best clay to use

[tye williams]

What's the best clay to use for sculpting busts or figurines? I have only worked with Sculpey that I pick up from Walmart. I can never get it too smooth and hard to get good detail in it.

 

[thegnome]

Are you talking about actual clay that you put in an kin or the little kids clay that has colors in it? If you are actually using real clay there are two options either get the red clay that you can see in the southwest part of the U.S when they did not use a kiln of the actual temperature to change it chemical composition all the way. The second option is grey clay used mostly now in most pottery classes assuming you have a kiln, this can also. be heated up like the Native American pottery. If you are going to use those options the clay is very cheap and the place where you are going to use the kiln (I assume that you don't have your own kiln) twice--the first time to make the shape and the second time when you have the clay/pottery paint (the clay will look white now). I have used all the kid clay out there but there is one time of Mexican clay that works wonders.

 

[tye williams]

Are you talking about actual clay that you put in an kin or the little kids clay that has colors in it? If you are actually using real clay there are two options either get the red clay that you can see in the southwest part of the U.S when they did not use a kiln of the actual temperature to change it chemical composition all the way. The second option is grey clay used mostly now in most pottery classes assuming you have a kiln, this can also. be heated up like the Native American pottery. If you are going to use those options the clay is very cheap and the place where you are going to use the kiln (I assume that you don't have your own kiln) twice--the first time to make the shape and the second time when you have the clay/pottery paint (the clay will look white now). I have used all the kid clay out there but there is one time of Mexican clay that works wonders.

The clay I've been using is white and has to be baked in an oven to harden. Something that air dries hard would be ideal.

 

[fishspeaker]

Sculpey can be smoothed with isopropyl/rubbing alcohol (I use my fingers or a paintbrush). It should hold detail well, but Super Sculpey will be better for that. You can also use a Dremel to add fine detail after baking it.

A good air drying clay is WED/EM-217 (Amazon.com: Laguna Clay's WED Clay (EM-217) - 50lbs).

 

[thegnome]

Well here’s the thing, either you get the clay that you can use forever or the one that you can heat up and let it be. Their are nuisances to both options, either for the ones you heat up there is a chance that it will have cracks but it will be the same forever. The second is you use plasilina (for Mexico) which can make literally anything but it will droop eventually. Here is the link for one version

Restricted Access 2023

My sister has made intricate models out of this stuff. Be warned this stuff doesn’t really work very well with carpet.

 

[tye williams]

Well here’s the thing, either you get the clay that you can use forever or the one that you can heat up and let it be. Their are nuisances to both options, either for the ones you heat up there is a chance that it will have cracks but it will be the same forever. The second is you use plasilina (for Mexico) which can make literally anything but it will droop eventually. Here is the link for one version

Restricted Access 2023

My sister has made intricate models out of this stuff. Be warned this stuff doesn’t really work very well with carpet.

Thanks for the info. I'll have to experiment with both. I do like the idea of a kind of clay that they use for stop motion, which I've always wanted to try as well.

 

[thegnome]

Good luck!

 

[johnnyhungus]

I used NSP Chavant medium, I found it to be very usable and great when I wanted a break and returned to my sculpture weeks later.

 

[Frogfreak]

Stonex white air dry clay is nice! And if you want "everlasting" clay I suggest monster clay. It's oil based so it doesn't dry out.