Coloring Latex Rubber Made Possible!

How do artists get the desired hues on latex castings when the material is inherently incompatible with regular paints and dyes? Special latex paints have been formulated for this purpose and yield excellent results.

Latex rubber is the go-to material for making all kinds of props, masks and other thin-skinned castings apart from creating special effects like cuts, gashes and more. This liquid latex exhibits excellent toughness and durability apart from being economical as well.

The only hitch when working with latex rubber is that it cures to a semi-transparent finish with a yellowish hue. This can look quite unbecoming, not to mention that artists will want to be able to impart other color finishes to the latex surface.

However, latex cannot be painted with regular acrylic, water or other paints. The color will tend to chip and crack very soon as it fails to adhere to the latex properly.

What is the artist to do now? Do they have to leave the latex casts in the natural tone or make do with a cracked finish on their artworks? How will they get the realistic effect on masks and other special effects works?

The answer lies in special latex paints!

What is this?

Special painting and pigmenting systems have been developed for use with latex rubber, silicone rubber and polyurethane resins. The latex pigment can be mixed in the liquid latex rubber itself (before the casting) for facilitating intrinsic dyeing of the cast. Indeed, the casting will get an even tone that looks natural and will not chip or crack in the future, no matter how much it is flexed. Alternatively, just swirling the pigment a bit in the rubber can create a wonderfully marbled effect as well.

The same pigment can even be thinned for painting or air brushing on a latex cast after it has cured. This gives the space for creating shaded effects or playing around with different colors, as desired. A few drops of the pigment can be added to liquid latex rubber to give it a paint-able consistency. For airbrushing, it has to be diluted with distilled water.

And the options are…..

Colored Liquid Latex – DipKote is a popular latex pigment system. Coming from the house of Cirius, it is available in five different colors - Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Black. All these colors are available in both in 2 and 4ounce size bottles.

These are specially formulated to chemically incorporate into the latex rubber and, therefore, will give a smooth and long-lasting finish. No separate solvent is needed as the liquid latex rubber works as the thinner for the pigments.

These colors are easy to mix and the desired tones can be created easily. The concentration is high and the color will not dull easily. The pigment will not affect the cure time or the properties of the final latex product either.

This is just the best and easiest method of coloring latex as desired!