Test of new product Ellimorph

There was a hell of a lot of things to see, and buy at this last weekends ComicCon Stockholm. I sure brought som stuff home as you could see in a previous post I did while at the con.

As a cosplayer...ehrm, can I call myself that? A wannabe anyway. Well, to the point. Many have already seen the Ellimacs SFX Tutorial youtube channel by Ellinor Rosander and Macs Moser. They do amazing make up tutorials and have over 600k subcribers to their channel as of today. I have seen quite a few of their tutorial videos and they use a kind of biodegradable plastic that is non-toxic and softens in hot water which makes it really easy to work with. They sell it by the name Ellimorph.

The facts of Ellimorph

•  Ellimorph comes in white plastic pellets
• It turns soft and transparent in hot water above 62 C/143.6 F
• Pick up the completlely transparent pellets and mold it by hand (at this stage you can add color)
• Allow the Ellimorph to cool until solid
• Re-heat if further moulding is required

Tips 

• Dip in cold water for faster set time
• Re-heating takes longer if the piece is big
• Solid Ellimorph will shrink some over time. When doing teeth moulds you may need to re-heat and bite down again to adjust the fit

Caution

• Be careful when handling hot water
• Do not over-heat the water with pellets in it or they may become sticky and difficult to remove from surfaces. 

Swedishfanboy's Ellimorph test on foam armor


Ellimacs SFX primarily use their product for make up FX and I love that kind of thing, but when I went up to their booth at ComicCon this weekend and spoke to them I thought that this product easily could be transfered to the world of cosplay.

Many times I am lost on what material I can use for different things in cosplaying. Often I know exactly what I want to achieve but the material or product doesn't exist or isn't available in Sweden.

I am making a sort of Grim Reaper costume for a private event next Saturday. Will not reveal it until then, sorry. But this costume has a piece of armor that I have small spikes on. I actually bought som spike type of thing at a local arts and craft store. These thing looks really weak and not intimidating at all. Actually I think they are suppose to be used as a carrot nose for a snowman, LOL.

Anyway, a perfect chance to test Ellimorph. Check out the pictures below to see the progress.

This is the foam armor pieces with the small spikes intended for a snowman.

 Now it's time to make a more horrifying type of spikes with Ellimorph!

Heat the water to above 62 C/143.6 F. This seem to be the meltingpoint of Ellimorph. I found out that 75 C/167 F is the perfect temperature to make the pellets go transparent really quickly.

Pour water in a glass and add the Ellimorph pellets. When they are completely transparent, pick them up with a spoon. They should be cool enough to handle.

I now have moulded a spike and put a match in it to punch through the foam to make it stick better. This piece is stil transparent because it didn't set yet.

Two pieces that turned solid. It really become rock hard after it sets. Perfect to make teeth, bone and such.

Finished! Hot glued to the foam armor and looks incredible already. I thought of painting them black as the original ones but I think I'll just weather them to have the bone/tooth feel.

 Evaluation of Ellimorph

Ellimorph is for sure in my cosplay workshop to stay. There are probably many many more things you can use it for that I haven't even thought about yet. Feel free to come with suggestions when Ellimorph can be used in cosplaying.

Update! 

I finished the new spikes/fangs made out of Ellimorph today by weathering them with some black acrylic paint and the result is way better than the small black ones I first used. To seal the paint I sprayed a thin layer of clearcoat on. See the result below.

If you wonder about the color difference between the two it's because I ran out of silver paint and bought a cheap one that I could get the hold at the time. You get what you pay for so to speak - it is more gray/white than silver. The left piece is the look I want obviously.

Later, awseome nerds!