Cape Origins

Something I'm sort of becoming obsessed with is the source material for the outer skin of the cape. Although I think it is VERY cool that I had the opportunity to mold a production made cape, it is not without it's flaws. The mold, that is. Because the cape did not lay perfectly flat, I captured any of the surface warbles and waves that were in the original. Those are poving to be problematic in the mold. There were also some shortcomings in my mold making efforts, mainly due to the sheer size of the piece.

I got it into my head that if I could track down whatever it was that was used in the making of the cape, I could tackle it from a different angle. This would also give me the opportunity to avoid some of the limitations imposed on me by having the original cape to mold. For example, I could make a BIGGER cape. I could make a more full cape. All kinds of stuff.

My main motivator though is materials. I am having problems running urethane into a silocone mold. Those two repel. If I can make a rigid mold, out of fiberglass for example, that would really free up my choice of materials.

Despite the fact that I have documentation of the outer skin of the cape being made of latex, I'm just not sure that is right. The way the production made cape felt and behaved seemed MUCH more like urethane than latex. Though I will be perfectly happy to have a finished latex cape, I'd rather it be urethane, for a number of reasons.

With that said, I started my search for the source material for the cape. I've learned a lot so far in my search about terminology and materials. I don't want to get into too much detail here on my blog, for purely selfish reasons. I just want to be the first person to find the stuff! Well, the first person in the fan base to find it. I'm sure SOMEONE at the batshop knows what it is.

I ordered a few samples online, and of the three I ordered, one came back, and it was the wrong stuff. Bummer. I have since found another place online that sells something that looks REALLY good, but there is no sense of scale to the photos. So for all I know, the diamonds are one inch across, which is way too big for what I'm looking for in a texture.

So that's all I have as far as updates go. I haven't poured up any new pieces, and don't have any updates on the boots. I DID clean up my workspace a few days ago, but I hardly consider that photo worthy.