This is a prototype for Mirepoix's (and plenty of other dragons') armor-like bullshit plate scales up her arms and legs. I think they need to be a bit lower profile than what I've got going on here. When the glove is worn, the thickness is really glaring, and kinda weird. But hey, what is prototyping for?

I made these EXACTLY the same way people make silicone pawpads! I sculpted them in Sculpey Primo on a scrap piece of acrylic, built walls up with strips of acrylic and hot glue, then made a resin mold around them. The tinted silicone was poured into the cavities of my mold (shown in the background of the top image), and a piece of fleece was pressed on top, connecting with the silicone. I let them set up overnight, then cut the resulting scales out. I glued one scale on with E6000 and one with hot glue. Neither of them is going anywhere soon, so I think I'll stick with hot glue simply because it's so easy and odorless. I dabbed on some dimensional paint just to see how it looks; I'm playing with the idea of using some on my project.

Some things I want to change for next time: I made two test molds. One was resin and one was plaster. The plaster is waaayyy less expensive, but you can only get matte scales from it. (Holy shit what if I coated the inside of the mold with paste wax? I just thought of this... hmm... more testing is in order.) Next time, I'll just bite the bullet and make resin molds, or perhaps slush resin in there for a thin coat, then back it with plaster. These are going to be throw-away molds, so longevity is far from important. Like I said in my introduction, I want to make these thinner next time. I kinda like the subtle ridge one one side of the scale, however.

Materials used:
- Dragon Skin 10 MEDIUM (Great stuff. Super stretchy, and takes pigment beautifully. There is nothing else I'd use for this application
- Regular 'ol fleece from JoAnns
- spandex, whee
- Smooth Cast 65D (just what I have on hand. I am positive there are less expensive resins to make plaque molds with)
- Spray mold release
- wheeeh my tummy hurts.


UPDATE: I just did another test. Backing my scales with spandex is really awesome. It's much lower profile than the fleece and blends in perfectly with the glove. I also found that I am able to get shiny pulls from a plaster mold by coating the inside with mold release paste, then buffing it. I am still getting strange bubbling issues from my plaster molds, however. I need to service my vacuum chamber and try again.