What sculpting material do you use and why?

[Patu]

I'm interested to know what material(s) you use and why? This question gets asked a lot and it would be interesting to build up a bit of an opinion pole on the most preferred products.

Currently I use Chavant soft and hard but may try Super Sculpey for my next project. I also like Milliput for permanent detailing. The benefit of Chavant is that it's very easy to work with, never dries or cracks and is permanently workable. It does however mean you have to cast so not ideal for a one off. Smoothing is done with alcohol based solvents.

[Kdawg59]

I don't think you could EVER go wrong with Super Sculpey... I've come full circle several times in terms of materials, and it always brings me back to Super Sculpey.... Though I would like to try some Monster Clay too!

[logan25]

Always been Sculpey for me, but have started using monster clay more and more lately, it works really nicely and holds its shape well, also being used to sculpey its not a massive leap as you can still work it with normal tools when its cooled a bit

[mufizal]

Recently ive been really into this china clay stuff , its like Monster Clay. (hard oil clay )

Oil clay works perfect for me as its really really fast to bulk up , build up and detailing is nice with raking .

http://www.offerany.com/p-1490857487...-special!.html

( link only for reference , not intending to promote )


as for the face and fingers , nothing beats Gary's waxes. i still have his Fuse and 360 that i keep re-using .


Sculpey is good for props building as you can build basic and boil and build up again .

Mufizal

[Alaneye]

Back in the day, when I knew nothing, I started with white plasticene... then discovered Doll Fimo. I still like the old formula they had... it was very crumbly out of the packet, but once kneaded (sore fingers) it held detail really nicely. I still have serveral blocks of it left.

Then Mike Hill came around to my house one time, when he was still living in the UK, with an X Files Scully and Mulder he was working on, which introduced me to Super Sculpey, and he left a fist sized ball of it with me to try. It was much softer than Fimo and I didn't get on with it that well. I think I ended up using it on The Kurgan's cape as it was easier than kneading up a load of Fimo.

Then I left sculpting for a few years, but when I returned I finished off a Simba from Lion King which I'd started with Fimo but completed with Sculpey.

Since then I have used Sculpey, and although it has it's weaknesses... the softness being one, and the translucancy being another, I can work with it and pretty much get the results I want for the 1/2 scale busts I've been making. Another issue with Sculpey is that it seems to have 2 states... when it comes out of the box, when you bend it it tends to split, until you've given it a good kneading. And this is also true if you leave it for a period of time after kneading it... so if you have an old sculpture, you might find that the Sculpey might split here or there when you are working on it (I've just had this happen with my Kyle bust.

I'm not sure I could sculpt heads at 1/6 with Sculpey... I would probably dip into my cache of Fimo, or maybe try Sculpey Firm.

Sculpey Firm on it's own is a bit of a pain, as if you don't use it right away it goes rock hard and is a nightmare to get back to a working consistancy again. If you mix it 50:50 with Super Sculpey, it seems to keep better and still has the firmness but with out the crumbliness.

I have also have 10lbs of Monster clay, 5lbs of which I melted and poured in my Terminator 1 mould to see if it would allow me to rework it. I have to admit to finding it a bit more difficult to work with than Sculpey and the techniques I use with Sculpey do not necessarily translate to Monster Clay. I think some kind of warming is needed, which I'm not currently set up for.

The main reason I like Sculpey is that I can tear a piece off and easily shape it and add it to my sculpture, blend it in and shape it further with tools, and isopropanol and a brush. Also being able to bake it for mould making it useful as you don't have to worry about damaging the details. The drawback is the softness as I have said, and it's not re-usable. I do want to give Monster Clay a proper go at some point, but I feel I may get frustrated with it.

[barneyjoseph]

I use Chavant Clay. I know that the final product needs to be molded and cast. It might seem like extra work but I think that it helps in terms of making a product line.

