Shown here a couple of samples of my new pads.

The design's not perfect yet; this test run used a texture that was too thin so picked up small irregularities in the forms. It was also thin enough to puncture on the vacuum-former and allow polyester resin to get sucked into the system. No long-term damage was done, but it needs cleaning up.

I've been pushing towards making platinum silicone paw-pads to replace the series of urethane rubber ones I used to do. the range of colours is much the same, as are the number of potential filler powders. The benefits are longevity, softness, ease of cleaning, colour reproduction and a better catalogue of experience in skin interaction. Most platinum silicones are considered highly inert once cured and very safe for use in direct skin contact.

These were cast in a 13shore silicone with my "Standard Pink" pigment mix.

First casts taken from a GRP mould. Detail reproduction is excellent, though I will not take a mould directly from the former in future. Once the vac-former is cleaned up I'll be making silicone moulds from the forms, textured rigid master casts from those and the final GRP moulds from those masters.

Doing it that way should also ensure all subsequent moulds are identical.

The shapes shown here are the rough versions of the new "anthro-style" design pad, intended to go across the bridge of the palm, in canine and feline variants.