Not  much I can say about this clip except that I wonder if he was really headed to a Children's Hospital or maybe out for some role-playing!

A customer of mine just send me this photo of the new Superman costume, wondering if it was made of rubber.

 

From the looks of it, this Superman suit is made of cast latex, or a combination of stretch fabric and cast latex.  Henry Cavill, who has been cast as the new Superman, sure has the body for the part!  I can't say that I'm a big fan of the new suit design. It seems "inspired" by the latest Spiderman costume, but is only a pale intimidation of a much cooler suit. Hopefully with the proper lighting and CG effects it will look much nicer on the big screen.

 

 He doesn't slide down your chimney, but he does sneak into your house at night! He doesn't leave you presents under your tree, but if you find a box under your bed, don't open it... if it's from Sqweegle!

I just got an email from Anthony Zuiker with a link to the final episode of Level 26 (which apparently doesn't have any rubber in it.)  When the link took me to YouTube I discovered another "behind the scenes video from Level 26" with lots and lots of footage of Danny the Rubberboy in my white latex Sqweegel suit! 

 

 

 

 When they interview Danny and he says that he was excited when he read the script, but I remember him telling me that he was really disturbed by all of the horrible things his character would be doing and wasn't sure how he'd be able to handle it!  Obviously he got over it and did a great job. Danny the Rubberboy is really nice guy and an amazing contortionist. Look for the test shots of him in this video doing his most extreme contortions and notice that my full rubber suit DOES NOT RIP!!!  

Just fast forward through all of the interviews and go right to the Sqweegel shots! Enjoy!

 

 

 Any of you that know me, know that I'm not a big fan of Xmas.  I hate getting gifts almost as much as I hate buying them and the Xmas music in every store drives me insane. That's why I was glad to see that the French are shaking things up a bit this year.  The 16^th Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs, an exhibition of Christmas Trees designed by top French Fashion Designers and other arsty types, was recently held at the Hotel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris. It's miles away from a traditional Xmas, so of course I like it.

  

 

 My favorite from the show is this one from Ali Mahdavi! I love the innovative use of tree ornaments. This design makes for one kinky Christmas! The exhibition also featured trees by Chanel, Louis Vuitton,  Jean Paul Gaultier and Stella McCartney, for all of you label whores out there.

 

Stella McCartney wins the “So cute I could puke award” for her knitted tree. 

 

 Even though I think the Louis Vuitton brand is an overpriced joke, I really liked their cool Christmas Tree in a case design.

 

  

 

 The award for "Most Unoriginal and Most Blatant Example of Self-promotion" goes to DSQUARED2.  Really? All you could come up with a counter display of your cologne?  The visible extension cord is really classy!

In other, non tradition Xmas design news: Pantone has come out with Christmas ornaments! Perfect for any design geeks in your life (they are on my list, hint hint.) The Pantone Xmas Balls are available in ten different PMS colors I hope that one of them is shiny and BLACK. Have a great time, what ever it is you decide to celebrate, this holiday season!

Jeff

 

I got a call a few months ago from an art director asking if I’d ever made an inflatable rubber suit. I kind of chuckled and said, “Many times!” It turned out that they needed an inflatable rubber suit for a Toyota Commercial and they needed it in just 4 days… and of course they didn’t have the actor’s measurements. Once my price quote was accepted and they we able to give me a few of the un-named actor’s measurements, I had to jump right into it. Below is the rough sketch that I was given to show me the different air chambers and the basic shape of the suit. 

 

 

I convinced them that they were asking for way too many air chambers in the suit and that they could easily get away with using only 5 chambers.(It saved them a lot of money and me an extra day of labor.) Each of those chambers had to be a completely separate and sealed unit with it’s own valve for inflation. If there was even one tiny leak, the whole seam could fail!

Drafting the pattern took a whole day; since I needed to draft patterns for two separate suits: the inner and the outer suit. Having just 5 measurements, instead of the 54 measurements that I normally take for every catsuit, made the project pretty nerve wracking! I had to do a lot informed guessing, which isn’t at all how I like to work. If you’ve ever seen Project Runway, that’s how crazy I get when working on a studio service project!

