After sanding your SS sculpture?

[sculptguy]

After sanding a baked SS sculpture, the piece discolors in places (due to the sanding) and is hard to tell just how smooth it really is. Do you sculptors out there spray the piece with a sandable primer first? Or do you spray it after it's sanded to make it look presentable to the client? Are there any techniques you can share?

[ABE]

Hey Sculptguy,
after sanding the piece I use a primer called "Plastikote" .....it is the best primer I have found (and I've tried alot of different brands). I believe the Shiflett Brothers sand the piece with water and sandpaper so you don't get that "discolored" look when you are sanding it down.
Hope this helps,
ABE

[William Paquet]

Steel wool is a great polishing medium, and it can even be used wet to get into very tight and fine areas. If you use a super fine grade, you can polish the sculpt to a high sheen.

[sculptguy]

Okay. Thanks for the tips William and Abe.

[cblakey1]

Originally Posted by William Paquet

Steel wool is a great polishing medium, and it can even be used wet to get into very tight and fine areas. If you use a super fine grade, you can polish the sculpt to a high sheen.

I use 00 grade steel wool, and you're right, it's a great for polishing.

I also find it helpful to add a little color to the SS, like gray Sculpey II. The fleshy look of SS make it very difficult to see things that need correcting.

[Tommy Allison]

Heck, you can even polish it with water and one of those dish scrubbies.

[brodie]

Originally Posted by cblakey1

I use 00 grade steel wool, and you're right, it's a great for polishing.

This may seem silly, but where can you get 00 steel wool? A hardware store? When I think of steel wool, I think of Brillo pads. Thanks,

Bruno

[William Paquet]

Originally Posted by brodie

This may seem silly, but where can you get 00 steel wool? A hardware store? When I think of steel wool, I think of Brillo pads. Thanks,

Bruno

Yes, exactly...hardware stores. They offer many different grades from rough to super fine. Usually they come about ten to a package.

[sculptguy]

Thanks for all the tips, guys. Actually, I have tried the 00 steel wool but still got the discoloration (using gray ss) . Maybe I just didn't polish it enough, but am concerned about obscuring the detail. When you use the steel wool do you use it by itself of dip it in liquid (water, alcohol, lighter fluid?). I tried it with the lighter fluid-maybe it's too harsh (I read about this technique somewhere-don't remember which site).

Also, how do you deal which polishing the face without demolishing all the intricate details?

Thanks again.