new to the board and a suggestion for pecks?

My name is Jacob. I'm 24. I've been cross dressing to appear like a guy since middle school. While I'm 95% sure I'd like to get a full FTM change...there's that 5% of me that's terrified I'd be making the wrong decision. Not sure exactly what it is.

I haven't had any sort of surgery or taken any kind of hormones. Money is an issue and also that 5% I'd change my mind.

Well onto the question I wanted to ask:

I was wondering how to make it appear I had pecks?

I use a backbrace to smooch my god awful boobs down, but I'm uneasy about wearing t-shirts at times because it looks like I have nothing there. It just looks a bit unnatural. The first thing that came to mind would be to get some kind of suit thing...like ms. doubtfire...but a guy version. But something like that just seems pricey and I wouldn't know where to find it.

I'd like some suggestions please?

[SIZE=2]Hi Jacob,

I'm a MTF CD, but have been dabbling as of late into working with silicones and latex for breast forms. In theory might have an idea for you.

I guess it all depends on your body type and breast size. I imagine if you are a bit heavier, you can go with a straight chest wrap of gauze (wound up tight) to flatten that chest out. If you're skinnier same thing, although breast size would affect how much you "show". If you want to try something that looks a little more realistic, say if you wear an A shirt ("wifebeater"), and want to try your hand at having a more muscular chest, what you'll need to do to make a decent body suit is to A. Make a chest mold. B. Make a chest model from the negative (the above chest mold). C. Plastiline some pectoral muscles D. Second casting E. Color and layer silicone or latex.

alot of the stuff I got was from www.monsterclub.com a makeup special effects store. Just cuz they're local to me.

A. For a more accurate mold, it's best to use a substance called Alginate (pronounced: al JIN' ate). It comes in powder form, is pink, smells kinda like strawberries, and if you've ever had your teeth molded for braces, that's the stuff they use. Runs about $40-50 for a decent sized bag. (practice first... blew half my stuff trying to make a breast form mold). Then also have some Hydrocal 30 plaster ready (pour plaster into water, not other way around, and pour until plaster forms islands on top of water). You can get away with Plaster of Paris, but it's weaker, stays wet longer, and doesn't dry as hard. It really really helps if you have someone to apply the stuff for you (again, learned from experience). Wrap up your breasts as tight as you can and still be comfortable, then ideally have your assistant mix and apply the alginate first. This is really runny, but dries fast, so that's why it helps to have an assistant. When it's set (it'll become like a cross between chewing gum and jello), mix plaster with hands (put vaseline on hands first, since plaster's a little caustic), then get rid of clumps and mix bottom. Do not allow bubbles to form. Dip gauze strips (about 3" by 8") in the plaster, wring it out a little, and apply over alginate. Layer the strips until you have a pretty thick layer (3/4" to 1") of plaster gauze as support, and ladle some plaster over to fill in the cracks. Let it set and pull off. If you don't use this right away, at least cover mold with damp cloth to keep alginate from shrinking and cracking. If you wanna do it cheap (as I did after I blew all my alginate), you can just put the gauze right on your chest. Make sure you cover your chest with vaseline, crisco (which is an excellent moisturizer), or something along those lines. When you put the gauze on, it should be sopping, not wrung out. It'll run all over the place, so make sure you either lie on a drop cloth, or if sitting up, have something to cover your waist. If you're doing this method, might wrap chest with plastic wrap instead, as the plaster will absorb and stick to gauze wrap of chest. Just make sure you make it thick enough to approximate the thickness of gauze to chest, since you'll use gauze after when you're actually wearing it (plastic wrap is uncomfortable after a while, although I'm told it's slimming...)

B. Assuming you have a good mold, coat the inside of the mold with more vaseline, covering everything. The part where it curves (where the mold stops, around belly and upper shoulder area), block off with plastiline (that non drying clay), or something to keep it from overflowing. Mix more plaster as above instructions, and pour into mold. Wait to dry, and carefully pry off the first chest mold from the chest model. If you didn't cover absolutely every part of the first mold with vaseline, the plaster will stick to the other plaster.

C. when your moldel is done, it should look like a fairly good representation of your chest. Get a five pound block of the plastiline, tear off little nuggets of it (about the size of a quarter and thickness of four quarters), and start applying it to the chest to make it look like pectoral muscles. Try to make it perfect, as your eventual chest piece will hinge on your artistic ability here. I find it helps to have a reference in front of you, like pictures of pecs of whoever's chest you like.

D. When finished, and you're happy with the results, going to need to do plaster again. This one might need to be a little thick, so make a box (thick box cardboard should be sufficient, just make sure you seal all leaks), place on top of model (model on back, facing up, with box over the plastiline parts), cover the WHOLE THING with vaseline (although you can avoid the parts in plastiline if you wish, since as you've found out, it doesn't still all that well to plaster). Make sure you dam all the gaps in the box, so it doesn't spill over. Mix plaster again as said above (you're probably a pro now), and then pour into box. Watch to make sure it doesn't leak anywhere. If it does, do your darndest to keep it from leaking, or it'll be a disaster. Make sure the plaster covers about at least an inch of the tallest part of the model (I imagine the tips of the pecs).

