hi guys and let's talk about taba squishies I just got back from China and was able to do a huge amount of research into these super soft viral squishies this video contains everything you need to know about making your own tabas and where to find all the materials the first important detail is that this is a new type of silicone you have to get this in order to create tabas and it's impossible to replicate the formula using other methods in a previous video I tried to make a softer texture using silicone deter and different mixing ratios but that failed every time this new silicone is also available in taba squishy kits such as these two here the next question is where to buy these products my tip is to look on AliExpress then timu and then Amazon in that order at the time of editing this video AliExpress seems to have the most tab making supplies out of all shopping platforms if you search squishy gel then you'll get lots of listings like this I haven't tried all of these Brands so I'm not 100% sure they have a taba texture but most of them look quite promising you just have to do a bit of trial and error to find out which ones work best the epicenter for tabber related products is the app Shu this is like Chinese Instagram and has an inbuilt shopping function to make it easy to order stuff directly all the squishy gel and DIY kits that I used in this video were from Shu there's a factory that makes taba squishy silicone pH and I simply contacted them directly they were very helpful and also said that many customers choose to order more of bottle B Because adding more of that produces softer squishies so I went for a ratio of 1 to two another important fact is that there's quite a range of different taba squishies the first one is a taba that I ordered from teu which I showed in my last video I'm almost certain that this one is Emoji squishy it bounces back too quickly the second one is a taba that I bought from a night market in Beijing this one has a noticeable water texture which is when the squishy spreads out under the plastic almost like liquid the final squishy is a diy1 which I made myself at a craft shop the place is called Yi artworkshop and it's located in the Solana Mall in central Beijing this type of Crafting Shop is pretty common in China so if you ever get the opportunity to visit then be sure to check out large shopping centers for their DIY section the owner was so helpful and gave me loads of advice for making tabas all of which I've included in this video this cat paw has been flocked but you can still see the incredible softness compared to a standard Mochi squishy the next important tip is to choose your molds carefully taba squishies are quite fragile so you need a special method for demolding you have to apply pressure from the other side to push the silicone out which means the molds need to be extremely thin and flexible the mistake I made in my previous TP of video was trying to use these solid silicone molds that I normally make for my custom designs these are far too hard to turn inside out and that explains why I had such problems demolding the Squishies the best types of molds are those designed for puddings gummies or chocolate these usually have a very thin outer shell and can be easily flipped inside out so if you're thinking of starting a tapa shop then you can find a huge range of designs by looking in the baking section this one here is a gummy candy mold that I came across on AliExpress and it's perfect for making lots of duplicate squishies probably one of the most important products you need for making tabas is Vaseline in my other video I tried all kinds of mold release but Vaseline is the most widely used used one in China you can apply it with a brush or your fingertips and it needs to be a thin layer similar to when you apply lip balm if you can see any lumps or smears then that's a bit too much the next tip is to stock up on gloves and masks based on my experience making tabas is quite a messy process and it involves a lot of silicone paint ink flocking powder Etc even if you're not particularly sensitive to particles it's a good idea to keep your skin and Airways protected and to keep the room ventilated however one major upside of silicone compared to resin is that squishy gel has absolutely no smell so you can work comfortably for quite a long time without having to inhale any chemical fumes the best mixing utensil for tapis squishies are flat wooden Lolly sticks this is a tip from the silicone Factory it maximizes the surface area whilst reducing the amount of air bubbles air bubbles are generally not a big issue with tabas but it's always better to avoid them if possible the first method for measuring squishy silicone is to use weighing scales the default mixing ratio is 1: one which is very easy to make however you can also go up to 1 to two for even softer tappers all two-part silicon typically have liquid a as the base polymer and liquid b as the hardener however I notice that this tends to be reversed for tabers I'm not sure if this is just a coincidence or a mistake but for taba squishies adding more of B is going to make it softer a great time-saving hack is to use laundry cups these have calibrated