Coating PVC Figure with Super Sculpey?
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Coating PVC Figure with Super Sculpey?

Posted in Custom Workstation

Hello fellows Merry Christmas to all!! Hope you all had a wonderful feast with your family members like I did!

I'm new in the hobby (always wanted to customize a figure since I was a kid, wanted to give it a try today) so please forgive me for any (or all) of my silly questions. I'm hoping to customize a PVC figure by first coating him with a thick layer of Super Sculpey, then resculpting his muscles and head. Is this feasible? I am planning to use the flesh/skin toned Super Sculpey for this my first project. Please let me know if it's a go, because if so I'll start right away. I've watched a few Youtube vids on how to handle the clay and did some reading off the web on sculpting these past few weeks. I don't think or even expect this will be a masterpiece since it'll be my first, but I do want to make it good, so please give me any comments/suggestions. Thanks fellows nice meeting you all and have a wonderful holiday!

p.s. Is it possible that I left the Super Sculpey to harden up by itself? Because I read that these should be baked after sculpting but after the process the oven will be unsuitable for baking food. Anyone? Thanks!

Posted by DaggumGar
on Saturday, December 25, 2010
User Comments
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G1-Toys -
Monday, January 3, 2011
boil it
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somebody1 -
Monday, January 3, 2011
If you use a heat gun (or even a really good hair dryer) make sure to not stay in one spot or it could crack/burn or even melt the figure. I've noticed that superglue seems to cure sculpty but its only useful for small areas.
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Patraw -
Monday, January 3, 2011
I would think that the PVC is going to melt/burn in an oven, losing structural integrity and probably releasing toxic gases in the process, so I wouldn't recommend that cooking method. Usually sculptors use metal armatures when they bake polymer clay (you need something that isn't going to melt/burn at high temperatures)--they're easy to make, just get yourself some wire, twist it into the shape you want (humanoid in your case), and then bulk it out with aluminum foil and place your super sculpey on top of that. If you must use the PVC figure, I'd use a heat gun or something instead of the oven. Something like the air-hardening epoxies mentioned would probably suit your needs better than polymer clay.
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somebody1 -
Friday, December 31, 2010
How fast it hardens also depends on how thick it is. The thinner the faster it will bake (not good for a figure) or boil. I'm using it for a sculpture and bought a 2 temp heat gun. I have to be careful it doesn't melt the stuff inside the clay but I figure a couple hits with 700 or 1500 degrees will get it cured in no time
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DaggumGar -
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thanks you two, notes taken Now waiting for my clay to arrive to begin...
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pock63 -
Saturday, December 25, 2010
You can also dip the figure in a pot of boiling water on the stove. Do this five or six times fore about 30 seconds each time and the sculpey should be hardened. If you want to get into customizing I suggest reading the tutorials http://www.figurerealm.com/customtutorial.php
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getsa -
Saturday, December 25, 2010
sculpeys don't harden by itself.. you really need to bake them. as for using it for a PVC figure. I guess it would work fine.

if you want a sculpting material that hardens by itself, you can try some two part epoxy. just mix it and sculpt before it hardens and there you go! it also blends well with plastics or even PVC figs with some minor sanding after it hardens.. you can just repaint it afterwards.
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