The night before the fitting, a friend came over and tried on the suit. The arm and leg chambers had been attached, but the torso chamber wasn’t on yet. Once the suit was fully inflated we both started laughing hysterically! He looked like a freak with his huge arms and legs, but with an average torso!  Nothing had exploded, so I felt much calmer. lol

 

I had to get up at dawn the next morning so that I could get the torso chamber attached before the fitting at the director’s house in Venice Beach at 2pm. Because the torso chamber wrapped completely around both sides of the suit, it was the most difficult part of the whole suit. Just 15 minutes before I had to leave for the drive to Venice Beach, the suit was finished! Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to test if there were any leaks in the torso.

The director house was right out of Dwell Magazine, very clean, cool and modern. The place was packed with lots of busy people and so I was lucky to find my contact person right away. I was excited to find out that Michael Showalter was the actor that I would be dressing for the commercial. Michael Showalter wrote and starred in one of my favorite cult comedies, “Wet Hot American Summer.”

I asked the special effects guys to please go easy when inflating the torso, since the glue was still fresh. They were very understanding and agreed that I would tell them when to stop the inflation. They had rigged up a complex arrangement of rubber tubes which ran from a compressor to each of the valves. Those same tubes were also rigged to a vacuum so the suit could be inflated and deflated in a matter of seconds, instead of minutes.

Michael Showalter was a good sport about it, but I could tell he wasn't too excited about being covered in baby powder by a stranger. The suit slid on perfectly, but since the chambers weren't inflated, it didn’t look too exciting. When they attached all the tubes to the back of the suit, everyone in the house came upstairs to see the “crazy rubber suit.”

I was feeling the pressure, but stayed calm as they inflated the first arm, then the second, then one leg and then the other. Everyone was laughing at Michael's facial expressions as the appendages inflated, but I was concerned since the torso was next to be inflated. The special effects guys looked over at me and I nodded for them to go ahead. The air began to quickly inflate the torso to almost it's full size, then they slowed the inflation down, checking with me before continuing. They inflated the torso even more, still without a problem and so I let them keep going. Finally his torso was huge and I was getting really worried, so I told them to stop. The suit looked so cool, I never seen the entire suit fully inflated! I was really excited that it had worked out so well! 

 

 

I finally relaxed and looked around the room; everyone was smiling and had their phones out, taking pictures. I was so relieved! The director and the art director both came over to me and told me how much they love it. Soon everyone there was having his or her picture taken with Michael in the inflated suit and I felt like a rock star!

 

 

What a great day! Paid big bucks to hang out in a beautiful Venice Beach house filled with people telling me how much they loved my work...times like those make me wish that life had a rewind button:)

Jeff
http://www.rubbellion.com/

 

I got a call from Squirm over at RubberZone.com a few months ago asking if I had a Rubber Uniform that they could borrow for a photo shoot. Thanks to a very flaky customer, I had one sitting on a rack and ready to ship out. The Uniform appeared on the cover of RUBBERMEN in Issue 26.1: World Domination. The photos look great and I like the playful use of inflatable globes.

 

Here are a few other images from RUBBERMEN.

 

Our Rubbellion Rubber Breeches are based off of Tom of Finland drawings and so they have a smaller, more contemporary looking balloon on the upper thigh. Other companies use metal boning in their balloons which makes the balloons wobble when you walk. Our Rubber Breeches have a heavy latex and canvas re-enforcement that maintains the shape but doesn't add extra weight that will cause a wobble.

The heavy yellow trim was the customer's choice. I prefer all black latex or with a thinner trim that's more subtle. (The great thing about ordering custom is that you can have your order made in any color or with any options that you like.)

