[KneeJoint]

Hi all,

I ran into a problem with a sculpt I'm working on. Can I add to sculpy after it's baked, then bake again and your two pieces are one (I remember reading this some place) Before I go and ruin a great sculpt I've worked all day on... Can I get a yea or nay on this?

thanks in advance for any help or advice you might have.

 

[Tony Barton]

Yea indeed : you can go on adding bits to a Sculpey piece and firing again as many times as you want PROVIDED YOU DON'T OVERCOOK IT . If it starts to darken it's being overdone : reduce the temperature .
Some of my pieces have been in the oven twenty times and more .
To help add new pieces , wet with Sculpey diluent to make them stick .

 

[KneeJoint]

Thanks Tony! :thumb

I am going to call this a re-do. I must have over baked the first time, after the patch and second baking the cracking got worse, actually started to crumble :cry.

It's all good though, I learned a lot. The sculpy I have is this white bulk stuff that is very ridged. Now I have some sculpy that is a little more flexable and have also picked up some dilutent.

I needed to make my sculpt leaner anyway. This is before the second baking.

 

[Dave70b]

I would make of mold of the parts that you have already started, and then add Aves Apoxie to the resin leggs to finish them out. Just an option if you don't want to completely resculpt them. Resin is really easy to work with.

 

[KneeJoint]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've never worked with resin or done any kind of mold making, but I've always wanted to learn how. Could you recommend a book or web site where I might learn the process?

I still want to re-sculpt the legs. The thing I'm making is supposed to look fast... He don't look to fast with them tree trunks for legs.

 

[Dave70b]

I use Micomark's resin and silicon molds. They are 1 to 1 mixing ratio's so they are easy to work with, but I have noticed they tend to shrink a little more than some of the more expensive brands.

As far as the mold making, I can't think of a good tutorial off the top of my head. Here is the one from Micromark. I am sure there are some really good ones out there, I just can't think of any at the moment.

http://www.micromark.com/html_pages/instructions/82708mrrresinart.pdf

The second recommendation if you decide not to mold and cast them would be to sculpt them completely in Aves Apoxie or Magic Sculpt. Both of those products are a lot more durable than Sculpy.

By the way I think the legs look good so far. I am interested to see how the entire figure turns out.

 

[KneeJoint]

I am interested to see how the entire figure turns out.

Yeah, me too

Thanks for the info anf the link. I'm trying to find a local place with Magic Sculpt... I can find it on line no problem, but I want to be working on this tonight.

 

[Gregorbian]

I order my Aves FixIt sculpt from their web site - they are very responsive and friendly. I totally understand if you want to get working tonight though, haha.

I'm not sure if this would work, but what about that Magic Putty stuff they have at Target - it looks like regular 2-part epoxy putty that is easy to handle. I have been meaning to pick some up and give it a try. I wouldn't recommend trying it out on something you have already started sculpting though - don't want to mess it up.

Incidentally - are you making an "elite" from Halo? The legs look pretty similar.

 

[KneeJoint]

Incidentally - are you making an "elite" from Halo? The legs look pretty similar.

Wasn't my intention, but I admit it sure looks like it.

I'll look for the putty at Target later this week, tonight I'll be re-doing a leaner version in sculpy.

I do really want to try Magic Sculpt, and to try my hand a mold making and casting resin. But, for now I have to use what I have at hand. If I let a project sit to lang I have a bad habit of not coming back to it.

 

[Tony Barton]

The white Sculpey is the poorest quality version , OK for simple lumpy things , but perhaps not for your legs . One of the problems is the wire armature I presume you have in there : any armature tends to crack the Sculpey because of the differential expansion rates. For future projects I recommend making a rough Sculpey armature , and then building on top of that .
The terracotta version is a little tougher , but the best is the Super Sculpey in the little packets . Fimo is even stronger .
I don't recommend adding epoxy on top : it had better be one or the other . The chemicals in the epoxy might react with the Sculpey , in the same way that using oil-based paints is a problem : they tend to melt the surface so that the paint goes tacky .
Epoxy putties have the advantage of great strength ; but the disadvantage of limited working time , and a less easy texture in some types.
The polymer clays are really easy to use if you think a little out of the box : for instance , I would have made your legs separately on a big tile , using that to support them while sculpting , then bending the whole thing into shape and then propping it there while firing . Then you can add more bits , and eventually drill and fit wire to attach it to the figure. It's not necessary to sculpt everything in situ ; it often leads to problems .

 

[Sinergy]

Hi all. I used Dan Perez's excellent tutuorial on making a simple resin mold kit.

 

[KneeJoint]

Tony Barton; The white Sculpey is the poorest quality version , OK for simple lumpy things , but perhaps not for your legs . One of the problems is the wire armature I presume you have in there : any armature tends to crack the Sculpey because of the differential expansion rates. For future projects I recommend making a rough Sculpey armature , and then building on top of that .

