicone So Special?
In the past, specialty props were made out of other materials, such as foam latex.
Foam latex is a notoriously difficult material to work with. Because it comes from rubber trees, it is becoming more and more scarce. And as the years have progressed, the quality has declined considerably.
Today, silicone has taken over where foam latex leaves off. It has many benefits over its predecessor, including being:
Stable
Flexible
Adjustable in terms of density and springiness
Extremely moldable to a high level of detail
Tintable to any color
Easy to work with for better results
Young skin is springy. It’s highly elastic and pops back instantly, giving a full, rounded look. As skin ages, it changes. The spring is still there, but it’s slower. At rest it looks a bit more sunken.
Silicone is amazing because we can actually change how elastic it is during the process, making it react exactly the way that we want. This affects how the prop looks on camera and is especially important if your actors interact with it directly.
Silicone’s Life-Like Density
As important as color is when working with prosthetics, it is absolutely essential with silicone props, too. That’s why we use spectrograph color matching to achieve highly realistic skin tones. Electronic color reading takes out the guesswork and makes sure that we get the right tone every time.
Silicone takes color exceptionally well, making it easy to get exactly the shade we’re looking for.
Spectrograph Color Matching
Each step in the process is a process in itself.
Silicone Props is part of a larger creative process at StevieFX, generally consisting of:
See Tattoos to find out about the Creative Process for Tattoos.