WIP Baking Sculpey?

[TorMag]

OK... I'm confused. Vaseline (petroleum jelly) is used as an adhesive and/or a bonding agent depending upon when and where you use it?

Phil, I did see the 'Bake and Bond' in Michaels. It was in a small eyedropper type bottle for about 7-8 bucks. Seems convenient.

Tormag, I still have the issue of seeing through the work surface when using a tile. Would a clear/glass tile would work (assuming it was thin)? What about regular glass - like what you get with a photo frame?

Cheers,

Glen

Glen, I found this on answer.com

Glass does not typically "break" at any temperature. If you want to be technical, the melting point of glass is 2600-2900 °F.

Now, another important and relevant fact is that when things are hot, they grow very slightly larger due to their molecular composition. When something is very hot and is suddenly made much cooler, it will quickly shrink back to normal. When fragile things like glass are cooled down too fast, the shape change is enough to crack or break them.




Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Temperature_glass_breaks#ixzz1HWAqbSrN​

Me, I assume you live in the US, did not look at your signature line, but you said you found something at Michaels. I would go to your nearest Goodwill store and find a glass baking plate.... Probably picking something up for less than $2.

 

[theBaron]

Ok,
have used baking paper when doing a flat figure in sculpey - mainly because I couldn't find a tile, and didn't feel game to write off a good eating plate.

Link here
http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30414

Like others have said, lower the temperature a bit, and cook a bit longer...

cheers and good luck

Thanks for the reference, Jamie! I hadn't seen that thread before. But gomen nasai-I can't find any specific references to using parchment paper/baking paper in any of the posts. I take it that it worked successfully, from the results in the photos.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Glen]

OK, I picked up some 'baking paper' (aka parchment paper) at the store today. It seems a bit waxy on both sides, but it is transluscent; a bit like thick tracing paper or velum. I'm going to roll out some Sculpey on glass, tile, and the paper sometime this weekend and see what happens.

In other hobby news, I did a spring tune-up on my MGB and it's running like a champ!

Cheers,

Glen

 

[gordy]

Must be a fun ride!

Let us know how the wax paper works out for you

 

[Glen]

I have completed my experiments. I rolled out three identical pieces of Sculpey III onto a piece of 4x6 inch desktop picture frame glass, a 4x4 inch piece of bathroom tile, and a section of parchment paper (aka baking paper). All of these were placed on a metal cookie sheet.

The Sculpey was rolled out to about 1/16" [1mm(ish)] thick. The edges were rolled down further to about the thickness of card stock. I cut out a section to represent a long narrow piece of an arm, leg, or sword blade. The instructions say to bake the Sculpey at 275 deg F for 15 minutes per 1/4" thickness. I baked all of my pieces at the same time at 250 deg F for 20 minutes (per the above suggestions to bake longer at less heat).

Once completed, the cookie sheet was pulled out of the oven and allowed to cool for a few minutes. On a side note, I used the kitchen oven, not a toaster oven. When I moved the pieces, the hard Sculpey simply fell off the parchment paper. I had to use a single edge razor blade around the edges of the Sculpey on the glass and tile. This took a matter of seconds and the pieces came off without breaking. So, everything worked as it should. I liked the idea of the parchment paper because I can see the drawing under it; it's like using wax paper under Aves. The glass will work equally well.

My thanks to all for the hints, tips, and suggestions. I hoist a Guinness in your honor!

Questions and comments welcome.

Cheers,

Glen

 

[gordy]

Excellent Glen I'm glad it worked out for you and thanks for reporting the findings!

 

[redhorse]

Thanks for the experiment results!

 

[Einion]

Glad the experiment worked out so well Glen.

Just a quick thing for future reference, on removing pieces from the oven. One thing I've read frequently is people allowing baked pieces to cool in the oven, I think particularly for bulky sculpts so they cool more evenly. I doubt this is an issue for flat pieces, even large ones, but in case you do get any cracking issues it's something to try.

Einion

 

[Glen]

Thanks Einion, I'll keep it in mind. Right now, I'm trying to keep the flats at an average thickness of about 1mm or so. I need it thick enough that I can engrave/carve into the piece without going through it, and then building up a few areas for additional relief. I'm shooting for something close to a traditional flat versus a demi-round.

Cheers,

Glen