It's been a while since I've done a serious update. The Shuriken mold is kicking my ars and I have been really lacking in modivaton but I that's over now. I go quite some work done so here it is.
With the help of a band saw and heat gun I was able to make the dread beads smaller and more in scale with the dreads. This has turned out to be quite a bit more work then just PVC beads but they look really cool.

I revised the dread top mold. Initially I have a taped piece they I put down the center of the mold and then poured it compete. This worked out pretty good but the tips were a bit thick. I opened up the top of the mold and just pour a small bit of resin and slush castes them. It uses a lot less resin they are a lot thiner and lighter and there is no trimming.
I found a new way of coating the dreads also. In the past I have used the plasti dip method but that gets pretty expensive. They need quite a few coats to get a thick protective layer. I did 4 coats on my last set and they were torn up a bit by my armor. The plasti dip also look dull. I used the same black adhesive calling I used to texture my armor. I thinned it a lot with water and just applied it by hand working it along the dread. One coat comes out nice and smooth-ish. The finish is very flexible a strong with a nice semi gloss finish.

Here is the actual product. This stuff is great sticks to just about anything and water clean up.
I have been sculpting away at the bio. This is a nice 1 or 2 hour relaxing evening project. It's almost done just need to even out the smooth surfaces and add a few more details. This Bio was sculpted in a plaster cast from the mask so it will be a very nice fit.
I started on the body armor also. It took me quite some time to figure out the best way to tackle this armor set. It needs to be light and form fitting. I tried a few foam pieces and could not get the tight form fit and it was a bit bulky. Worbla would have been good but it would take a few layers to get it thick enough to hold a form and expensive. I decided that cast resin armor was the best choice and since I'm making 2 suits it will cut down the work.
I stated with a duct tape dummy. After drawing out the armor outline I applied plaster bandages where the armor would be. 3 plus layers we're needed to get a nice solid form that I could remove and work on.

Once the whole mess had dried I drew out the armor again decided where to seperate the piece to make the whole thing easy to put on and wear.
I got some heavy duty emergency shears they cut the 3 layers of plaster bandages with a bit of effort . I cut all the pieces off, primed and painted them. Once dry I put them back on the dummy trim out the edges. I want the edges 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch in from the actual edge. Once I have the edges cut I run a layer of tape around the edges so the clay does not get little pits of plaster all order it.
My daughter and I started on the thigh piece this was the simplest part and she wanted to learn how to do it. After trimming the edge we applied tape all around it to seal it. Then came the clay. I had a bunch of light and dark brown they I had pulled from a previous mold. I heated this in a toaster oven at 200 till it was very thin. This allowed me to mix the colors to a consistent color and then pour it on a board to smooth and create a thin layer. I cut the thin layer down into smaller strips and applied it the the painted plaster cast of the thigh piece. My daughter did most of the sculpt, applying the details and textures. She did fantastic job for her first time.
After applying a few layers of latex the sculpt and a fiberglass shell mold we were ready to slush some resin around. When were sculpted the piece we have some thought to the molding process. We made a lip all around the outside that would trap the resin so we could slush it around easily without it flowing over.
The finished piece came out really nice. 4 coats of resin made a nice thickness not to thin and not to thick but very light. Here is the finished piece. My daughter is very proud of this. Here it is with a base coat of gold.
Here is the plaster armor all painted and back on the dummy for a final trim before clay and sculpting.

More to come...