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Ivar-L In reply to BOONJAGGA [2008-12-27 01:21:05 +0000 UTC]

Hi,
Cernit is just another polymer clay, made in Germany. Something like Super Sculpey, which is the most popular one in US. When I started to sculpt again (after childhood), it was the only brand they sold here.

Recommendations... I think the best one is - go to Clubhouse [link] forums! This is a really great place for all kinds of sculpting information.


Thanks for looking to everyone!

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BOONJAGGA In reply to Ivar-L [2008-12-27 17:01:20 +0000 UTC]

thanks for the link and help

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Ivar-L In reply to Sproing [2008-01-22 00:08:10 +0000 UTC]

Hi,
I think if you can get Cernit, you could try it. I don't know anyone else using it, though... I think it's mostly clay doll makers are using. As much as I know Cernit is only polymer clay and not air-hardening. There are bigger 500 gram boxes, but only as white and skin tones for dolls.

Cernit is hard to blend and it's probably feels weird if you are accustomed with Sculpey. My "problem" is, that Cernit was the only clay I found here for years, so I'm used with it's weirdness.
The difference - Sculpey is very soft and reacts even to slightest touch. Cernit kind-of "tries to keep it's form".
I'll try to explain... It's like if you push Sculpey with pencil or tool, there will be a hole and material kind-of "dissappears into itself". When you push Cernit, there will be hole, but material "moves away".
I like to call Cernit "second day clay". When starting, it's like fighting with the material, it doesn't want to blend and if you push it, it wants to move away. It gets warmer and softer when you work on it. On the second day it kind-of freezes, it's much harder and it's easy to fix surfaces without fear that every push destroys the details already made.

Ideal way could be to use Sculpey for rough sculpt and then magically transform it to Cernit for finishing and making textures. Like with wax...
As I understand it, people are brushing their Sculpey sculpts with lighter fluid to get smooth surfaces, with Cernit I could smooth with my tools.

I hope it makes sense...

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Amourwolf In reply to Ivar-L [2008-01-22 01:29:09 +0000 UTC]

Lighter fluid? I've never tried that before....
I've had that problem with Sculpey, most of my details get destroyed when I move them to the oven. I'm interested in trying out Cernit....

Oh and thanks for the info, it must have taken you a long time to write it

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Ivar-L In reply to Amourwolf [2008-01-24 15:33:59 +0000 UTC]

By the way, you should have wire armature inside polymer clay sculpt, something like this:
[link]
[link]
or
[link]

I'm using wire and some sort of epoxie putty. When I know that the pose is ok, then I'll try to fix the joints too, or there will be cracks in clay, if the armature wire is not strong enough.

In case of Werewolf I later cut the hands and tail off, as I wanted to make them separate for molding/painting.

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Ivar-L In reply to Ivar-L [2008-01-29 12:49:30 +0000 UTC]

And another thing -
you don't need to finish your sculpt before baking it. I baked my Werewolf tens of times... You can bake the rough sculpt and then carve out some details and replace them with more detailed version. Or, you can bake skinnier armature and then add layer of clay, finish another part of the sculpt and then fix it with baking.

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Ivar-L In reply to Amourwolf [2008-01-22 21:41:12 +0000 UTC]

I've been thinking about it a lot. And I copied some of it from one of my e-mails...

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Sproing In reply to Ivar-L [2008-01-23 15:56:16 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a ton!!! That was really informative! If I can get ahold of some Cernit I'll definitely give it a try, and now that you've told me this I'll make sure not to give up on the first day hehe

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