lines on the side so you can easily make very small batches without having to get the scales out this is particularly useful if you only need a minimal amount of one color for detail which leads to the next point of how to add color the best ways to use these oil-based pigments designed for liquid silicone these are easy to find online and work extremely well you only need a tiny amount to get a beautiful opaque shade they will also not interfere with the curing process another way of adding color is to use Mica powder this is a multi-purpose pigment that's cheap and useful to have around I used this to darken the brown silicone and it worked fairly well however I find the mic powder is a bit hit to miss because some shades are not opaque enough if you try using too much powder then it can affect the curing process so I'd recommend using this one sparingly a third method of adding color is water-based ink which I'll show you at the end of this video as part of the DIY kit demonstration the first taba making method is called the delayed por this is when you want to have separate colors in the final squishy which means you have to let one layer cure for a bit before adding the next it doesn't have to be fully cured though you can poke the surface with a toothpick and if it forms a thin skin like this then you can already pour the next color depending on the squishy gel this stage can take anywhere between 1 to 6 hours another important reminder is to reapply Vaseline whenever you add more silicone I had to refilm so many sections of this video because I kept forgetting about this the next method is a marbled pore this is a quick quick and easy trick if you don't have much time or if you want to create something more abstract this is also what I did at the tapa making Workshop you mix up a large batch of silicone and divide it into two or three cups then add some color to each one or you can also leave one batch translucent now pour all three inside simultaneously to create a swirly marbled effect this actually works best if you have another person and another hand helping you you might be wondering how to clean these cups after creating so many different batches of silicone you should never wash liquid silicone with water because that's only going to spread it around and it shouldn't go down the sink either you can simply wipe away the excess gel with the paper towel and discard it into the bin or the easiest option is just to leave it alone and wait for it to cure then you just peel away the silicone and throw it into the trash a typical tap of squishy should cure after 3 [Music] hours if you increase the ratio of solution B then it might take a bit longer just loosen the sides carefully and then flip the mold to ease it out I would say this is the perfect taba texture it's slightly sticky but incredibly soft and holds its shape no matter how much you play with it in contrast this squishy gel cured in 24 hours hours I have my suspicions that this is a Mochi squishy silicone rather than a taba squishy one the bear feels a bit too smooth and it doesn't have the typical stickiness however this heart does feel more tabol likee so it's hard to say I'm going to add several of these into one bag to squish I went into more detail on my last video on how to find the bags and cards for tapa squishies so be sure to check that out which I've linked below it's a good idea to leave your taba squishies overnight whenever possible this pudding mold is very deep so I want you to give it some extra time just to be safe now you can see the result from this very simple example of a delayed pour the caramel and pudding layers are separate but still part of one squishy now it's time to back this up a common problem with unflocked tabas is that they stick to the inside of the bag and it's really frustrating to get them to where you want them to be the solution is to Simply do everything underwater get a bowl big enough for the bag and then fill it with clean water if you're planning to sell tabas then it's probably a good idea to use gloves as well for Hygiene reasons now you can easily pack the squishy inside leave the bag open for a few hours to let any remaining moisture dry up the next part is picking your decoration ations I noticed in China that pom poms seem to be very popular along with cabachons and chunky beads I think it looks nice when everything is slightly color coordinated or it matches the theme of the main taba squishy now it's time to take a look at the DIY squishy kit that I showed earlier I bought this from shiau but I think it's only going to be a matter of time before these kits start showing up on all the other websites as well this was the case with nanotape so you just have to be patient and keep checking back this kit contains two bottles of squishy gel two bunny molds a mixing cup and stick red coloring pom poms flocking powder and some taba cards and bags everything in here is surprisingly high quality with a lot of equipment that can be reused the only thing I'm disappointed about in this kit is that they give you a water-based ink this looks just like food coloring or that typical type of ink that you get inside slime kits the problem is that water and