I made a really sexy all black Latex Uniform for a handsome customer from Sydney. The shirt and the breeches were trimmed out in thin black piping. It's a very subtle effect, but really looks really sharp in person. We were able to get a great fit even without me taking the measurements myself. (Even though I wish I could have flown to Australian for the fitting!) I also custom made two Sam Brown Belts with trim, a Garrison Belt and two Ties with trim for his order. Here are a few of the photos that he was nice enough to send me:

Thanks to Squirm from RubberZone for the great photos. http://www.rubberzone.com

 It looks like the Entertainment Industry is really getting in to Rubber these days.  I just did a really cool inflatable suit, but unfortunately I can't tell you more or show you pics until commercial comes out in a month.  I think it's going to be a really funny segment from what I saw at the fitting.

 

However,there are two new movies that heavily feature Latex Suits. One features a rubber clad Super Hero: "Griff the Invisible," the other, a rubber clad villain: "American Horror Story."  People have been asking me if I made those costumes, sadly, I wasn't called to make either of these costumes. Getting studio service jobs is all about having a connection with the costume designer, assistant costume designer, art director or a friend of a friend.  As hard as I try, I still don't know everyone in Hollywood... yet:)  Who made the rubber suit for American Horror Story?  Black Style ? Syren ? Vex ? Your guess is as good as mine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the trailer for "Griff the invisible" starring hunky/dorky Ryan Kwanten from True Blood. This suit seems to be made of cast foam rubber, a process that I am still learning about.  With these kind of suits, like the Batman Suits, you can sculpt muscles and other details into the mold and then cast multiple suits. The down side is that they are fragile and often need to me repaired many times over the course of a film shoot.

 

I have the feeling that we will be seeing much more of the Rubberman from American Horror Story, the show is rumored to be really good.

 

 

 I had the great pleasure to work with Rick Floyd on this Nip Tuck promo a few years ago.  At the first meeting, Rick and his assistant brought me beautifully rendered storyboards (with each individual shot from the long version of the commercial.)  They needed two custom catsuits with back lacing, a front zip dress, and lots of smaller pieces to be hung on racks in the background.  They also ordered a huge amount of matching Natural Semi-Trans Latex for the cutting table shots.

 

Like all studio service jobs, there was a very tight schedule and everything had to be made asap.  I think I had to work a couple of nights to meet the deadline, but I had everything ready on time. They loved the suits when they came to pick them up for the commercial shoot; but  then weeks went by and I didn't hear a thing. When the new Nip Tuck commercial came out, it wasn't at all the one from the storyboards and I was pretty disappointed that none of the latex suits made it in to the commercial.  I figured that some big wig at the Network didn't like the ad and so they scrapped it and did a new one.

 

Then, 6 months later, a get a call from from Rick's assistant asking could I make just the back lacing part of the suit for a close up?  I was  happy that they were finally going to use the commercial!   They ended up airing the commercial for Season 6 and it had a soundtrack composed by Timbaland and Elton job, how cool is that!  The image of the model in my latex back lace suit with Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon was on billboards, buses and in magazines all over the world. Rick Floyd did an amazing job and it's still one of my favorite studio service projects. 

 

This has the original long version followed by the shorter version, both directed by Rick Floyd.

 

 

 

 

 

Get in Tight Rubber and Gear at the next ANVIL CLUB
Saturday, August 20, 2011 - Doors open 9 PM

For all of you guys that are looking for a place to go in your custom Rubbellion Rubber gear, there is an Avil Club coming up in just a few weeks! They have a strict dress code, so the crowd is always hot! I think the $30 tickets are a steal since the drinks are included.

Get your ticket today! Tickets online at anvil.eventbrite.com or at LA kink retailers 665 or Rough Trade. (BTW, keep it in the family, support your local gay owned businesses.)  Tix are just $30 and are all-inclusive with full hosted bar, comp bootblack/rubber shine, secure clothes check and massive gear and backroom action.

Anvil Club is men 21+ only and the dress code is extreme and will be enforced. Extreme means full leather, uniform, rubber, skin gear, and jock straps with boots. Boots are required for everything. Anything that screams masculine gear to the doorman is on! A changing room and secure clothes check is available.

