Making the Sonosphere's Silicone Body Pads for Comfort in Life-Sized Cymatics

Moving right along with one of the most important aspects of the Sonosphere construction- The body pads! Body pads are necessary in the Sonosphere experience because you will be lying down on a hard flat surface that is vibrating with many frequencies varying from subtle to 'not so subtle'. We dont want to bother anyone's skull or hips or joints, and we also want to maximize the comfort of being on the Sonosphere, so padding is a 'must'. I always know i'm in the right flow of life when I find myself where art, science, and music meet. My Materials Science education and integrated arts degree came in handy here when reading about the various data characteristics of the silicone gels. We didn't want the silicone body padding to cover up the beautiful transparent art and light transmitting qualities of the acrylic cymatic platform that I carved the design into. We also didn't want them blocking the sound waves. After much research, I finally found the perfect material- soft silicone gel- and I set out to create some moulds using various sized baking pans that I could find to fit inside each other. One size to make the outside 'shell' silicone and one to make the 'filling'.

We are using 2 different kinds of gel- one is the 'filling' for the pads and is extra sticky and soft. The second type of silicone is used to 'encapsulate' the first type and it goes around it, making a protective layer but is also super soft to touch. Will be offering our Sonosphere participants several different sizes of squishy circles to lay on and move around as they need. The price of these materials has gone up significantly since the war so we are buying the materials as we can. Another thing to note is that we will be heating these pads prior to each session as well. The Sonosphere will have a central radiant heat lamp (no light) that will warm the platform and the body pads prior to each use. Here is a video I made to document the process: