how to store your WIP in between sculpts? (noob question)

[Arcusprime]

I put my sculpey in a ziplock bag right away, and store it in a drawer.

[riteguytu]

There are 3 types of clay; oil based, water based and polymer based.
Water based clays (WED Clay)e.g are soft and easy to use, but need to be kept wet/moist, so you will need to spray with water periodically and wrap them up so they don't lose moisture. If they do, they will split and crack.

Oil base clays (e.g Chavant, Monster Clay) do not need this level of attention. As far as I know they will remain as you leave them for an indefinite amount of time.

For both of the above, you will need to make a mold of the sculpt and cast them in a suitable material(e.g resin) in order to finish them up.

Polymer clays (e.g super sculpey, fimo)have the advantages of the oil based clays but can also be fired in an oven and become rock hard. So you will not need to mold and cast a polymer clay sculpt; once it's hardened, you can prime, paint and display it.

Sometimes polymer clays, when exposed to the air, leach out their natural oils and become dry and crumbly. A crumbly batch of super sculpey can be restored by adding some sculpey diluent/softener and kneading till soft again. Otherwise keep your sculpey in an airtight container.

So...as said before, it all depends on what type of clay you are using. My advice; start with super sculpey and then work your way around...

[EbonyRaven]

I keep all my Super Sculpey in zip lock bags or plastic tubs w/ lids. You don't want to keep a sculpt sitting around in the air for a months/years they will start to crack and you will have to remove portions and recondition the dried out clay with this:

http://www.amazon.com/Sculpey-Liquid...ywords=sculpey

Sculpey will stick to wood also so if you bake something on a wooden base and plan to remove it later put down some aluminum foil as a barrier.

[MartyMcFly160]

so i haven't visited this tread is some time now. . . but i'm getting inpatient and i am dying to start sculpting my ideas. . .

so heres my plan
i am going to sculpt two hands holding slabs (moses holding the 10 commandments) out of super sculpey.
i plan to even make this into a premium format piece.
i possible even might want to make a mold a possible make a couple of these in different variants.

i have my sketch and i have all my ideas as far as all the finished details go, now i've never sculpted on this kind of level before just simple crappy stuff in school so i've never taken this to a personal hobby level. one of the main things that holding me back is that i wont have time to finish this piece all in one day so my big question at hand is in between sculpts what should i do with my piece when i am using super sculpey.

i've been searching high and low for this answer and i've been reading tutorials and watching videos on this and although i've seen a lot of great videos, no one talks about whats done in between sculpts.

[Darth Kinetic]

I dont do anything special with my super sculpey between my sit downs
And they can be a week apart.

I do recommend baking off parts or.layers if you can. Bit thats a different thread.

[davox]

Same here, I used to place a bag on it but it wasn't necesary. Just try not to leave the sculpture for over a year like I did with one... the sculpey became not cured but it did harden.

[Niinui]

Well, apart from what others have already suggested, all I can think of is to simply cover it up with a lightweight plastic bag if you won't be returning to sculpting for a while and there is a chance that dust etc. will settle on the clay. But other than that... I'd say get your hands dirty!

[afreeman]

I cover mine with plastic shopping bags mainly because of my dogs and flying hair in the air, Sculpy seems to attract it like a magnet so over a week or two it will take 15 mins to pick off hair and other stuff.

[cyborgt800]

I usually use Apoxie Sculpt so there's not a storage issue ever.