silicone technically don't mix even though this does kind of work you'll notice that the ink has a tendency to form little balls it takes a lot of mixing to disperse the ink enough to create a pink color so out of all the possible coloring methods water-based pigments should be the last option the other thing not included in this kit is Vaseline but you definitely have have to use it otherwise you won't be able to remove the squishy from the mold I find that flipping it inside out makes it much easier to see which areas you've already covered to make the bunnies I'm going to do a delayed pour using pink on the ears for the first one and then up to the back for the second one the squishy gel included in this kit is a textbook taba silicone that cures after 3 hours you can already do the second pour after 1 hour the final tabas have that slightly sticky C surface but hold the shape perfectly this white one is almost a bit too sticky which is why I think it needs some flocking The Fluffy layer you see on many taba squishies is flocking powder this kit gives you a batch of powder but I noticed that Chinese flocking powder is slightly larger and rougher than typical flocking powder at the squishy Workshop they simply dropped the tabus into a big box until it was no longer sticky I personally find the Chinese version a bit too cold and you often see these white fibers everywhere so for this bunny I'm going to use my own flocking powder which I got from Amazon I'm just placing some into a box and then rubbing the Bunny inside this powder creates a fuzzy and almost velvety feel the next step is to add detail there are many options here but the best one is to mix up a tiny batch of colored silicone and use that to paint on your details I only had black micro powder here and it didn't produce such a good result but you'll have to pretend I'm using the silicone paint Instead This method is a bit more time consuming but it ensures that your details will never rub off this is particularly important with tabas because they encounter so much friction and contact inside the bag another option is to use acrylic paint this has always been my go-to method from Mochi squishies but the paint does have a tendency to come off I think this is totally fine if you're making tabas for yourself but if you intend to sell them then you should always use the silicone paint instead the final way to add detail is using powdered pigment like blusher or pastel dust I've seen creators on Shu add cheeks to their tappers with blusher just like I always do with my plushies especially if these have been flocked the pigment is going to stick pretty well you can also use Brown eyeshadow or pastel dust to add shading to Bakery items one of my favorite tabah hacks is to use needle felt eyes I love the contrast between the shiny plastic and the fluffy squishy I'm going to use these 4 mm eyes on the taba hamster that I made in China the shape of the face makes it quite easy so I just need to apply some glue and push it inside it's worth mentioning that some tapa shapes don't work well with needle Fel eyes and they'll end up getting pushed out so once again if you intend to sell your squishies then you should do a test run using various methods to see which ones last the longest this next question was a very interesting one that I got under one of my shorts are tabas supposed to be played with in the bag or do you take them out the simple answer is that both are correct the majority of people probably keep these inside the bag because it's just more hassle putting all the pieces back together again however I noticed that a a lot of store-bought taba Squishies come with a tiny packet of baby powder this is for you to sprinkle onto the taba in case you want to play with it when I made my DIY squishies the workshop also gave us a small bag of baby powder and extra flocking powder just in case we wanted to take them out of the bag but it's your squishy so you can obviously do whatever you want with it in this example you can see a comparison between a baby powder taba and a smooth tabber as you can see the powder changes the appearance quite a lot the colors appear more muted and the surface feels soft and velvety I think this effect would be nice for food items like Mochi or macarons this is an example of a catpaw made using the marbled pore method it turned out pretty amazing almost like real marble so for something like this I wouldn't add any flocking or baby powder because that's going to cover up all the details so I really hope you learned something from this video and feel inspired to make your own taba squishies I know that many products might be hard to get right now but I'm convinced it's only a matter of time before they're available worldwide this was exactly what happened with nanotape at first you couldn't find it anywhere but a few months later there were DIY kits just for making Nano bubbles so you just have to be patient and keep on searching a final tip is to use the words pinch toy decompression toy or squishy glue instead of taba squishies because these are more commonly used in China I'm Joanna thank you for sticking to the end of this long video and I hope to see you in the next one bye