What materials sould I use, wanna make alien sculpture?

[a i r]

Hi, I have experience in clay modeling and what not, but I'm wondering, is there any other material, that behaves like clay, but when dried or baked, becomes ultra hard,
or becomes like plastic,or something of that nature, because, clay is very breakable when dry or when baked.
If anyone has idea about something I'm after here, Id appreciate any tip, point or any suggestion where to go or what to do!!!

And yeah, I'm trying to avoid molding...I wanna sculpt/model it in "editable"(clay-alike) material...


Thx in advance!!

Anyway, I saw this: LINK1 (http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/joseph-figure/index?l=f&id=6)
and got inspired to create something like this:

[Cat]

if you want to bake the clay and make a unique sculpture without the need for moulding, you should use Sculpey. But when it comes to hardness it's up to you realy, i prefer useing the grey hard sculpey. Now it doesn't become plastic like, when you drop it on the floor it can break, but it can get very very hard when baked well. If you want an actual plastic i'm afraid you'd have to mould and cast it in resin.

You can paint it after it's baked with acrylics

[Red 3183]

There are also Epoxy Putties like Aves Fixit Sculpt and Magic Sculpt. They are two part mixtures that give you a working time of about 2-3 hours, depending on temperature. When cured, they are rock hard and can be sanded, drilled, etc...

[a i r]

Cat
Red 3183____THX guys!

O.k, I'm checking the products you guys mentioned.

I have another question, If I bake clay, after the baking procedure, how well clay absorbs other liquid and gelatin like substances.

I was thinking of making baked clay harder by overcoating it with some plastic like material,, something like Epoxy resin, or something like that.
Does anybody know something about that.

Breakable sculptures are no fun at all, if you know what I mean,
And, I don't want to jump out of my skin when ever someone gets closer to the piece, or tries to pick it up...

I just wanna make sure if I put big effort in it, that it doesn't brake into hundred pieces if falling, or breaking if grabbed for a weaker spot,

I wanna make it last.

[Fovos]

if you overcoat your sculpture you are going to lose all your detail.
my best advice is any kind of polymer clay, super sculpey or prosculpt is what i use.
if you want it to be durable start with apoxie as RED said, it will become really hard and then finish it with polymer. as long as you dont treat your sculpture like a toy, you should be fine.

[a i r]

OK, I have studied out about polymer based clay, and it is great stuff, never heard about it before, and now I think it is the best way to go.

I thought about overcoating, you are wright, and here, it's about details, so it wouldn't work.

Im of for ordering few kilo's of polyclay.

Also, one question!
Since the drying time is very short, I was thinking that I might go piece by piece, first to model torso, then tail, one leg at a time, then hands?

[Anemos the Storm]

Check this guy out, he uses Magic Sculpt, its a waiting game.
http://www.nimin.net/how_to/page_01.htm

This guy uses Super Sculpey
About halfway down under "Articles"
http://www.danperezstudios.com/workshop.htm

[Red 3183]

OK, I have studied out about polymer based clay, and it is great stuff, never heard about it before, and now I think it is the best way to go.

I thought about overcoating, you are wright, and here, it's about details, so it wouldn't work.

Im of for ordering few kilo's of polyclay.

Also, one question!
Since the drying time is very short, I was thinking that I might go piece by piece, first to model torso, then tail, one leg at a time, then hands?

I wouldn't go buy too much of one clay until you know you like it. There are many types of polymer clays and they can be very different from one to the next. I had to try about 5 different types before settling on Castilene. Castilene is a wax based clay that will never cure/harden, so it may not be what you are looking for. I only use it because I make molds and casts. Super Sculpey seems to be your best bet though.

[Camara]

Use Super Sculpey.It never dries so you can work on it as slow as you want.Once you are done,bake it to dry rock hard.

Are you going to do some dinosaurs like that Carnotaurus you did?

[a i r]

Anemos the Storm_ I was mesmerized with the procedure, that guy rocks.
thx for help !!

Camara_Hi there, I guess Im going for super sculpey or Magic Sculpt.
I don't think I'l model any of my dinosaurs in real world soon(although, I would like to model full life size dinosaur sometime), cos of so much time I spend with them in 3d, I wanna try something completely different in reality.

Red 3183_ I see yor point, but Im going to rely on comments here, and on what I found out on internet, cos, I dont have time and money to order few of them and try each to decide which works best for my needs.
Also, here in Croatia, I think we have store specialized for such things, and I think they have super sculpey, so I might in the end buy small package of this compound to see how it works.
And I'm thank full for your suggestions, Few hours ago, I didn't had slightest
idea what I'm going to use to make this sculpt, and now I even have a plan :)

Thanks guys!!!

[a i r]

As soon as I start it,I'm simultaneously starting thread here.

Thx once more,, and yeah, remind me that I never use orange bold text on this forum, it kills my eye.

[rickellam]

Hi. The material that I use is called Jesmonite. It can be carved or cast and is harder than plaster. It is also translucent so I am able to add glow powders. A very versatile material. All the best with your sculptures.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IQZ_VFU6la4/TVWAGxH4iJI/AAAAAAAADoU/zjEBJSluqXE/s660/Glowalien%2BPic.jpg