Castilene Questions

vegeta · 05-10-2005, 10:59 AM

HI, i`m just starting in sculpture, and i wan`t to
try several kinds of clays, so far i now that castilene
is some kind of wax that is not cured in the oven, and
is very hard but when is hot it can be work it, i would
like to know more about castilene, please help me with
this questions:

-When a sculpture is finish, what`s the next step, i mean
when it`s cold it`s very hard, right?...is it that the final
stage?

-Can figures made in castilene be painted?...i would like
some colors in some of my sculptures..

-Is it easy to get the surface uniformly smooth in
castilene, with out fingerprints and tool marks?

-i`m goin to buy over the internet, 3 pounds of green
castilene, but i don`t know wich one to buy, soft, medium,
or hard, i wan`t to achieve very detailed 9" tall figures,
wich one would be better?

-What else do i need to make castilene sculptures, other
materials?

THANK`S IN ADVANCE
BEST REGARDS
VEGETA

Kdawg59 · 05-10-2005, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-When a sculpture is finish, what`s the next step, i mean
when it`s cold it`s very hard, right?...is it that the final
stage?

When you are done and this is the part that is up to you really... you can have it mold and cast for finalization. As far as the sculpt itself goes... when you are finished in castilene it can end there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-Can figures made in castilene be painted?...i would like
some colors in some of my sculptures..

Negative

You would have to have it cast to have it painted. Castilene is ready to be molded though and it is hard enough.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-Is it easy to get the surface uniformly smooth in
castilene, with out fingerprints and tool marks?

Smoothing castilene isn't the easiest thing you will ever do. It is possible with a lot of effort and a generous supply of sanding sponges, both heated and not heated. Ray Villafane is a castilene smoothing alien. It takes time but you can get the surface to shine and be smooth. The one thing most castilene folks wish for would be the ability to use a paintbrush and alhohol/terp based solutions to smooth the surface like you can with the polymer clays... you can't however so you win some you lose some I guess

There is a minor learning curve to castilene, but once you get rolling it is a great material. I have tried to experiment with roughing a sculpt in Super sculpey, making a quickie alginate mold and pouring molten castilene after, so I can increase my speed with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-i`m goin to buy over the internet, 3 pounds of green
castilene, but i don`t know wich one to buy, soft, medium,
or hard, i wan`t to achieve very detailed 9" tall figures,
wich one would be better?

Most people that buy castilene tend to go with the hard grade. Otherwise you may as well use super sculpey. People that buy castilene genrally like to pick up their piece and grab it a lot and not have to worry about squashing their hard work. That's how hard this stuff can be. But the detail you can carve into faces, hands, muscles, is phenominal

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-What else do i need to make castilene sculptures, other
materials?

3m sanding sponges
alcohol torch as well as lamp
some good dental tools
an old microwave safe bowl works nice for getting it workable
a coffee mug warmer for heating your sanding sponges
a good supply of patience

I hope some of this helps but ask away if you need more help. There's great sculptor's here that can tell you all you need...

another great place to go is Claudio's forum which I can't remember the link at this second (I will post when I get it)... there is a whole section devoted to the castilene braves...

vegeta · 05-10-2005, 10:09 PM

"thank you very much Kdawg59, thank`s for taking your time
to answer each one of my questions...THANK YOU...."

Just a couple of questions more, please...

I`m goin to try super sculpey, because as i say before
i want to try several kinds of clays, but hear is what
i want to know...

-Speaking of the material, do you think that with casteline
it can be done more detail than with super sculpey?

-When super sculpey is baked in the oven it get hard, you
mention that castilene is very hard, at the point that it
has to be carved, but the detail that can be done is amazing,
i wonder if i can carve with the same amazing detail a
super sculpey figure after baked in the oven?

THANK`S AGAIN FOR YOUR TIME...

vegeta

Kdawg59 · 05-11-2005, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

"thank you very much Kdawg59, thank`s for taking your time
to answer each one of my questions...THANK YOU...."

Just a couple of questions more, please...

No problem and anytime... I'll answer to the best of my limited abilities...

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

I`m goin to try super sculpey, because as i say before
i want to try several kinds of clays, but hear is what
i want to know...

Supey Sculpey is great let's go...

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-Speaking of the material, do you think that with casteline
it can be done more detail than with super sculpey?

In my own personal opinion you can get a ton of detail into any medium depending on how you learn to work around a materials shortcomings.

Sculpey is soft, but you can put in a ton of detail and texture, just be sure to not handle the piece. If you are okay with that... go for it. I did a piece with a beard in sculpey and I was VERY happy with the detail...

Castilene is good because you can get the detail and you can pick it up and get it right close to you face and go to town. Off the cuff I would say I can get better detail in castilene but like I said... it's your own experience and preference that will enable you to do it right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegeta

-When super sculpey is baked in the oven it get hard, you
mention that castilene is very hard, at the point that it
has to be carved, but the detail that can be done is amazing,
i wonder if i can carve with the same amazing detail a
super sculpey figure after baked in the oven?

There are certain things you can do after you have baked sculpey... You can etch in lines, detail etc... but I don't like doing that because you never know when you are gonna push or scrape to hard and bust a piece off and have to repair it. I don't like to do things 3 times but I imagine adding some level of detail after the bake is possible...

more question are welcome and I hope others will lend their opinions. I'm no expert and in fact not even into this stuff a year myself yet, but I do pride myself on having learned a lot of this stuff very quickly...

best you can do is just fire it up and experiment with each material

Ray Villafane · 05-11-2005, 01:36 PM

Well Keith pretty much answered your questions just as I would of. Good luck!

vegeta · 05-11-2005, 11:28 PM

Thank`s Kdawg59 for the answers, two days ago i did not
know to much about castilene, now i know very important
things about this material, and that is for your
generous help, "THANKS", and by the way let me tell you
that you are an amazing artist, i already see some of
your work here, congratulations!!!...and you say that you
are not an expert........think that again!

Ray Villafane thank`s for wish me good luck, let me tell
you that when i saw your sculptures i was speechless, the
quality and perfection of your work is extraordinary, every
sculpture made by you is a masterpiece...
I was searching the forum and i saw that you mention some
moths ago that you where planing to make a tutorial, you
mention that you have tones of pics of the process of making
Magneto....i was wondering if you can put some pics of that
here, PLEASE.....

WHAT A GREAT FORUM TO LEARN FROM SOME OF THE GREATEST ARTIST
IN THE WORLD...

"congratulations again for your wonderful
work Kdawg59 and Ray Villafane"

BEST REGARDS

VEGETA