For people like me, we can't afford an injection mold machine and therefore any problems faced in making the first cast can be fixed by going back to the chavant model (provided that it was taken out without considerable damage). Once a proper mold has been done with the least amount of problems spots, we can go into production. Extra money spent for the extra silicone molds can be recovered in mass sales

Another reason that I use Chavant is that the clay can be recovered and reused. For a sculptor from India who has to pay a lot in terms of currency conversion, shipping and import taxes, this turns out to be a huge benefit!

The next point that I have is personal. I have a severe RSI damage in both of my hands. Therefore I lack strength, steady hands and I need more time than others. So no kneading of Super Sculpey and no rushing to beat the setting time of Apoxie Sculpt. Every solution to my problems as a sculptor with Chavant is HEAT. I use Chavant hard because I can get really clumsy and drop the piece that I am working with. Because of the similarities in technique I would like to try wax someday.

For a person like me I would use Super Sculpey or Apoxie Sculpt only for a one of a kind promotional piece. I have nothing against these products and others too. Many sculptors have exhibited their talents in making works of art with different mediums. This is just my personal choice.

Hope this helps. God bless you!

[Patu]

OK I've now had a chance to play about with Super Sculpey and made a few heads at 1/6 and 1/5 scale and personally I have found it difficult. Super Sculpey is quite elastic in it's structure which means when you are trying to do finer detail you get movement of the surrounding material sometimes...such as if you are trying to shave a little off the nose, the entire nose may bend and then you have to move it back if you are not very delicate. Chavant does not work in this way and will hold it's form.

With this said, I'd agree with above that SS isn't ideal for 1/6 scale figures but maybe 1/4 and above better?? Still ears and other small details are going to be tricky, more tricky I think than with Chavant..

SS was, as everyone says very firm and crumbly out of the box. I had to cut strips, run it through the pasta machine and then work it a lot before I could work with it. Once prepared it is very easy to move about and very easy to smooth, a property that is better on SS than Chavant which really you need to use a solvent to smooth and that can affect detailing if you're not careful..

[Darkeye]

I prefer the non permanent materials;
I use Chavant clays, and waxes like Castilene and 360. I'd like to be able to afford to do the Popsculpture process for my One Offs but cant or mold so tend to just loosely sculpt an idea.
Chavant and Monster clay are great for this and making changes on the fly. Wax gives tight detail and allows you to start and finish a whole figure in one with no armature or waste molds but can be tedious. some days it goes faster.
The only figure I have finished so far was a 10 inch Dark Phoenix and she is magic sculpt. I like epoxies for the dependable durability; you can bake for 10 mins at 100 degrees and it's done with no cracks ever! Green Stuff is the bomb and holds crisp detail; it's the wax of epoxies. very elastic and great for hair and clothes.
Sculpey I am quietly desperate to conquer. It knows my name and hates me. all sculpts are a fail but in the past its what I used before going to oil clay with no problems ever. I like it for the same reasons as oil clays; it's cheap and you keep working till you are happy. it blends well too.
For one off pieces for your shelf I reckon sculpey is the answer but in a pinch epoxy will see you right. I WILL conquer sculpey darn it!!

atb--tim

[law1349]

So far I have only used Sculpey in its various forms. I bought three 1lb bars of the firm once and all three had a slightly different hardness. So I think the age really has a lot to do with how well the product works for you. When its really brittle out of the box, it seems to regain that brittleness after kneading. But the biggest issue to me is the cracking. I'm currently working on a 1/5 scale Conan and one day I looked and his chest was starting to crack open. It wasn't even a seem. My baked sculpts are all cracking now, too. I've been told that leaving the sculpt in the oven while it cools really helps, but I mainly use a heat gun now. I dont have a huge oven.

I keep hearing about monster clay, but what do you do with a finished piece to make it permanent?

[riteguytu]

Originally Posted by Kdawg59

I don't think you could EVER go wrong with Super Sculpey... I've come full circle several times in terms of materials, and it always brings me back to Super Sculpey.... Though I would like to try some Monster Clay too!

Agreed. I get around the softness by mixing the pink and grey versions to achieve the various degrees of working stiffness I require. This also turns the clay opaque grey, which gets over the translucency issue...
It's bakeable and when baked, is permanent and can be painted if I don't want to make molds; win, win, win, in my book!