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zonkey — Sculpey Tutorial
Published: 2011-07-08 03:49:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 15650; Favourites: 283; Downloads: 0
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A quick tut of "Celestial Dragon", as I suggested in the full images. [link]It was kinda thrown together but I think you can get an idea of what I was trying to say.
I don't really do these tutorials, so bear with me. I thought I just share what I learned from this guy. I have/do apply the armature techniques to my sculptures. I only once did the stick figure frame, that was Norse [link] , he was originally was out stretched as if leaping. As you see, he sagged considerably under his own weight... he also took 2 packs of Sculpey. A little more wire saved me 1-3/4 packs of Sculpey... just saying
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Comments: 46
so it's safe to bake with the wire and stuff?
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Yes the polymer clay bakes at a low temperature (275F I believe). I have never had any problems.
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Do you bake the body first then the wings? I know the temp is 275 degrees and I have read from a different blog to bake the body to 15 mins but it never said anything about the wings do I wait till the body cools off and hardens then bake the wings?
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In this case the wings are made of tissue paper/glue and Apoxie sculpt (chemical/air curing clay), so they didn't require baking. I don't really double bake my sculpts but from what I understand about Sculpey... It is best to let the body cool and harden first. Super Sculpey is the best for double baking rather than the original. Watch the clay while it bakes a second time to be sure it doesn't burn. A heat gun can be used to firm up sculpey before hand as well (this is found in hardware stores, and don't use a hair drier).
These tutorial talks about double baking as well: mangakasan.deviantart.com/art/… scenceable.deviantart.com/art/…
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I'm a bit confused at the part where you said "Then a pin was use to push down the sides of the ball to make the scale 'pop'." - Is this something that I will understand after I've gone and tried to do this?
Another question- when you are adding those balls (scales) to the main structure do you need to use any adhesives? or can you just stick them onto the clay and they won't fall off?
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If you look in the third picture you can see that I'm pushing the edges of the ball with the sides of the pin. If you were to just squash the ball with your finger and not use the pin you would not get the same depth and sharper features as you see there. You may understand better if you try it on a test piece of sculpey that you can squish and reuse later. I often use test pieces to get an idea of what I want and if it will work.
If you push down and slide the pin it "pinches" the sculpey with the lower layer of sculpey. This will only work if the lower layer of sculpey is unbaked. It will hold without adhesives, or to say, I have never had problems with scales falling off when doing this. It is like when you push down and slide with you fingers but on a smaller scale. I would not recommend this technique with regular kiln clay tho since that requires slipping and scoring to adhere properly.
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Very nice~! When I saw this I thought it was an art doll or a posable doll, the sculpture is really nice too! I especially love the scales.
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Thanks. I do use the same technique for my art dolls faces and hands, so weren't far off thinking that 
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I haven't used clay in a long time, but I'm so condiering stop-motion animation.
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This technique works best with sculpey which is a low bake clay. Not very good for stop motion animation. I would suggest plasticine (aka plasticina,or plastilina), it is more suited for the demand of stop motion animation due to the fact that it is pliable, doesn't dry out and can hold shape for long periods of time.
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I'll have to look up some plasticine names.
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i know its old but anny chance you could make the output bigger?
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Sorry, that's the size I made it, so unless I kill resolution...its kinda stuck.
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I've never used Sculpey before, but I have a pile of it somehow and Christmas is coming up.... So thank you for this tutorial, it has probably enabled me to make Sculpey presents!
So the wire and foil just aren't an issue when baking the sculpture? Even the tissue paper in the wings isn't?
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Your Welcome.
Sculpey bakes at a "lower" temperature so foil and wire are not affected, but the tissue paper was added after baking. I used chemical hardening clay to finish off the wings (apoxie sculpt) around the tissue paper.
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I see, thank you! That's a cool way to get wings that aren't super thick.
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Your welcome. Its one way of going about it anyway
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Oh man, any time I check out your sculpy stuff it's inspirational. I have to be careful otherwise I'll start blaming you for getting me into modeling!
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lol, we'll you are pretty awesome at the 3D computer modelling so I would love to see your hand at traditional modeling
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there's no undo button in real life ;( Or worse . . .I can't save off an iteration and mess around with several ideas at once. 3d is my crutch.
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The undo button in real life moulding is squishing it 
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hehe I lol'd about the "undo button in real life"
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I'm sure this tutorial is going to help MANY 3D artists.
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I don't know about "many", but I hope it will help the few in the little circle that watches me.
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"Little circle" huh? I don't think so.
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What would call it then?
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Not small... that's for sure.
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Mraow. I guess it does pay to use more wire. I gotta agree on the tin foil though, ugh hate using it. Now if it weren't for the fact I left all my sculpy and wire down in TO for the summer, I'd be sculpting some more character designs >.<
Thanks for posting this hun 
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You'll be ready when you get back I guess
No kidding here. With my stubborn sculpt, the armature was so strong it lifted the front feet a little higher then I thought it would (but its hard to tell)
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I loves you....*goes off to sculped...maby* you must be selectivly OCD for all those scales, or did you kist do them in sertan places like the joints for effect?
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GO SCULPT!!!! You have to finish your octopus!
No I did his entire body with scales (sometimes 2 in one place to make up some inconsistencies in height). I just did them in small spurts, a hour here are there...it was kind zen in a way. If I where to do it again tho, I would very up the scales a bit to make it more interesting.
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I did finis it lol. Your vew of zen in verry uneek love.
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I also find painting zen. Clear your mind and just go/do with no worries attached.
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