Sculpting clays.
polycounter lvl 18
Hey folks.
I know a few of you have gotten into real world sculpting in the past. I'm looking at my options for different clays to work with.
I'd like something that I can build around an armature so it'll need to be something with a low shrinkage rate, and something that'll harden. Super Sculpey does the job, but it's ludicrously expensive ($40 for a 450 gram brick!) and I've never been entirely happy with the feel of it. I'd like something that's a little easier to work.
I've tried a few options, but don't have a lot of spare money for experimentation. What do you folks prefer to work with?
I know a few of you have gotten into real world sculpting in the past. I'm looking at my options for different clays to work with.
I'd like something that I can build around an armature so it'll need to be something with a low shrinkage rate, and something that'll harden. Super Sculpey does the job, but it's ludicrously expensive ($40 for a 450 gram brick!) and I've never been entirely happy with the feel of it. I'd like something that's a little easier to work.
I've tried a few options, but don't have a lot of spare money for experimentation. What do you folks prefer to work with?
Replies
£3.80 1kg
£9.80 4.5kg
£17.80 12.5kg
Link to Uk sellers
Das is a little lighter and better quality, especially the finish.
Link
£6.95 1kg
I think they ship internationally but the pricing may be a little step for there weight.
Good luck anyway!
Link~
Not sure on any other clays so.
It's an epoxy resin and is extremely versatile. You can retard or advance the setting time to some extent by 'controlling' temperature, according to how you like to work as it hardens to a rock like finish and so becomes very carvable/sandable/polishable... all the 'ables'!
Most important it is initially free of that rubbery feel that Super Sculpey has. The draw back being it's quite expensive, grades range from $5-8 for 4oz. Of course using cheaper material as a base is common if you're working on a large piece.
It's reworkable, has three different levels of hardness and can be cast.
Personally I use the soft one. It's perfect for me as you can just get back to the sculpt even a month later and it's still as you left it. And it's hard enough at room temperature that you don't have to worry about baking it and whatnot like you do with sculpey.
if your going to work small then you will need medium or hard. and a clay warmer. you can make one with a card board box and a small light bulb. also some tools.
if your working larger then you will probably want soft and you will need a wire armature. but you don't really need a clay warmer. or many tools.
its probably best to buy a few blocks of different harnesses and different types and find one you like before you put down a lot of money for clay. i have seen even experienced sculptors end up with a lot of clay the never use.
Create the base shapes/ volumes of the model through a wire skeleton with aluminum tape and foil exterior and just add less than 1/4 inch sculpey for the surface.
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that's not true. the hardness of the clay is always very important. the hardness of the clay determines how fine the detail can be in general relative to the scale of the sculpture. for instance if you work with very soft clay at a very small scale fine detail is extremely hard to do. the clay just becomes to soft to to take detail from a tool and you get rips etc. also if you work with hard clay at a very large scale then you will have to use lots of scrapers and large rasps to get large smooth surfaces and generally the flow of the clay will look very stiff.
so in general the smaller you work the harder the clay has to be. and the smaller you get the more you will have to rely on tools rather then your hands.
i guess at the extreme ends are soft water based clay used for very large sculpture which is for the most part done with your hands. and on the other side is small scale wax sculpting where you literally work with hard wax and carve your sculpt with tools and you can get extremely small detail.
the two most common methods are to use 99% rubbing alcohol and a rag. or an 'alcohol torch' google for images.
also a tooth brush with a little rubbing alcohol works nice also.
edit: o yeah and a hair drier. you use it the same way as an alcohol torch
http://vimeo.com/37885398
Fun stuff
I imagine Chavant would have a slight stickyness. If I'm going to keep Chavant models as my final pieces, they're likely to get dust and stuff all over them over time, which'll be difficult to remove. I guess I could spray a clear coat of something over the top to protect them, but it'd need to something that wouldn't dissolve the clay. How do other people deal with this?
most of the better sculptors i have seen rarely keep a final sculpture. the whole point is to improve your skill. sculpt something then break it down and reuse the clay. if you work on a sculpt and let it sit there is really not much that messes it up. dust is really not much of an issue. the clay is water resistant so you can just run it under cold water and that would take most of the dust off.
prob 99% of the time people cast there sculptures in plaster. so you would need to learn how to make a mold and plaster cast. that's a big area and i would not worry about it if your starting out. there are books on how to do all that if you start looking around. but really just concentrate on sculpting and haveing fun. Chavant can sit on the shelf for years with no problems. and you can still go back and work with it again.
You can use turpenoid and alcohol with a cheap ass glue brush from the hardware store to smooth stuff.
I do an aluminium cast using wax, it was an awesome process, but I wonder how much that costs outside of school.
yea terpenoid works. i have seen a few people paint clay like Jordu Schell as you noted. i always wondered about why you would do that but i guess if you have enough clay and enough space then it makes sense. much quicker then casting then painting to.
Thanks for sharing, Pior. It would be cool if you would put the camera on the other side next time though to prevent risking having your hand in the way.
Great thread idea btw, Jackablade, some valuable information here.