Making a Latex Corset - Part One 

it all depends on the state of the rubber pieces. If there is excess dust, or powders or muck or pen marks down the edges where the glue will be applied I will wipe them clean with a damp cloth before hand. If there are finger prints or grease then I will use a solvent, otherwise no, in most cases it is not necessary. On the whole, if you do need to clean the rubber you don't need to use a solvent unless grease or oil is involved, just water and you do not need to clean all the rubber, just where the glue will be applied, otherwise the rubber can become more difficult to work with, supper grippy and always sticking to itself. Some people use solvents to wipe down an edge before applying glue but not because it needs to be cleaned but because the rubber reacts to the solvent, it softens and expands - that is what causes rubber to curl when we apply solvent glues. The softer and expanded surface therefore can take the glue better, but again one doesn't have to do this because the solvents in the glue do it for you anyway. The only other time I will clean down edges before applying glue, even if the surface already looks clean, is if I am working with transparent types of rubber.

laser cutters are very good but only if you can get the best out of them. People often think they will solve a lot of their problems with them being all high tech but its the very opposite. Unless you have highly intricate work or need to cut multiple items at a time as in mass manufacturing one doesn't quite get the real use out of them. Okay pattern templates for corsets. For once with latex you don't need a pattern that is specific to the material you can use any kind of pattern for more conventional garments. They will need adapting to make them suitable, changes to seam allowances, removal of hem edges and these and other alterations will often depend on how much experience you have had with working with rubber sheeting. There are no real latex patterns out there for corsets that I know of. Eventually I would like to produce some but they are currently in a long list of things to do. I provide some information in one of my manuals, the Compendium, on how to draft a pattern for making a corset similar in style to the one seen in the video, but it doesn't cover corsets extensively, it is just one of many other different garments in that book.

you can use any thickness of fabric. The one I used in the video was a lawn cotton so basically a thin shirting fabric. While arguments can be made that synthetic fibres are unsuitable because they cannot absorb the latex I have found that they can be used so long as the weave isn't so dense (like a silk finish) as to virtually make a membrane surface - that is a super smooth and tightly woven surface. Rubberising synthetic fibres basically sandwiches the weave between the latex whereas more natural fibres will also absorb the latex. At the opposite extreme more open weaves are unsuitable as the latex just falls through the gaps.

when I refer to latex rather than rubber I am referring to the liquid latex which on curing becomes rubber. Copydex and other such glues are a form of liquid latex but with the amount I use it can become expensive using such glues, it is also more thick and has a handful of extra ingredients incorporated into it. Liquid Latex as in the form used for mould making, but also in the making of sheet rubber, tends to be purer. Essentially though I am using the liquid latex as a glue.

merci

it is liquid latex

sorry I can't remember the name of the brand. I am always changing from where I get it from but it is just a common modelling latex, prevulcanised. When in its liquid form you can't see through the latex as it is an off white colour but as it cures and becomes rubber it turns into a transparent amber.

Thank you so much ❤️

so, I don't have any videos yet on glueing techniques etc, they will be in a couple of years time when they will be released alongside a new Compendium on latex garment making. Perhaps where you are going wrong with the boning or/and underwire is that you aren't inserting them into fabric casing. Once in a fabric casing they can then be rubberised. The casing prevents the metal from contacting the rubber so the rubber doesn't deteriorate and protects it against abrasion as well as permit latex to be used to coat the fabric so once dried it has become rubber that then allows the bone to be glued to rubber. The traditional colourant that people add to liquid latex is simply poster paint. I will also use pigment and acrylic.

@@catastacharisma thank you so much for this!! another question if you could help me please, do you use any solvent thinner on the bostik latex glue? i kind find it too thick, should i thin it? thanks!

@@bananaeater4332 yes, it is called Evostik Cleaner 4 - it is the solvent that Bostik makes to go with the glue. Otherwise any heptane (if I remember right, also possibly naphtha) based solvent will do - basically it is similar to lighter fluid. One can use any kind of solvent, even paint thinner and turpentine but these tend to be crude and can damage rubber. Essentially a glue such as that by Bostik is rubber that has been dissolved in a solvent. Once the solvent evaporates the skin of glue is in fact a layer of very grippy rubber. Hence cruder types of solvent can be more damaging and actually partially dissolve the surface of rubber sheeting.

@@catastacharisma omg you're literally an angel!!! Can you tell me the ratio or something like that? For example how many parts of solvent should i use for 1 part of the glue?