This month at Anvil Club we're getting our Rubber and Tight Gear on - Rubber, Latex Lycra, Superhero. Hot, hot guys all slick and geared to go.

 

 

 

 

This costume is from the original 1968 "Planet of the Apes" and I think it's really kinda hot!

 

Because I've been lucky enough to get the chance to do a decent about of costuming for the entertainment industry and because I love old Hollywood Films, I had to go check out this auction of classic movie costumes. Debbie Reynolds spent over 30 years collecting and preserving these amazing pieces of American Movie History and they were meant to be kept together as a collection. Unfortunately she wasn't able to find a buyer for the entire collection, so now it's being broken up and sold piece by piece. 

I went online this morning and I was able to find a photo of the costume in a movie still... sexy beast. I haven't seen the movie since I was a kid, but from all the stills that I found, it seems that Charlton Heston is kept collared and chained quite a bit. Knowing what a bad actor he was, it seems appropriate punishment. 

 

These costumes come from 1959's Big Screen Epic, "Ben Hur." Again, Charlton Heston. I'm starting to think that Debbie had a thing for him. Who cares if he was a lousy actor and a right wing moron??? He certainly was easy on the eyes and knew how to fill out a loin-cloth in "Planet of the Apes!"

Most of the collection was made up of Women's Costumes (from Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" to Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra") and not really appropriate for this bog.

To see more about this collection, check out this old episode of Antiques Roadshow:

 

 

 I have an order for one of James' hoods, a Devil Dog Rubber Design or DDR as it's now referred to. I'll try to photograph the hood before it goes out so I can add to the website. It's a cool design, made with heavy gauge rubber and D-rings for lacing up the back. I know that the selection is very fetish oriented right now, but I will be adding kinkier stuff as quickly as I can for all of my pervs! I was in a big hurry to launch the site before IML and wasn't able to get as much stuff photographed as I had hoped. Trust me, I haven't even put up a fraction of my designs yet, so there is LOTS to come!

Yes, after only 50 posts, The Rubbellion Rubber Blog is getting too big for it's rubber breeches! The truth is, it's a pain in the butt to keep switching back and forth between Blogger and my website: rubbellion.com
It makes much more sense to have in all on my website, since the adding traffic is good for my Google ranking.

For an RSS feed you can go to:

http://www.rubbellion.com/blogs/news.atom

or to see the blog in the format that I prefer:

http://www.rubbellion.com/blogs/news

I hope to see you locals out this Sunday at The Faultline's TOM BAR, a beer bust benefit and celebration of that art of TOM OF FINLAND. I'll try to keep my shop open for most of the afternoon... until the drunks get too obnoxious! :)

 Jeff

I received a $100 coupon from Google's AdWords that allowed me to buy keyword searches. It's basically like paying to cut in line when someone does a search for something that relates to what you are trying to sell. It's totally unfair since everyone thinks that their search results are the ones that best relate to what they are searching for. Actually they are sold auction style to the highest bidder.

Although AdWords is great if you are a huge company with lots of cash to throw at marketing, it's useless for a small company that sells something esoteric like rubber clothing. Some of the search terms I wanted to buy cost almost $2 a hit! That meant that every time someone clicked on rubbellion.com through an AdWord keyword that I bid on, I had to pay $2 even if they only stayed a second and didn't bother to look at or buy a thing! I set a $10 a day limit, just to see how much traffic it would generate. I was shocked that I was only getting 7 hits a day before my budget was blown! I get way more traffic on my site from guys looking for pics of porn star, Angelo Marconi! AdWords is a waste of money for a small business like mine, luckily I didn't have to pay for it.

I guess all of this might seem kind of boring to you guys, but I find it really fascinating to see what search terms people use and how long they look at a page or stay on the site. Google Analytics let me find out all that stuff and about the traffic my site is getting. It's my latest obsession, almost as fascinating as the LAPD Crime Map!

