# B-SKIN...translucent skin for your skinless props



## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

OK haunters here is another tutorial by BEELCE......

"B-SKIN" (or you could call it "GLUE SKIN")....

It's the same thing that many of us did as kids when we smeared white school glue on our hands, then peeled the "skin" off after it dried

This is the same process that I used on my Medusa................ http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=10517

It is an easy process that will give you a cool translucent "skin" effect.

The entire skin is made of carpenters glue. I used Elmer's brand carpenters glue it is water based, stainable, and exterior rated.

The idea is to paint out a thin even layer of glue on to a piece of plastic, then peel it off and "skin" whatever you want.



















here is the B-Skin on Medusa's face



















Here you can see that I used a foam brush to paint out the B-Skin on to a plastic container lid and I also used a thick piece of stiff vinyl.

I taped off an area with masking tape, then filled it in with a nice even layer of glue


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

You can check the glue for uneven spots with a back light.










After it dries, (overnight) you need to carefully peel it away from the plastic.

To apply the skin...



















Paint more glue on the surface to be covered. (I did thin the glue very slightly with water,)


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Paint more glue on the dried B-Skin



















Stick the 2 wet surfaces together, and add another coat of wet glue to the top dry surface of the B-Skin


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Paint on another coat of glue on top of the just applied skin










At this point the dried and kinda brittle B-Skin becomes soft and wet and very flexible.


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

You can start to have a little fun as you push and pull and slide the B-skin around the surface till you get the look that you want. 
You may need to wet you fingers a bit as you work the B-Skin. Water is fine.










Now you just need to let the skin dry. Not sure how long this takes, but I let mine sit over night to get good and dry.

FYI: I did notice that the skin got much tighter as it dried, and looked much less dramatic than I had left it to dry.
So if you start with a soft wrinkly look, when it dries the skin will really smooth out much flatter.










I did find that it is best to work in sections, and to trim the skin to fit the area your working.










I also find that it is nice to have different thickness-es of skin to give you different textures on your sculpt

I think this process has a lot more possibilities (color, texture) than what you see here. I did experiment with adding color dye and glitter into the skin before it dried, and it worked fine.
Please experiment and let us all know what you come up with.

The dried B-Skin is not hard nor overly brittle. In fact, so far Medusa's face has stayed somewhat flexible to the touch.
I think that it could be used on pose-able hands, and should bend somewhat with the new positions on the hands as needed.

OK....that's it
Hope you give it a try sometime...good luck and please post your B-SKIN projects for all of us to see.
Later...B


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

First off, good job on the how-to and the photos.

A very interesting method for texturing and a alterative to latex for some jobs. 
Thanks for sharing.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Man, who woulda thunk that the technique of putting glue on your hands that we all did as kids would give such a fantastic effect on a prop? Wow!

Also, for those of us who can't work with latex, a very viable alternative. Thanks, B!


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## tot13 (Jul 25, 2007)

I got the opportunity to see this in person and the effect is unbelievable. I have plans to "skin" some of my corpsed skulls like this.


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## fick209 (Aug 31, 2009)

Excellent how-to. Thanks!


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## GrimleeFeindish (Jan 23, 2009)

Thats a great idea! Thanks for the tut.


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## Bethene (Jan 19, 2008)

this is such a cool idea, and easy too


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

thanks! i was wondering how to make skin like this...it gives me alot to think about!


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Good Job B..great idea you came up with..


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

Oh man, thats creepy. Decoupaging on some skin - gotta love it!


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

That is SO cool and I can tell you with 100% certainty that I would have never thought of it.

What an amazing effect!


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Great idea...love it


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## HallowEve (Apr 13, 2009)

Love the idea! Thanks for the how to!
:jol:


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Excellent idea. The results are great.


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## hauntedkimmy (May 31, 2011)

Very neat idea. I've never used glue this way and the end result does rawk for sure! I might just hafta give it a try! Thanks!


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Thanks everyone......
hope you give it a try.......


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## MapThePlanet (Nov 12, 2010)

Really like the final look! Seems easy enough to try too


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## Drago (Sep 5, 2011)




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## Kelly_A (Sep 24, 2013)

RoxyBlue said:


> Man, who woulda thunk that the technique of putting glue on your hands that we all did as kids would give such a fantastic effect on a prop? Wow!


exactly! That effect is really outstanding. 
Now, if I can just figure out how to repurpose rubber cement "boogers"...


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## Maarkb (Jul 26, 2013)

Good idea! I used kleenex and paper mache glue for the same effect .


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## drevilstein (Sep 17, 2013)

That's a really cool technique


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## swede5342 (Mar 31, 2014)

Great idea!!!!!! I was looking for a new look for corpsing my skeletons and I think I will give this a try! thanks for sharing!


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## T-rex (Feb 7, 2011)

Great tutorial, I am going to try this on some skulls this season!


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Hey B... Great tutorial and thanks for your secret ..


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## divinedragon7 (May 29, 2009)

Thats an awesome idea for something a lot of us probably overlooked, can't remember how many times i've pulled up some spilled glue and never given it a second thought.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

This is the kind of brilliance I hope to find. Thanks for the technique


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## provprops (Jun 18, 2014)

The translucency is sweet. You can get quite a detailed build with different scenes.


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