A question for the resident sculptors

[Rodnik]

I\'ve been hitting the conversion aspect of the hobby pretty hard over the past year. And recently, I ran into a challenge that I\'m having a problem solving.

When I\'m sculping very small detail on a miniature, more often than not, I have challenges getting the putty to stick to the underlying putty. I handle this a couple of different ways (which may be entirely wrong, btw).

What I do is mix the putty a 60/40 of yellow to blue---to make it a little more sticky. I stick it to the mini, cut a general shape, wait for it to cure a bit, then finish off the detail.

Or, try to sculpt the piece off of the miniature, wait on it to cure, then glue it to miniature. The challenge with this, is that for symmetrical detail, I have a hard time getting it the right size, etc.

My first question is this:
Do you ever use glue to secure a piece of uncured putty to the underlying putty?

And...more generally---
How do you handle the problem of putty that just won\'t stick to the underlying putty?

Or is this just a facet of sculpting that I have to accept?

Thanks,
Kev

 

[Marmoset]

As a fellow CMONer who has just started sculpting, I also find that a problem: a 60/40 mix is usually better for general sculpting purposes than a 50/50 anyway, so stick with that. For small details I will smooth the edges of the detail into the underlying putty (or try to)... or if this doesn\'t work, or if I\'m feeling lazy, I just make my desired shape, test to see if it fits the rest well, and then add the tiniest blob of superglue at the point I wish to stick it. This normally works for me, but be very careful not to use too much superglue as this may swamp the details Hope I helped, good luck with your sculpting! :bouncy:

Happy painting

~Bill

 

[EArkham]

I will not hesitate to use a little Zap-a-Gap to make a piece stick.

Just can\'t do this if it\'s a mini for casting, since Zap-a-Gap being heated puts off fumes (which may or may not cause problems with the molds).

Kep

 

[Klute]

I think the problem with superglue on sculpts to be cast are that the glue with vapourise with the heat. This means the piece thats glued on will come off but the mould cavity shoyuld be OK. The other problem is the fumes need to escape so will blow the sculpts if it is internal.
In other words stay clear of superglue if the sculpt is to be cast although I have heard of many that do use it. It will probably be a thing to discuss with the caster as they will be able to work around it with cooler moulding temps etc but I dont think this would be ideal for them.

One thing I do is use my exacto to scrape the \"shine\" off an area the new layer/ detail is to go on. Also use a fine drill to make some keying in holes for the new piece or even roughen the area with scratches.
You can also use alcohol to resoften the greenstuff surface and the new stuff will still like hell to it. I havnt done this myself but it sounds like the best way. I think it was Patrick Morgan who mentioned this way.

 

[El Guardian]

what i do is scrap the surface or sand it with a rough sandpaper , if i need to stick something to the miniature just use a 60-40 mix of putty as a glue, that is usually enough.

but the best thing to do is add the details while the gs is still uncured but hard enough to keep its form, so you dont mess your whole work, this is not always posible, due to the timming, but if you manage to do it putty will stick quite firmly

 

[Rodnik]

Thanks for the info guys!
I\'ll give this thread a shameless bump and ask that any other little handy tidbits of info you might provide would be awsome.

The ones I\'m most interested in are the ones like the one above....little problems that you fix that may fall outside \'normal operation\'.

Also, I can\'t seem to find a good tutorial on sculpting chain----granted, I know I can buy some jewelry chain, but I\'m interested in the actual sculpting of the chain. Any help here?

 

[El Guardian]

i think i can anwer that too, its a tutorial i wrote myself. the text is in spanish but the pictures are quite good and you can see every step:

scultping chains:

http://www.geocities.com/kofi_666/tut_cadenas.html

scultping tress:

http://www.geocities.com/kofi_666/tut_trenzas.html

a barbarian bust step by step:

http://www.geocities.com/kofi_666/tut_busto.html

The first 2 are quite simple to follow even if you dont speak spanish the third one due to its complexity may be a little harder

 

[Marmoset]

Those tutorials are fantastic el guardian, well done I speak un poco pequeno de español (I started learning at school in Septiembre), but the step by step pictures are wonderfully clear. Good work, and great sculpting on the bust too!

Happy painting

~Bill

 

[Rodnik]

Thanks EG...just so happens my dad is Spanish....I think I can probably get him to translate for me.



well...dangit...geocities has cut the third one off due to data transmission---I\'ll keep checkin\' back.

 

[Disturbed1]

I use a very small spray bottle full of rubbing alcohol. I clean the cured GS with it, and the next layer goes on with no problems.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Rodnik
What I do is mix the putty a 60/40 of yellow to blue---to make it a little more sticky.

More sticky??

Originally posted by Rodnik
Or, try to sculpt the piece off of the miniature, wait on it to cure, then glue it to miniature. The challenge with this, is that for symmetrical detail, I have a hard time getting it the right size, etc.

This is a sound idea. And I would find it easier to make two items of a similar size off the model than directly on it.

Originally posted by Rodnik
Do you ever use glue to secure a piece of uncured putty to the underlying putty?

I try to avoid it but I have done so. I don\'t think I\'ve ever had to resort to doing this for Kneadatite though, only for more clay-like putties.

Once things are set I will use shellac instead of superglue for small items sometimes as it\'s much easier to clean up any excess that might marr the surrounding detail.

Originally posted by Rodnik
How do you handle the problem of putty that just won\'t stick to the underlying putty?

I generally don\'t have this problem with Kneadatite but I might just try smooshing in onto the surface harder.

Einion

 

[minimaker]

Another trick to get putty to stick is to lightly warm the putty or the surface before application. Not too hot or too long since that will cure the putty.