*Good advice. I thought I had that problem licked using an aluminum foil wrap over the armature so that it had a "crush" zone. The areas that cracked did so after I re-attached the figure body to the legs.

The terracotta version is a little tougher , but the best is the Super Sculpey in the little packets.

*This is what I have now; a dozen super sculpy squares (various colors and translucent to do the talons) and a bottle of diluent.

I don't recommend adding epoxy on top : it had better be one or the other . The chemicals in the epoxy might react with the Sculpey , in the same way that using oil-based paints is a problem : they tend to melt the surface so that the paint goes tacky .

*I thought that might be a problem, thanks for confirming it. I had no idea oil paints would attack the sculpy - good to know.

I would have made your legs separately on a big tile , using that to support them while sculpting , then bending the whole thing into shape and then propping it there while firing . Then you can add more bits , and eventually drill and fit wire to attach it to the figure. It's not necessary to sculpt everything in situ ; it often leads to problems .

Funny, I was thinking the same thing (after reading your head sculpting tutorial). I grabbed a couple of large tiles from the resource library here at work. Ross had suggested I drill and add the pins after... I'm just stubborn. I attached the armature to the body, wrapped with foil then added my sculpy - Then removed the the legs from the body and finished the sculpt.:bag

Thanks for your help Tony.

Dave70, Gregorbian, thanks for your help too. Hope I have something to show off tomorrow.

 

[KneeJoint]

Hi all. I used Dan Perez's excellent tutuorial on making a simple resin mold kit.

THANK YOU! After I finish this project I may try my hand at resin casting.

 

[Artoo]

but the best is the Super Sculpey in the little packets.

You can also buy in larger packs of 1 lb. in 3 colors, white, black, or neutral. Super Sculpey is the way to go, but I've become a strong advocate for Magic Sculpt! Callous has shown me the posibilities of this material, and he has been working on a tutorial to break out to the world sometime soon. I hear Aves is good too, but I'll never know. :evil
Do a search on sculpey in the search engine here, and you'll find all kinds of links with great info!

 

[KneeJoint]

Thanks bud. If I had know on Saturday exactly what I was going to make I would have hit you up for some magic sculpt.

Any of you ever check out this site? Some of the lowest prices on art/ craft supplies I've found on the web http://craft-supplies.misterart.com...id/5869/Craft-Supplies-Polymer-Hobby-Clay.htm

 

[MikeAP001]

Hello,

I've ordered from Mister Art numerous times and haven't been disappointed yet. Dick Blick is another source www.dickblick.com/ . They're pricier than Mister Art except when there's a sale. I use Blick for my painting supplies (especially water soluble oil paints which along with actors paint, acrylics and water colors works well with polymer clays) and Mister Art for the sculpting things (like the silicon molding material and permastone).

In general, I agree with Tony regarding the polymer clays like Sculpy or Fimo. A few tips though for the budget conscious about smoothing and crack repair. The plasticizer/diluent for polymer clays works great in general and for restoring tired clays specifically- the dry crumbly stuff that no amount of kneading helps. Put the tired clays in an airtight bag or container with some diluent, mix as well as possible and set aside for about three weeks. Most of the time, the polymer clay can be worked again. For smoothing rough pieces or fixing cracks in unbaked polymer clays- clay diluent, lighter fluid, 90% rubbing alcohol, acetone, and waterless hand cleaner all work. For fixing cracks in baked polymer clay, one of my books recommends using acetone to remove the crack but I prefer to lightly heat the piece, scrape down to the crack, wet with hand cleaner, fill with the clay and smooth with hand cleaner.

As for the epoxy clays, I've used those but mostly for filling and adding features to existing sculpts- I don't have the skills to make a sculpt from scratch using that stuff- but for fine details Magic Sculpt and Apoxie Sculpt work well. You might want to check Jim Bob Wan for info on epoxy putty/clays- he had a section on it at one time which I read extensively. Some of the people on this board did amazing things with the cheaper version of the Magic/Apoxie Scuplt- plain old Plumber's Putty- but that stuff smells to high heaven and is extraordinarily messy.

As for casting, for health reasons- my own- I don't use resins... I use water soluble "plasters" like permastone. If you want to try that out, you can purchase small inexpensive casting and molding materials from American Science and Surplus www.sciplus.com/ . Look for Instamold and Permastone and buy a couple of plastic containers for about $1.00 the total cost for this starter kit would be under $25.00.

Mike .

 

[Perceptor]

I always used an embossing (heat) gun when adding sculpey to sculpey so as not to tempt the oven gods to turn my beautiful piece into a charred likeness of a leper colonist. No offense to any leper colonists that frequent this forum.