Home Forums Explore Media Sculpture What kind of clay would fit needs best?

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  • #485890
    jin098
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        🔵what kind of clay would fit my goals?

        Goal is to have a workable no hassle clay that I can sculpt and rework when I want to And then when I’m done have it be hard enough to be on display afterwards

        With WED clay the problem is the cracking when drying

        With chavant or monster clay,

        After hardening, will they lose detail and forms in a non ac room during the summer months?

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        Sidenote) WED clay, since drying cracks it, then when is the best time to make a mold before cracking?

        #966736
        ArtsyLynda
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            Chsvant clay is a plastilene (sometimes called plasticine) clay, which means it’s oil-based and will never dry out. That’s what the sculptor is using in the video you shared (that’s the artsy-est video of sculpting I’ve ever seen!).

            Alternatives are air-dry clay, polymer clay (like the Sculpey products) which you bake in the oven and then have a hard piece, or epoxy clays like Apoxie Sculpt or Magic Sculpt. Epoxy clays are two-parts that must be blended together 50-50. They are workable for some amount of time, then harden. Once they’re hard, you can refine them with sandpaper and a Dremel tool. Air-dry clay is a more amateur product and doesn’t give as refined a finish as a professional clay like plastilene. Super Sculpey might be a good choice for you. I’ve heard there’s a new brown Super Sculpey (or maybe Sculpey) that works like water-based clay so it’s nicer to the hands than regular Sculpey products. That might be a good choice. Once baked, Sculpey products are sturdy and can be painted with acrylics or finished with other products.

            #966738
            jin098
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                Chsvant clay is a plastilene (sometimes called plasticine) clay, which means it’s oil-based and will never dry out. That’s what the sculptor is using in the video you shared (that’s the artsy-est video of sculpting I’ve ever seen!).

                Alternatives are air-dry clay, polymer clay (like the Sculpey products) which you bake in the oven and then have a hard piece, or epoxy clays like Apoxie Sculpt or Magic Sculpt. Epoxy clays are two-parts that must be blended together 50-50. They are workable for some amount of time, then harden. Once they’re hard, you can refine them with sandpaper and a Dremel tool. Air-dry clay is a more amateur product and doesn’t give as refined a finish as a professional clay like plastilene. Super Sculpey might be a good choice for you. I’ve heard there’s a new brown Super Sculpey (or maybe Sculpey) that works like water-based clay so it’s nicer to the hands than regular Sculpey products. That might be a good choice. Once baked, Sculpey products are sturdy and can be painted with acrylics or finished with other products.

                Thanks Lynda!

                yeah I was looking into Sculpey too, you mentioned a new one that feels like WED, may I know where to find that?
                I couldnt find anything in my own searches for something like that.

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                Also do you have any experience with a finished chavant or monster clay/oil clay piece that is used as display?
                Basically leave it to harden at room temp.
                If so, did you have any problems with it losing form or details during the summer months?

                #966739
                jin098
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                    Only other problem with sculpey was “control malleability” of the clay, since unlike oil it cant be heated in specific areas to be softer whenever needed.

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                    Btw in terms of “feeling of usage” of oil vs sculpey….

                    Correct me if Im wrong but, from what I’ve found the Main diff to oil based is that you can’t control the softness at will it seems….

                    Because unlike oil based, a polymer will bake when used with a fire shooter bottle

                    So the only other way to control malleability is PreMixing the clay with a sculpey solution = can only control the malleability overall in a very uniform fashion whereas oil you can heat specific areas to make more malleable than others

                    ———————————————

                    Which brings me to my theory….

                    That’s why everybody who sculpts with super sculpey adds on clay in small blobs, because there isn’t a control on the malleability as much

                    so you cant really move large amounts around as easily as heated oil based clay

                    = prob why people work on smaller scales as well

                    ———————————————

                    Am I accurate in my reasoning of, oil vs sulpey “feeling of usage” and theory of working on smaller sculpts, so far?

                    #966737
                    ArtsyLynda
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                        Yes, you’re pretty much right. Sculpey products are expensive, so they’re more useful for small projects. And you never build a solid Sculpey piece unless it’s a relief. The company recommends you keep the Sculpey to 1/4″ thickness at most, although I have done some thicker. You mush up aluminum foil to be the armature for Sculpey, which can be built over a wire armature to build up the form if necessary. Some pros (including me) use Super Sculpey or the brown product but they will usually be small pieces.

                        I just looked for that brown Sculpey and didn’t find it either. It’s possible my friend got a sample to try of a product they’re developing.

                        You condition Sculpey products by running it through a pasta cutter, as I mentioned somewhere before. You don’t use any heat with it until you bake it. http://www.sculpey.com has tons of information on using their products.

                        Sculpey feels a bit rubbery to work with and the clay has some “rebound” (lines you carve fill back up with clay to some extent), unlike Classic or Chavant clay. Some plastilenes (the student grade, like Prima and Jolly King) rebound quite a bit which is very frustrating, to me, at least. Each product has its place. As a student yourself, experimenting with different products will teach you a lot. You may find you prefer the feel of Sculpey or something else. You don’t need to pay the cost of Chavant or Classic when you’re starting out – unless you’re told to by a workshop teacher.

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