Murtons latex patterns
Making Latex Clothing
MrMucox latex patterns
zitronenroellchens latex patterns
ltx4jays latex patterns
Stretchy.org: Make Your Own Catsuit Sewing Pattern
Sheetlatex.com: Circle Skirt Pattern
Suggested Supplies
- Olfa 45mm rotary cutter (Amazon UK)
- Olfa 45mm spare blade (Amazon UK)
- Olfa 28mm rotary cutter - useful for cutting tight curves (Amazon UK)
- Olfa 28mm spare blades (Amazon UK)
- A2 cutting mat - You might want to get a larger one or use laminate flooring for larger cuts (Amazon UK)
- Laminate flooring - as a cutting base for long cuts and also protect the area from glue
- Seam Roller (Amazon UK)
- Gel pen - these ones can be removed very easily (Amazon UK)
- Copydex - used for applying to zips etc... so it bonds to the latex glue (Amazon UK)
- Long ruler for marking (Amazon UK)
- Wallpaper backing paper - wide and fairly thick so ideal for creating patterns
- Plastic ruler - for cutting. Don't use a metal one as you will blunt the blade
- Yellow frog tape - very good to sticking to the back of latex to stop it curling. You will find it with the paint brushes in homebase etc... Normal blue masking tape is still a bit too tacky and can be difficult to remove if applied with some pressure. (Amazon UK)
- Cling film - doesn't stick to latex glue so use it to cover glue while you glue a reverse side or to stop glue along a seam sticking until you are ready
- French curves (Amazon UK)
- Bostik 3851 glue
- Bostik no.4 thinner
- Latex! (Radical or 4D), Armory Auctions also resell latex but its quite a bit more expensive than buying direct. Handy for small amounts of trim though.
If you would like something really unusual then take a look at Yummy Gummy Sheet Latex.
The Bostik glue and thinner is not commonly available but I have found a few places to get it.
- Radical Rubber sell their own brand in their shop (Liberation)
- The ebay seller neil1111 sells 125ml and 250ml cans of the glue and thinner but its quite expensive for such a small amount.
- Cromwell will sell large 5L tins of the glue and thinner for £36.16+VAT and £46.95+VAT respectively and have trade counters around the country. Its not a standard stock item so email the store you wish to buy it from and they will quote you and can get it in stock in 2-3 days.
- Excel Adhesives sell 5l tins of Bostik £24.11 (price may be out of date) + VAT and cleaner4 £23.50 + VAT (price as of Jan 2013). Collect only from Northampton.
- Triple L sell their own glue and various other tools and materials.
- You can buy 'Bostik All Purpose Cleaner' from Wicks which is basically the same as the Bostik Cleaner 4 but with a little ammonia added.
- bostik3851.com also sell small container of the glue and thinner and currently it is cheaper than the ebay seller.
Personally I would get the glue via ebay or Triple L unless you are close to one of the other stores where you can collect. The thinner wont have any shelf life so getting 5L of it is fine.
Chlorination
Chlorination involves the production of chlorine gas which binds to the rubber molecules and results in the texture of the rubber becoming very smooth. You no longer need to talk or lubricate the clothing in order to put it on! Until I have time to write up all the notes I will lust list a few pointers below :-
- Latex shiner doesn't stick very well to chlorinated latex so if you want your outfit to be very shiny then consider if you really want to chlorinate it. If you do and you still wish to shine it then use something like Vividress or Pjur Cult Dressing Aid which is thicker and will last longer
- Although chlorinated latex is very smooth when it becomes damp it will still tend to stick to the skin. I find that in places such as the collar of a polo shirt this results in it rubbing against the skin as you turn and can make the skin a bit sore. This is easily fixed by just using a little dressing aid around the collar as you normally would for a non chlorinated item anyway.
- Chlorinated latex has slightly less stretch. When you first chlorinate something it can feel a lot stiffer but this wears off quite quickly after it is rinsed and starts to dry.
- Immediately after chlorinating the latex will have absorbed quite a bit of moisture and will be discoloured. In particular black can look very grey and light colours may appear slightly bleached. After the latex has been left to dry for about 24 hours it will be a lot better. Sometimes the latex may look patchy and this is often caused by very fine talc still being present in the very small pockets in the latex. Rubbing with a towel should improve the finish but often the best way is to just wear the item even if its under normal clothing. Its surprising how much of a difference it makes wearing it and then giving it a quick wash in slightly soapy water.
- Chlorinated latex is not as easy to repair since the glue will not stick to it. If its something simple such as a seam pulling apart then it doesn't matter as the latex in the seam would not have been chlorinated so you can simple reseal it. For tears etc... you will need to roughen the latex with 150 grit sand paper and then clean and glue as per normal.
See Catalyst latex for an excellent guide to chlorination. Here is a list of possible things you may wish to get :-
Some people say to use gloves but the concentration of bleach is very low and the acidity when diluted is far less than that of the acid in fruit so its not necessary. However if you don't use gloves your hands will smell of chlorine for a while just like after visiting a swimming pool. The mask works out to be the most expensive part but you could have a fan blowing across in front of you so the chlorine given off from the bucket is blown away from your face. As I scuba dive I used to breath off a diving regulator but found unless you blocked your nose you still tended to breath some in which wasn't good so I now use a mask and filter.
The guide says to use a ratio of 60ml bleach to 10ml of spirit of salt with 2L of water. A later posting by Gord on rubberpal mentioned that he has found that the thin bleach from Tesco appears to have become a little weaker and he now uses double the bleach content. I now normally use 4L of water in the bucket (a 2L coke bottle makes a very handy measuring container) and then add the 200ml of bleach. The Spirit of salts that I linked above contains 25% acid so I add 20ml. I have found this tends to work better than a lower bleach concentration aswell. If you don't find it particularly easy to work out then MrMucox has produced a nice tool here to make it easier for you. I would suggest entering a bleach concentration of 3% (the spirit of salts I linked to is 25%) and use the Litres column for measuring. The imperial columns are US versions and are different than the old UK measurements.
Other Useful Suppliers
Le Prevo - buckles, d rings, eyelets, studs, webbing, leather etc...
S3i - D rings, shackles, wire etc...
G S Products - D rings, shackles, wire etc...
Mistral Chemicals - Dimethicone (latex shiner)
Latex Workshops
Latex Workshops
Triple L
Club Rub Latex Workshops
Links
Latex Wiki
Pattern School
Modern Sewing Patterns
Draftsight free 2D CAD software
Jeremy Erwins Pattern Designer
Inkscape Draw Freely
Contact Form