E. Assuming you did okay (almost ruined it once and tore my hair out), let it dry in the sun for the better part of a day. When it's fairly dry, you can choose to apply either slip latex of silicone. You can use the silicone you find at Home Depot (sealant, in those cylinders for sealant guns), but it's more expensive than latex, always smells kinda rubbery, it's harder to color, and you need to cure (not sure how yet) before you put it on your skin, or it will irritate you and cause rashes. Latex can be found at fx stores fairly cheap ($12 a gallon, as opposed to like $100 a gallon for silicone from the same place), and is pretty solid like real muscle. Not great for breast forms, but it'd be good to simulate a male chest. You can also find it at art stores, under the name "Mold Maker", and it's just basically the same slip latex, only more expensive. Try to mix with color (I've used Sally Hansen's airbrush legs for a somewhat suitable skin tone, or you can use foundation that matches your tone, just experiment with how it turns out when dry), put it in a styrofoam cup, and start brushing it on the inside of the mold. Apply layer after layer... helps it dry through and through, with a brush (a disposable brush, since the brush is destroyed by the process), and it helps if you leave it out in the sun to dry after every few layers. Plus helps to get that nasty ammonia smell out of the house.

E. After the layers are all set, pour some more latex over the last layer, so it's almost overflowing, then place the chest moldel from before (minus the plastiline pecs), and place it over the top. Should fit pretty well, and it's best if the latex spills out over the edges. Leave it somewhere warm for a little while (a couple of days would be ideal). When finished, pull off the model, then carefully peel out the chest mold. There you go, instant pecs.

To apply, wrap breasts, put some gum arabic or spirit gum along the edges of the pec forms, and press on to your chest. You can help the color out a bit with a little foundation, especially at the edges. If you're going to be doing this all day, once the chest form is in place, you can dab some slip latex along the seams before applying foundation to smooth out the crack a bit.

I'm still learning myself (working on making a second set of breast molds, this time out of silicone, and just finished my first last night), so hope that this helps. If anyone asks why you have gauze wrapped around your chest, you can say your broke your ribs doing something manly, like stopping an armed robbery or something, and your pecs will give you some credibility :)

Hope this helps, sorry this was so long....[/SIZE]

I did something like this over christmas.
I wasn't making breast forms, though, I was making latex nose prosthetics (clown and fantasy nose add-ons.)

Anyway, I needed a full face-mold of my wife (i used her to experiment on :) )
Since I live somewhere where there is no such thing as a sfx store, I used warm beeswax instead of alginate, painted it over my wife's face until it was compleely covered you have to put q-tips in the nose, then cover it good, and then pull them out for breathing holes before you cover the mouth.

Once the whole face was covered in beeswax, (and cooled off so it was hard) I used plaster/gaize strips on top of that to make it sturdy and stiff. Then after it was off of her, I filled this mold with plaster, and had a plaster bust of her face. Onto this plaster cast I modeled the noses out of clay right on the thing, then cut out a cup that would fit over the nose area.

I coated everything with vaseline, and poured plaster in over the clay nose (still on the plaster face) Once that was hard, I dug out the clay from the new mold, and had a mold I could fill with latex in thin layers (because it never wants to dry) and later on, out popped my noses! They glued right on!

Hey, Jacob!
Nice to meet you!
Well, what I do is a bit simpler but might not work as well... Like Charlotte said, it depends on your size. Mine are average, I guess, but I don't really know what size.
I generally just use a self- sticking bandage (not something stretchy; I like breathing!) or a jockstrap waistband (just cut off the leg elastics and pouch). It doesn't completely bind me flat so it looks like I've got huge pecks.
A bit too big for my body and the rest of my muscles, in fact, so I tend to wear looser shirts to make them look more natural and hide the lines from the bandage or jockstrap.

If you do a search under FTM passing tips, there are a lot of good websites that give helpful tips, and a few that sell binding things specifically meant for FTMs. Most of them are fairly cheap (I've seen them as low as $25).
Hope I've helped somewhat :)
(do you really have sideburns?)

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm going to try them all and see which one works for me. I've also started lifting weights again so hopefully that will help me in some way. I have a hard time wearing baggy shirts though. I like my clothes fitted even if that isn't the best thing for me to do. Maybe I'll kick myself in the ass soon enough and realize this. Heh heh.

And I'm all about my sideburns. Are the natural? Not really..I just dye my peach fuzz or I stick small hairs on my face (from shaving my head) with a special glue. It works swell for me. No one has ever questioned me on it and I've been treated like a guy and called a guy for a long time from those I come in contact with. If I don't say I'm really a "girl"...I don't think they'd notice.

Hmmm. Dying the peach fuzz, hmmm? I've never thought about that. I usually just use mascara, but it's a pain cos I always manage to get huge black streaks all over.
I'll try dying them next time!
Do you just use hair dye or something else (wouldn't wanna get a whole kit for a few inches of colour, ya know)?
And how do you keep it from staining your face?