I think because my pieces are not encapsulated it would be best to wash/wipe them over with IPA to clean them, because nothing would be disturbed. 

I thought this post was also useful because i am slowly learning more and more about silicone, i didn't realise beforehand how temperamental it can be, escpecially with things nit sticking to it. And it makes sense to use the Silicone caulk to paint onto a clean silicone piece so that it bonds to it. Rather than using skin illustrator, which also could have been an option with these pieces because they are not encapsulated, but maybe would have not worked so well. 

 

There are many reasons for using silicone caulk and pigments rather than alcohol activated colours. 

-i have heard and read that alcohol paints "crack" on the silicone and don't last. 

-also when using oil paints instead of silicone pigments the colour does not last a long time, perhaps after a year it will fade. whereas silicone pigments last a lot longer. 

 

I also want the colours to be quite opaque and not transluscent because it is supposed to represent land. So i think silicone pigments will give this effect better, i think i would have to use a lot of skin illustrator to build up the opaque look.