Weird liquid advice question for custom I'm making.

[William Shatners Toupee]

Hey gang,
Alright, I'm making an alien custom that is see-through and like a sphere (A Rutan from Doctor Who, wayyyy off model). I'm using a green clear heavy rubber ball for this and plan to hot glue membranes over it like a peeled orange. To be really wicked/unusual visually, I wanted to have some human skeletal remains floating inside him. My plan was to trim a hole on the top, put the skeleton and liquid in, then hot glue the trimmed top piece back on permanently.

My question is, I'm pretty dumb with this stuff but using straight water inside would be bad because it will grow stagnant and become a bacterial bomb eventually, right? (laugh).

In the dark, empty reccesses of my mind I KIND of remember mineral oil being a solution as something to use, but I don't really know. And I'm worried about eventual evaporation. It's for a friend and I'd rather not kill her with it (laugh). Any ideas or thoughts out there, freaks?

Thanks!
-Rick

 

[Reinhardt]

I'm not crazy about using liquid (because of the reasons you mentioned above). I guess distilled water could be used, but I'd be afraid of evaporation as well. You can buy fake water from Hobby Lobby (in the railroad section) that hardens clear. But if you want something that is literally floating, and moves when you shake it, then I'm at a loss. I'm interested to hear any other advice myself.

 

[Saya]

the only thing I can think of is that stuff they use in snowglobes. perhaps a internet search on it...? if all else fails buy a cheap globe and use its water??? sorry cant be much help.

 

[Patient Zero]

I am not sure about evaporating, but you could try some waterbed conditioner. I think it keeps water from getting funky.

 

[William Shatners Toupee]

Thanks for all the different suggestions so far, gang! All of them were helpful. So for the easiest solution, as suggested by Saya, I just Googled "What's in a snowglobe?"

Wiki said this:

"History:
Later, the liquid was changed to light oil, then water with antifreeze (glycerin or glycol). An added benefit was that glycerin and glycol slowed the descent of the snow."

I'd prefer not to make it FLAMABLE, thank you very much, (laugh), and I don't think I'll be pouring anti-freeze into anything either. Gack!

The next thing I found, which was very limited in entries, was two different "make it yourself" snowglobe sites which both told you to use different indgredients:
The first said to just use plain cold water (saying warm will cloud).
The second site said to use mineral water.

Which kind of brings us back to square one. I do think I'll go with mineral water then, and try that this weekend. Cool to know there is "fake" water though. I didn't know!

 

[barryo]

does it have to be liquid and not the appearance of liquid (as in cant be a solid clear resin type)??
if it just needs to be clear and dont mind it setting up try Easy water. seen this recentlly in the all things hellboy thread and sounds like it a workable/moldable product.
if you need it to be a liquid state look into using future floor polish, its clear and as long as its sealed up it shouldnt set up. just a thought.

 

[Reinhardt]

Good luck!

As for "fake water" - this is something like what I was talking about:
https://www.unrealdetails.com/

And if you are going to go with real water, you may want to look into the difference between distilled water and mineral water. I suspect that distilled water will leave no residue, as compared to mineral.

 

[Jediguy]

what abt opening up a lava lamp and taking out the clear liquid?

 

[Reinhardt]

what abt opening up a lava lamp and taking out the clear liquid?

That's a great idea, but most of the lava lamps that I have seen are made of wax that only turn to liquid with heat (hence the lamp)

You would have to put a heat source next to your globe for that to work.

 

[William Shatners Toupee]

Good luck!

As for "fake water" - this is something like what I was talking about:
https://www.unrealdetails.com/

And if you are going to go with real water, you may want to look into the difference between distilled water and mineral water. I suspect that distilled water will leave no residue, as compared to mineral.

Ugh! Good call, but I just realized I meant to be writing MINERAL OIL, not Mineral Water. Ha!

 

[Reinhardt]

That's more like it!!

 

[Saya]

that makes more sense