Sculpty Hardening Tips!!
Sculpty Hardening Tips!!
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Custom WorkstationI think I'm going to make a tut out of this but I'm putting this up for now.
I had some extra sculpt after Morrigan and had no use for it I decided to experiment with it and my hair dryer. The first thing I did was set it on a metal sheet (Galvanized steel roof plating I got at Lowes awhile ago.) And then ran my dryer on it at the high setting. I kept at it for about a minute. I touched it and the sculpt turned to super mush and I thought it was ruined. Since the metal sheet and the sculpt was very hot I poured a little water from my drinking water on it to cool it down, and to my surprise the sculpt got to the rubbery state. I repeated the process over 5 times and after the fifth time the sculpt (when dried from the water on it) it was as hard as if it was sitting overnight.
You only need to set the sculpt on metal the first time to get it rubbery, but I suggest keeping it under whatever your trying to dry, this way it will resonate heat from under and over the subject.
I hope this helps anybody who needs to have sculpt drier faster. As always I suggest experimenting with this first. I used this process to on Morrigans hair and on a Junkion piece I'm putting on eBay and had very good results with both.
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I always set it on a long low heat for like an hour
I also use Miliput alot
I'm intrigued with the Apoxie Clay. I'm going to give Aves a call to see what they say about it's texture and tackiness and how it compares to the Sculpt and Fixit.
-It's sticky, even after leaving it for a while, it's still sticky, but water helps a little.
-It doesn't transfer as flawlessly onto a figure as Sculpey. In other words, I can tell where I used apoxie on a figure to add boot-cuffs or a collar. Sculpey transitions onto a figure flawlessly. But I guess the apoxie would work just as well once I get the hang of it.
-Apoxie "tears", I hate that! If you pull apart a piece of Sculpey, it just stretches like gum most of the time. If you stretch a piece of apoxie, it tears in half; It's not very flexible. Same problem when you try to smooth the apoxie onto a figure, little bits of it start coming off at the edges, VERY annoying. But maybe I can make it better with some water?
~Gj
I wonder if it's closer to Sculpey in texture and consistency?
Sculpey III looks like this:
I will probably try working with some of this stuff to get better at sculpting.
One thing that helps with the Apoxie stuff is to let it set up for 45 min to an hour before trying to use it. The Apoxie Fixit is extremely tacky - gotta let that stuff sit for an hour and even then it's still pretty tacky.
~Gj
If you sculpted something minor (like a belt or a thin mask) then hold it in there for like 5-10 minutes. If you used a thick layer of sculpey then I'd say boil it and use a hair-dryer too.