Advice on crack in my sculpey after baking...

JetFire76 · 11-08-2009, 02:26 AM

Hey all,

So after my 1st attempt at sculpting, I knew this would happen after reading about baking sculpey that was in close proximity to 1/2 an inch thick.

Anyhow, knowing that my sculpt was pretty thick, I baked at 200 degrees... for about 2 hours... looked in the oven and noticed a good size crack. Now... the sculpt is just a head .... a bald head ... which I will need to add hair on.

My question is, the crack will be covered by hair. If I bake it with new sculpey over the crack, will that be okay? Will the crack expand or something? Or will it just stay that size after rebaking? Kind of confused about that one.

And secondly, should I rebake the sculpey at a higher temperature even before putting on the hair? I was just sitting here reading the tutorials and realized that maybe the temp was too low... and was afraid that it will crumble from the inside out because of it not curing properly.

Eeeeer!!! I'm so pissed! I'm letting the sculpt cool in the oven now and won't be taking it out till the morning... so any and I mean any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you sifu's.

Voshizle@gmail. · 11-08-2009, 07:46 AM

You can (and probably should) just fill the crack with sculpey and hit with a heat gun or something, then sculpt on the hair and give it a good long bake. I'm not sure but I think that will for sure cure the inside. I don't believe it's ruined after a bad baking. Hope that helps

JetFire76 · 11-08-2009, 07:38 PM

If I don't have a heat gun... should I just bake again?

Any recommendations, now that I have baked it once, what Temp I should set it for the 2nd go around? Maybe 250 degrees the second time?

Thanks again~

Voshizle@gmail. · 11-08-2009, 09:26 PM

Um a blow dryer that has a high setting might do the trick. Or just fill the crack and sculpt the hair right on top of it and bake it all again. Honestly I've only been working with SS for a couple years on and off so you might try pming someone of greater skill for help. Or check the stickies. I know there's one on baking on sculpey.

Yea check here: http://statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=33465

JetFire76 · 11-09-2009, 12:56 PM

I think I will try and fill it first and then make the hair around it and then bake.

Very frustrating... mistake #2.

Thanks you~

Voshizle@gmail. · 11-10-2009, 05:49 AM

Eh mistakes are made, all part of the process. I'm completely self taught because where I went to school no one knew what the hell sculpey was haha. And I didn't find this place for quite awhile either. I highly recommend going through the stickies and tutorials, very very helpful and written by pros.

SiMo · 11-12-2009, 03:29 AM

Cracking sculpey is very often a result of cooling down too fast. the inner core is still hot (and because of that it's expanded) and the surface shrinks because of cooling down. Cracks are just avoidable by cooling down VERY slowly. Leave it in the oven for the rest of the day until the whole part has room termerature.

Have a closer look into William Paquet's thread. It's very helpful:
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=33465

relikizan · 12-02-2009, 01:09 PM

how severe is the crack? could you getaway with just using ca glue to fill?

mallock · 12-02-2009, 10:29 PM

Aves Epoxy works great, as does super glue on the smaller thinner cracks...

moore_000 · 12-03-2009, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mallock

Aves Epoxy works great, as does super glue on the smaller thinner cracks...

Yes from experience, Aves Apoxie Sculpt works the best on sealing the cracks. It not only serves as patch for the cracks, but acts like glue to keep the cracks from widening/extending. You can also use this material for sculpting. The only problem with using Sculpey to do the patch is that it does not work well if you try to do a very thin patch over the cracks; from experience, the cracks will go through a very thin patch/layer of Sculpey after you bake it again.