Boiling sculpey

[pdxDaniela]

Hello, I am not the expert.
I read this thread posted here

http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=79360 (well, this very thread it looks like)
and decided to try boil. Works great even though a sculpey rep tried to advs against it. Said temp not high enough.
but my roaster goes up to 450F & I pretty followed the instructions in the thread above. I also put in the work before it got super hot.
You might want to contact the person who orignally started they thread as they might have more experience.
You might also want to experiment w/a trial piece? Do an extra head and see what happs?
Good luck looking forward to seeing your sculpt.

[cyborgt800]

After reading this thread I tried boiling a piece made out of Sculpey and Super Sculpey....It worked great on both...no browning, no flat spots, no fumes and it only took a few minutes. I put the pieces in while the water was cool and left them in until the water cooled again.

I actually stopped working with Sculpey because I hated baking it so much...this had me using it again, Thanks for the tip!

[pdxDaniela]

hmmm. Actually while I am not the expert, it should not only take a few minutes. you read up at the beginning, the nice people who thought up this method and were super nice to post info about it. Advise keeping in a boiling temp for a while then not taking it out until the water is cold.
if it is only a few minutes it might be still pretty soft inside.
But then again...I am not the expert :-)

[moore_000]

Originally Posted by pdxDaniela

hmmm. Actually while I am not the expert, it should not only take a few minutes. you read up at the beginning, the nice people who thought up this method and were super nice to post info about it. Advise keeping in a boiling temp for a while then not taking it out until the water is cold.
if it is only a few minutes it might be still pretty soft inside.
But then again...I am not the expert :-)

Yes if the piece is thick, you may only have done what is called "quick heat set" and the inner core is not complete cured. Water boils at lower temperature than the recommended 275 degree and you have to compensate with adding more time to the heat curing process.

[ScootS]

HI all,

Just want to share a thought. Haven't tried boiling yet but do intend to do so with my virgin sculpey sculpt (if it 'passes')

Anyway, regarding the cracking of sculpey. It could be caused by the greater thermal gradient when the piece is removed from the hot 100deg to the ambient (20-30deg, depending on which part of the world we are in)

The exterior of the piece would be subjected to the (significantly) colder ambient, while the core is still very much hotter. This results is a difference in contraction forces and crack lines form from the thermal stress

Allowing the piece sit in the fluid and letting the fluid cool down to ambient naturally, will prevent such a great thermal difference within the piece and hence, reduce the occurance of cracking.

[cyborgt800]

I do let the water cool to where I can comfortably pull the pieces out by hand.... My problem with cracking is always with subsequent boilings/heatings when adding layers...

[HairyAsHell]

hey guys... decided to revive this thread and ask a question. I am currently wondering how is the shelf life of boiled/baked sculpey? I usually boil my sculpey, but wondering if it is a viable method if I make a statue that wont be molded/casted. Its for a personal commission. Appreciate any info on this matter. Thanks!

[BlueDragonfly]

I'm also curious as to how well it holds up. I was googling about sculpey and found this thread, and it sounds like a good way of baking sculpey without having to deal with the nasty fumes.

I did some more research and found another forum with a lot of naysayers on the topic. They believe that boiling doesn't cook it all the way through (I don't see why it wouldn't, and that the results would crack/break too easy, now or in the long run.

From what I've seen in the beginning of the thread, it does cook all the way through. I wouldn't mind testing it out for myself. How do you get it from bumping from the sides of the pot though? I heard someone mention a towel, I think? And someone else mentioned a heat gun but I don't have one of those.

[Voshizle@gmail.]

Even a fully cured sculpey piece doesn't have the hypothetical life span of a resin copy. That being said, I know people who have some sculpey pieces that are over a decade old. If it is fully baked it should last quite a long time.

[BlueDragonfly]

Thank you.

Do you know of a good way to keep the sculpt from knocking around the edges or sinking from the bottom?