Clay amount Help!!!

[wayzata]

This is more of a Cosplay via Clay post. I Apologize first if I posted in the wrong section. Hi I'm new to these forums and I normally work with eva foam but I wanted to go a different approach to cosplay I've seen many create full body casts and put oil based clays onto them to sculpt their desired armor. For example my first question is are oil based clays are reusable if I continuously want to use them to make sculpt different armors. 2nd how much clay in lbs would I need to sculpt lets say dark knights upper body neck to waist area I would be factoring the fact I will be using a manequin base etc.

 

[Alpha Proto]

Oil based clay doesn't dry out over time. So you don't have to worry about keeping it wet, and wrapped up with anything wet.

For an entire upper body. I would say you need 50 pounds of clay.
When I sculpt helmets on dummy heads they end up being Over 10 pounds.
So if that is just for a head then the entire upper body must use even more.

Hmm... Maybe 50 is estimating a bit low... :confused

 

[CreatureFX]

Always buy more than you think you will need. You don't want to start and then run out.

 

[Littlemuseum]

I believe you can use the pepakura approach to use less clay.

 

[wayzata]

Thanks guys Ill try to get 30 lbs to start since the store is close by.

 

[Bruce Miller]

Well oil clays for years cost about $2 a pound (usually in 2lb blocks). The last few years the cost has basically doubled. If you're on a budget and use water clay (MUCH cheaper)you just need to cover it with two or more layers of plastic sheeting between sculpting sessions. Water clay is also re-usable. I keep mine in a bucket with a little water in it and a tight sealing lid on top.