DIY Home-made "realistic" Hides

[OhBalls]

NIce tutorial, but is the clay water resistant to the point hat these can be washed? If not, fino or something might work beter. Someone also asked about using an existing stone hide as a base. You can get a mold makiong kit or fill the interior cavity with a latex filler, then pull it out and use it for your base. You can just shape the outside to match, or you can make a plaster mold of the outside and press it down on top of the clay once it's formed on the base. You'd have exact replicas with a litle more work.

No, the clay itself is not waterproof, which is why there are two waterproofing steps. Once before the paint and once after. Though, I would not suggest letting them soak in water, giving them a wash won't hurt since they are waterproofed. They're inexpensive enough that even if the person does NOT waterproof enough to make them completely sealed, it's not a big loss cost wise.
I have a resin kit that I was going to use, but I read some other DIY's where people were looking for an inexpensive solution. So the point of this DIY was to keep costs at a minimum and make it easy enough for even kids to make.
I think that by the time you bought Fimo, latex or even plaster, with all the other sealing and painting...it would be more cost effective to simply buy a store bought hide.
Again, if you have the money and want the satisfaction of building it yourself, by all means, go for it...I am sure your ideas would make some killer hides! Thanks for the ideas!

[PythonWallace]

No, the clay itself is not waterproof, which is why there are two waterproofing steps. Once before the paint and once after. Though, I would not suggest letting them soak in water, giving them a wash won't hurt since they are waterproofed. They're inexpensive enough that even if the person does NOT waterproof enough to make them completely sealed, it's not a big loss cost wise.
I have a resin kit that I was going to use, but I read some other DIY's where people were looking for an inexpensive solution. So the point of this DIY was to keep costs at a minimum and make it easy enough for even kids to make.
I think that by the time you bought Fimo, latex or even plaster, with all the other sealing and painting...it would be more cost effective to simply buy a store bought hide.
Again, if you have the money and want the satisfaction of building it yourself, by all means, go for it...I am sure your ideas would make some killer hides! Thanks for the ideas!

I hear you. I didn't catch that you waterproof the inside as well. I was just letting the other poster know what would be involved in using a store bought hide as your mold, but I agree it would be cheaper to just buy another one. Again, nice write up!