Beginner sculpting help?

[CarolinaTK9805]

Well, I'm sitting here staring at several pounds of clay and thinking to myself "what the heck am I thinking?!"

Anyway, I need help. A few "noob" questions:
1) I bought Klean Klay Oil Based Modeling Clay. Does this stuff air-dry? If so, how long does it take?
2) If it doesn't air-dry, how do you harden it?
3) Do I need to "prep" the mannequin head before applying clay? (I bought it from James in the UK)
4) Once the sculpt is finished, do you even try to remove it from the mannequin?

Sorry to be a bother, but I want to make sure I do this right.

 

[irricanian]

To answer

1) No it doesn't dry
2) You can coat it with clear acrylic spray paint before molding with Ultracal
3) No, but you can put clear saranwrap/clingwrap to make it easier to remove after molding
4) No, not until you're done molding it in Ultracal / gypsum cement

Start with a smal part, get comfortable with how the clay works and moves and do a small test cast to get your feet wet before doing something big and have a disaster and alot of time and materials wasted. Trust me

Here's a great downloadable book specifically on mask making and working with sculptin, latex and painting latex parts

http://www.monstermakers.com/product/the-m...ndbook-pdf.html

Have fun!

 

[CarolinaTK9805]

Thank you so much for the info! Any other advice is most welcome! You guys ROCK!!!!

To answer

1) No it doesn't dry
2) You can coat it with clear acrylic spray paint before molding with Ultracal
3) No, but you can put clear saranwrap/clingwrap to make it easier to remove after molding
4) No, not until you're done molding it in Ultracal / gypsum cement

Start with a smal part, get comfortable with how the clay works and moves and do a small test cast to get your feet wet before doing something big and have a disaster and alot of time and materials wasted. Trust me

Here's a great downloadable book specifically on mask making and working with sculptin, latex and painting latex parts

http://www.monstermakers.com/product/the-m...ndbook-pdf.html

Have fun!

 

[hez1]

Just wanted to add, your sculpt will look like crap when you first start. Don't get discouraged, but keep chipping away at it and it will start to look like you want it to. Don't try and do too much at once. I've found that little bits of work at a time will eventually get you to something where you can say "OK, I can actually see a decent piece here", despite the first couple of days work making me think "I should just throw this away". I think this EVERY TIME I sculpt something.

I don't know if this is true for klean clay as well as it is the chavant, but it'll be pretty hard at room temperature. A heat gun or hairdryer will work wonders in softening it to make it workable with your fingers. Good luck!

 

[Usurper]

Just to add alittle to whats has been said already.

Patience, Patience, Patience, thats probably the biggest pointer i can give you.

Ask most people who know me here, ( actually probably look at my sculpt threds, ) i pretty much ALWAYS start out HATING my sculpts.

but give it time, take a break, take photos for better perspective on your work, sit back, and finally POST pics, alot of the time other people will see things that we miss when sculpting.

good luck.

 

[Uratz]

The hardest part is starting the sculpt. Especially for me.

 

[CarolinaTK9805]

Thank you everyone! I hope to get started this weekend, and I'm going to try to document my work as much as possible. I am in such a hurry to get the mask sculpted, but I also know that quality takes time. Please feel free to critique my progress as I go. Like I said, I want to make sure I do this right.

 

[Dakath]

Another good tip, put on the tv or radio while you'r sculpting. Believe it or not but singing ore raise your head to watch something on tv keeps you focused.

Sounds weird but it works for me.

And take every 30 minutes a little break.

In the beginning it will take some time to finish a sculpt but you after a while you'll see that it will go faster and still have a good result.

 

[xdmray]

oh yeah, i have to be listening to music while i sculpt.

 

[Elder one]

I am VERY limited in experience, but the first thing I ran into was.... be patient when blocking or building up the bulk of the sculpt. I was so anxious to see it actually take shape it took me three attempts to get the basic size and structure correct. Once i gave in and just started adding clay to the base things looked much better. Also, I agree with something making noise in the background. Having a TV on kept me pseudo distracted and made me turn away from the clay now and then. You'll be surprised how much you see when you look back after looking away in 1-3 minute intervals. Again, I never claim to be a sculpter.... but I'm pretty proud of my first attempt.

I can't say enough for the folks on here that have posted tutorials and helpful hints for this stuff. It really makes things fun.



I'm focusing on the rest of my suit right now for ComiCon this year but have full intentions on jumping back into the clay when it's done.

 

[CarolinaTK9805]

That's a FIRST attempt? Holy frak dude! That is phenomenal!!!!!! Great job! I hope mine comes out looking as good as that!

I am VERY limited in experience, but the first thing I ran into was.... be patient when blocking or building up the bulk of the sculpt. I was so anxious to see it actually take shape it took me three attempts to get the basic size and structure correct. Once i gave in and just started adding clay to the base things looked much better. Also, I agree with something making noise in the background. Having a TV on kept me pseudo distracted and made me turn away from the clay now and then. You'll be surprised how much you see when you look back after looking away in 1-3 minute intervals. Again, I never claim to be a sculpter.... but I'm pretty proud of my first attempt.


I can't say enough for the folks on here that have posted tutorials and helpful hints for this stuff. It really makes things fun.



I'm focusing on the rest of my suit right now for ComiCon this year but have full intentions on jumping back into the clay when it's done.