Completed Critique Question for Casters

[MattS]

Hi, everyone.

I'm always searching for a good sculpting medium. I've always used Magic Sculp, but feel limited by it's short working time. I'm getting into sculpting larger scale pieces and the MS is just impracticle. My question is for those who cast figures. Any problems casting an oil based clay like Chevant NSP or Monsterclay or similar without sulpher? What about waxes like Castiline?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[gordy]

I know what you mean Matt, I did a 1/6th scale Enzo Ferrari in milliput and my forearms look like Popeye's.

I've seen casters use oil-based clays , not as masters, but for shoring up irregular shaped or gaps in mold boxes. There was not any noticeable reaction with the rubber.

In terms of heating and working a wax-like clay, MonsterClay looks promising and very similar to the "CX5" Adame Beane has been pimping.

Super Sculpy, as much as I loathe it's quirky curing, is simple and well priced.

That's my take on in I too would like to hear from casters what they prefer to see in masters, and their horror stories

 

[bonehead]

Hi, everyone.

I'm always searching for a good sculpting medium. I've always used Magic Sculp, but feel limited by it's short working time. I'm getting into sculpting larger scale pieces and the MS is just impracticle. My question is for those who cast figures. Any problems casting an oil based clay like Chevant NSP or Monsterclay or similar without sulpher? What about waxes like Castiline?

Thanks,

Matt

Matt,

Try Classic Clay. It is sulphur free and will not effect RTV rubbers. I used it to do my Blues Men busts. I have never tried Castoline. I am pretty clueless with wax too. Clay is fun to work with. Give it a go!

Mike

 

[pokrad]

I casted a few pieces made of SuperSculpey. For scales as 1/6 and 1/9 it works very well. Yes, there is "micro cracking" problem, but for larger scales primer can be used before casting.
Primer shows cracks and imperfections well, fills the real thiny ones, and the big ones you can fix using epoxy putty and abrasive sponge. Diluted "Tamiya surface primer" will not destroy the details if applied in very thin layer by airbrush. I think for larger scales Sculpey is not a bad choice...

 

[valiant]

Hi guys,
FYI, i always use Newplast for my original sculpts as i can work quickly without worrying about curing/drying. i then have a "waste" mould made so i can run a plaster of paris solid to add the finer details to. the guy who does my casting has no problems with reaction with silicon, etc. in fact, when working in industry, most of the masters were sculpted in wax, etc. hope this is of use.

 

[MattS]

Thanks for the input, guys. I do have an order in for some of Adam's CX5. We'll see if it ever ships. I first heard about it's pending release over a year ago. Looks like great stuff.

Mike - Are you talking about J-Mac's Classic Clay? Btw- Castiline is a wax, I think.

I've used super sculpey, but really couldn't get a good feel for it. I used it to sculpt the head on my Murat bust recently. It was a pain to get smoothed out the way I wanted it.

Thanks for the input. I guess it's just a matter of experimenting and finding what works. I do alot of commercial work, so what material can be properly casted is a big concern.

Matt

 

[Einion]

Matt, would an extension of the setting time for MS (40-100%) be enough or do you expect you'll need an open-ended working period?

Einion

 

[MattS]

Matt, would an extension of the setting time for MS (40-100%) be enough or do you expect you'll need an open-ended working period?

Einion

Einion,

I think I would prefer an open-ended working time to get my volumes right. I have to ask though, how to you increase the working time of MS? Freezing?

Matt

 

[Einion]

Like Kneadatite it's very forgiving of variations in proportions of hardener to resin and a reduction of the amount of hardener (even a fifth or a quarter less) slows the curing noticeably. You can use even less than this, the limit being around 70% resin to 30% hardener according to the MagicSculp site.

For a very long working time you can blend MS with Sculpey or another polymer clay. I've gotten in excess of five hours this way, which is roughly twice the normal hardening time for me.

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38215

I've also tried blending epoxies with Newplast, which can massively extend the working period but you take quite a hit in terms of the final toughness of the piece - it's not as hard and a bit flakey/brittle. Might work fine for things that don't have projections though.

