Making paw pads (Patreon)

So these pads presented a unique challenge as they had to curve around the finger tip slightly. I had to find a little cheaters way to do this.

I started off by mixing up apoxie sculpt, which is a 2 part clay that cures to rock hard a few hours after mixing. I rolled the clay out into a thin sheet and laid it flat.

Next I drew out the shapes for the pads (heart and soft teardrop) on a piece of paper, cut that out and traced that onto the clay.

Cutting out those flat shapes, I let the still soft clay drape over the foam fingers/palm I have already made. It dropped and was allowed to set in place. I then added some extra clay on top to give them a little volume and let both cure for 2 days.

Today I used my belt sander to carve the pads into the perfect shape, smoothing everything off. I then wet sanded the pads nice and smooth.

Next I used a tip I learned from Stuffed Panda (go check out her patreon it’s fantastic). I applied a layer of thin silicone which cures to a glossy outer finish.

After that I made up some hydrocal (plaster) moulds. Let them cure and pulled out the pads. I used the belt sander to clean up the sharp edges of the mould before it set rock hard. Will leave them to dry overnight and I’ll be casting the silicone pads tomorrow