I'd love to hear from you guys to know what search terms you use when you are looking for gear online; just leave them in the comments section.

Tomorrow I have a customer from Zurich coming in to try on his Custom Uniform Shirt that he ordered on Rubbellion.com. I'm so excited since he placed the very first order on the new website... guess he popped my e-commerce cherry:)

Jeff

 

I had a great time at The MIR Party last night at IML. There was an even bigger turn out than last year's party; the room was packed with guys in full rubber! I was happy to see lots of my customers show up in Custom Rubber from Rubbellion. I should have taken my camera, but I'll get pics from my friends later.

The new catsuit design that I wore was a big hit, I got a lot of compliments and lots of pics taken. It was really nice to meet a couple of guys that follow this blog, glad that know who you are! I had my sexy friend Paul wear the X-Tee today since I knew he'd attract a lot of attention; true gorilla marketing!

Time for a disco nap, then out for the parties!

 

I'm at IML after getting only 4 hours sleep, but so excited that we got the web-shop up and running in time for an IML launch! Please, go check it out:

http://rubbellion.com/

I wanted a site that was minimalist, easy to navigate and stylish....oh yeah, and with lots of sexy pics of men in my rubber; and I got it!
 

More IML updates to follow. I hope that you enjoy this behind the scenes pic of the Angelo Marconi shoot wearing assless latex briefs!

 Jeff

After many long hours of designing, producing, photographing, resizing, posting and writing copy, the e-commerce shop is just about ready to meet it's deadline of launching at IML. I want to thank Mitch, Loren, Kari, Mark and all my other friends who've pitched in and helped me out with this huge project. I'm very lucky to have such great friends, especially Mitch.
 

 

The Watchmen Movie was definitely one of the coolest projects that I ever worked on while still at Syren. Working one on one with Michael Wilkinson, the biggest Costume Designer in Hollywood, was a real treat. He has designed the costumes for Sucker Punch, TRON: Legacy, Terminator Salvation, Watchmen and 300, just to name a few.

Michael brought me 3 amazingly detailed illustrations of the costume and asked if I could make it. 8 months, and many prototypes later, I was on the set in VC. Watching as they shot the first camera test of Malin Ackerman in full make up, custom wig and her latex costume, I was pretty damn proud and exciting to see the final result! Michael Wilkinson and the director, Zach Snyder, both loved it, so my job was done.

Since the movie was release a few years ago, I've tried to collect as many pics of the Silk Spectre II costume as possible. Just when I thought I'd found every picture ever taken of the costume, I find another one. This one was taken at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood where it was on display for about a month. (Sadly, displaying this 100% latex costume in a sunny atrium has probably trashed it.) Oh well, there are 7 more of them that are hopefully store away properly at The Warner Brothers Archives:)

 

I love the way this Custom Latex Football Jersey came out! This is just half of a custom order; the pants are still on my table. Hopefully when the customer comes for his fitting on Saturday, he'll let me take a few pics of him in the full uniform to post here on the blog.

It's crunch time... IML is just a few weeks away and I have lots of orders that need to be ready by then! I also have to make a few new things for myself to wear; and they need to be NEW designs. On top of that, I'm planning
to launch my Rubbellion Rubber e-commerce website that weekend. I won't be getting a lot of sleep for the next few weeks.

Rubbellion won't have a booth at IML since what I do is custom... how do you fill a booth with made to measure custom latex? LOL The reason I'll be at IML is to promote the business, take measurements and take customer orders. It doesn't cost a thing to schedule a fitting (so I can all 59 measurements.) If you are even considering ordering from Rubbellion Rubber, IML is a great time to at least get measured. Because my fittings books up quickly, schedule ahead of time, don't wait until you see me in the hotel:)

See you in Chicago!
Jeff

 

I found this footage on Youtube recently and was excited to see that the whole scene was just Sqweegel in the suit that I made. Warning to all of you PETA people: snail were injured in the making of this movie:)