Experimental Non-Toxic Body Filler

This is not a tutorial, and just some results of some experiments I have been conducting.

First off, let me give you guys a little background to this, in case you haven't been following my thread. I'm on a quest to prove that you can make decent quality armor with non-toxic and cheap methods.

Now, so far my build is turning out well, the paper mache is strong enough to wear. However, it still leaves my pieces polygonal. I thought to myself, since flour and water is used to make paper mache paste, why not mess with the proportions and come out with more of a clay?

And mess with the proportions I did. The ingredients for this "body filler" are dirt cheap, they are: All-purpose flour, H2O, and Salt. The salt is only used to prevent molding. I do not know exactly how much ingredients I used, because I just mixed until I felt the consistency was right.

The end product turned out to be kind of a thick paste, not at all what I thought it was going to turn out as. It stuck to my hands (since I mixed the paste with them) and did not hold any shape. However, I was able to use my hands as a "squeegee" and wipe it off on my hardened armor piece, which in this case was the LD Mk VI forearm by ROBOGENESIS.

After letting dry for a few hours, I did a quick dry-sanding with 100 grit sandpaper, without a sanding block. The finished result turned out like this:



The area near the wrist did not sand very well because it was not completely dried, and I did not have the patience to wait for it. But as you can see, I am already beginning to get rid of some of the polygonal angles.

I think if it was properly applied with a gift card (like what is done with Bondo), and I used more coats, this could possibly be a great alternative to Bondo for those who have a small budget, or just don't want to deal with the toxicity of Bondo.

My problem with flour/paper-mache is that it can and will grow mold. And mold is toxic.

I believe salt will only protect you from the mold for so long. what if you were to use plaster of parris or stucco patch? or drywall mud?

Another problem is that salt dough is sensitive to moisture, so you would at least have to seal it somehow. And like all the stuff that is based on or similar to gypsum, it's also very brittle and doesn't have the same adhesive properties a resin-based material would have, so it'll crack easily and the cracked pieces will easily fall off your model. Areas where you sand it down to a very thing layer are particularly sensitive. You should try that out before building a whole costume with it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Testing is not yet done though, I'm going to see what happens over the course of a week. If by then it is not all moldy or off of the test piece, I will consider using this for my armor. If something should happen as to cause it to be unsuccessful, I'll have to find the smoothest pep files and find a better alternative, or rebuild the whole thing from foam.

What about using something like plasti dip?