Einion

 

[MattS]

Great tips, Einion. Thanks. I'm just looking for a material bette suited to portrait work and the endless tweaking I need to do that. I would also like to get more into textures on skin tones which is very hard to do, for me, with MS or similar epoxy putty.

I will post again if I find a new product. I hope to be getting Adam Beane's CX5 and will probably try Chavant NSP at some point, too.

Thanks again!

Matt

 

[Anders Heintz]

Hey Matt,

I have no doubt you will work magic with whatever medium you choose. However, if you do decide to work in a medium that does not cure, be very careful about shipping the master to the producer. I would dread to spend hours and hours on a portrait sculpt in let's say Chavant, then during transit, the package got hot, and the Chavant got a little soggy, and the head somehow got deformed in the process. A pretty risky endevour unless someone has a cure for this. It is something to think about anyhow.

Maybe you can bribe John into casting the parts made out of non curing stuff though and this would be a non issues!

 

[MattS]

Thanks, Anders. I thought about a piece being damaged or melting during shipping. What a mess that would be. I might be able to get some casting done in Atlanta. John's too busy fly fishing to be bothered with casting anymore!

Matt

 

[bonehead]

Matt,

This is the stuff:

http://www.silpak.com/products/63-clayandwax/260-classic-clay

I used it to sculpt my Bluesmen busts several years ago. I cannot remember exactly which clay I used - it was the dark brown, medium grade I think.

Those would be Muddy Waters and Elmore James.

We are talking sculpture for bronze here. You do not want to ship this stuff around. I drove the clay originals to the foundry who made molds for me. It is not cheap though. The clay is nice to work with and you need to make a good armature as it is heavy. You can fill out the armature with foil or other things to make up some bulk.

The reason i only did these two bronzes is because i was too poor to actually get into bronze casting work. It takes cash - not a good thing for a starving artist. Too bad. I would have liked it...

 

[Jeff]

If you are going to use soft clays you really cannot ship them anywhere. Not unless you are driving them to the place yourself. Otherwise You will need to make a mold and cast one. This is not really as hard s it might seem, and there are tricks to pouring and casting simple things that will give you very nice results.

You can get the kits that have everything you need to cast a small bust from Alumilite. The rubber is not supper durable. It will work just fine for a one off mold for a head. You can usually get quite a few parts out of a mold. if you are carful but over time the mold will get brittle. You can get better rubber but for your first time these kits are really pretty nice and the rubber kicks off pretty fast, in as little as 4 hours. I have used it for projects for the toy industry just for this reason I was able to make a master part and be making copies latter in the day. I did a lot of projects that need to be made yesterday for one toy company.

http://www.alumilite.com/

If you are carful when pouring the rubber you can get the majority of air out of it when you pour it. The thiner the stream of rubber the less air you are are likely to trap. A vibrating table was an old school way to help get air out of the mold. For a home caster I have found that putting the mold on my washing machine or dryer works very well. I usually do this in a container that will catch any rubber Just in case of a leak out of the mold. Do not want to get the spouse mad at you for no reason.

I use a vacuum chamber and pressure pot now, but for a quick one off you really do not need to invest in that equipment.


I could go on, but really you can find most of this information on Youtube and the Alumilite web site.

 

[kathrynloch]

I've heard to always make a waste mold in order to have at least one master and preferably two or three back-ups no matter what clay you use. Non-hardening clays will not survive shipment and the postal service can destroy anything if they put their minds to it.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot adapt the the epoxy/apoxie clays. It's the stickiness that gets me. I don't care how much water, safety solvent, olive oil, talc, whatever I use it's going to stick to my fingers or tools at the worst possible time and I end up destroying my hard work.

I've switched to Apoxie Clay which isn't as sticky as Apoxie Sculpt but it also cures faster - about an hour, so that becomes a problem as well.

Honestly, I learned with super sculpey so that's my preference since I'm accustomed to how it behaves. I think I'll probably end up making a waste mold even with that just to have a master and a back up.

Cheers,
Karrie