Armature and baking question/concerns.

Gearfree · 05-07-2016, 02:07 PM

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to sculpting and have never baked super sculpey before. The last statue I tried making was about 13" tall and made with 16 gauge aluminum wire, wrapped with 18 gauge around it. However, I found it way too flimsy and couldn't support my sculpture. I'm wondering if 10 gauge would be strong enough? I was also looking at galvanized steel as a solution since its stronger, but I don't know if it's safe to put that in my oven that I use for cooking (cause of the zinc plating). I'm not entirely sure about what type of materials are best suited for strength and safety.

I also wanted to ask if it's safe to use super sculpey in the same oven I cook in? I've heard many different things about toxicity and whatnot. I'm just so very confused lol. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I actually found an answer to one of my questions with some digging. On the polyform website: http://www.sculpey.com/?s=super+scul...e=faq_question it says that sculpey is completely safe to use in your home oven and is non-toxic. Just for those curious to know as well! Still not sure about the galvonized steel though.

cyborgt800 · 05-08-2016, 12:20 PM

I'm not a big fan of sculpey, but when I do use it I boil it as I find it's tougher to burn or discolor that way.

Gearfree · 05-08-2016, 04:43 PM

Yea I've heard lots of stuff about boiling Sculpey. My concern is whether or not or actually fully cures and if it cracks more frequently than in the oven cuz through my digging here many people say different about the two methods Sooooooo I'm on the fence about that. Discoloration is no concern to me cuz I can always prime it. Have you ever had issues with boiling?

xya · 05-09-2016, 03:38 AM

I use 18 gauge galvanized steel wires. It's strong enough to bear the weight but still flexible enough to bend with your hands. The only issue is you can't really saw through it if you want to dismember your statue for recasting, so you need to plan your wire placements around that. As for safety I don't think there would be much issue as it's covered by your polymer clay and I don't think the baking temps are high enough to strip the wires of the minerals or whatever. I've never noticed anything out of the usual. I rarely use my oven for cooking though.

cyborgt800 · 05-11-2016, 12:42 PM

Boiling has removed all of the issues I've had with sculpey, flat spots, crumbling, over baking, too hot, burning and cracking.

Gearfree · 05-12-2016, 01:14 PM

Ok cool, perhaps I'll try the galvanized steel. Also, the thing for me is, I don't plan on creating casts of my sculptures. They'll be one-of-a-kinds so I'm hesitant with using the boiling method as I've heard a lot of controversy about it on this forum about whether or not it actually fully cures. I'm concerned about the sculpture breaking down in several years or something because of a complication like that. Do you feel boiling is superior to allow proper curing??

ctuckr68 · 05-17-2016, 05:35 PM

I also use galvanized wire..I forget the guage right off, thick enough I can bend with my hands, but need needle nose pliers to make tight/small bends in the wire....no aluminum wires for me. I bake all my sculpey, always have. I like baking because there's more control on the time/temp IMO. I've only ever had issues with burning from cooking too long...so watch your bake time and temp and shouldn't have an issue there...pretty obvious advise. I've never considered cracking much of an issue either. It does happen from time to time, but again, your temp will play a big role. Avoid rapid cool downs. Leaving your sculpt in the oven after baking until it reaches room temp is a good idea. That means overnight in some cases.
Also, The thicker the sculpey, the more tendency to crack IME. Regardless, any cracks should be slight and rare if baking properly. When it does happen, aves apoxie or magic sculpt will fix it perfectly. That stuff is an absolute necessity for sculpting IMO, anyhow, because some sort of post bake patch work is always needed for a bunch of different reasons.

Regardless, your sculpey should be pretty durable and long lasting if cooked at the proper temp and time...some folks like baking, some boiling...mostly seems to be personal preference on those points.

Good luck

Gearfree · 05-18-2016, 08:52 AM

Oh awesome. Thanks for the detailed advice. That is extremely helpful! I'm slowly going to be working on it when I get bits and pieces of time, hopefully I can make a post later on down the road of my progress and show you guys how it turns out.