Smoothing help

[madpencil]

Can anyone tell me how to smooth a sculpture? I'm working with super sculpy. Someone mentioned turpenoid what do you think? Also what are the best paints and what is the best method to paint sculptures? Thanks.

[mephisto]

turpenoid woks well for smoothing out those little particles you get in sculpey. Be nice with it though, cuz you could potentially melt your sculpt if you just pour it on. For paint, once I cook it I usually sand it a little with very fine sand paper. That way the paint sticks better. In the past Ive used acrylic craft paint. Not the best stuff but it works. The first sculpt I painted was this oger thing. I painted black and a light coat of purple first. Then dry brushed green and yellow and more green on top, leaving the black in the cracks to give added form. Im not sure if I like that method anymore, but it is the standard on a lot of sculpts. To me, it makes the sculpt look cartoony and fake, but it does bring out the details, so whatever you want. The last sculpt I did I just painted the whole thing brown, but layered blue and orange underneath first, then brown in 3 or 4 coats. You should expect to have to paint 5 or 10 coats of paint, unless you use color straight out of the tube, which I personally dont like. That will still take 3 to 4 coats though. Dont lay it on all thick in one coat, it will drip and look crappy. On my last sculpt I also made 2" by 4" flat practice peices that I baked and then expereimented a bunch on first. Im very glad I did that, because I think I would have ruined my sculpt otherwise. If you lay too much paint on, it will begin to fill in the cracks and details. Hair starts to loose its detail very fast. It might be smaret to try and compensate for this in your sculpt, but Im not sure how much. I know a lot of pros use airbrush. If you have one that might be good. But I think its all to easy to make airbrushed stuff look like crappy airbrushed stuff.

[mephisto]

You can see my crappy work at www.mitchfletcher.com. The firs picks in the 3d section are the sculpt Im talking about. I havnt gotten around to posting the brown one I mentioned yet. God that crap is old. (:

[uno]

Thanks for bringing it up Madpencil. So you can use turpenoid on supersculpy as well i assume? And can you use turpentine? how do you do this? do you just brush it on with a paint brush?

I am working on a sculpt at home that requires smoothing and it is frustrating so any help i can get would be .......helpful?

[mephisto]

I believe turpenoid is a less smelly version of turpentine? I think..I cant remember the difference or witch I used but I believe they both should work. Ask the art store guy for the strongest stuff. I painted it on (pretty lightly) with a brush, before cooking. It has some effect after cooking but not much. Ive only used it on super sculpey, but Im confident it should work on both.

[uno]

you are cool!!

[Mysen]

heh.. for smmothing.. in my sculpting classes .. the good sculters would use good ol elbow greese and a little bit O spit to smooth the sculpy. the good sculptures were 20% sculpy.. 80% spit :P

[mephisto]

I think you got some on me.

[Crave My Nightmares]

Hi there!
I for one agree with using the elbow grease. Only problem is possibly leaving fingerprints.. be sure to be careful. I have never used any chemicals on the super sculpy, working it with your hands it gets gooey enough. However, there are clay working tools at art stores that you can buy that have soft rubber tips where you can smooth small areas where fingers may not fit. VERY helpful, they can range widely in prices, but they are definately worth the money.

Good Luck!:chug:

[uno]

Crave you wouldnt happen to have any picks of these rubber tools? Or links to them online at some store? That would be extremely helpful.

I tried the Turpentine thing with interesting results. It worked but not as dramatically as i expected. I think i might try the rubber tools thing. Elbow grease is effective but only when you can get your fingers in the position to use elbow grease. I tend to work smaller with sculpey and have always had a problem with fingerprints and those weird looking deformations that always seem to show up.

[mephisto]

the tools people are talking about are called clay shapers. call around to art stores and you should find someone who carries them. all turpentine will do is smooth off most of the sculpey crumbs that build up when cutting small details like hair.

[Crave My Nightmares]

Hi again!

I think the closest I can find online is http://www.dickblick.com/categories/modelingtools/
the rubber-tipped ones have their own section on there. I suggest the Amaco Double-Ended Clay Shapers. It has all angles and shapes in there, I use the small taper point A LOT.

Though, I did get the ones I have at a Pearl art supplies store, I think Hobby Lobby may have them too. Depends on what art stores you have around.
Good Luck!!! Hope this helps.

~Crave:chug:

[doppelganger]

Smoothing sculpey is best done with Turpenoid as alrady mentioned. The trick is not to smooth until the very very end, this helps you concentrate on form and prevents you from just adding more fingerprints and other sush nonsense. Use a synthetic brush, a flat nylon is good, and simply brush down teh surface gently with turpenoid. You can also use alcohol (70 to 90%) for a lighter bite. Dont underestimate the power of water either when smoothing surfaces.

I usually smooth in steps, using a small coarse brush dipped in turpenoid to refine forms then a finishing smooth with a softer brush dipped in turpenoid or alcohol.

If you are using oil clay alcohol works very well as does turpenoid. Two other options are citrus based solvents like orange glo and petroleum jelly (Vasaline).

Also, the rubber tipped sculpting tools mentioned earlier are also marketed as "paint erasers."

Hope this helps,

Scott

[Scotty]

I find it helps to put a piece of a plastic baggy over the end of your thumb. Smooths out great...without fingerprints. At least it works for me, and I use Super sculpey.