UK people - Clay supplies

[BurntKona]

Right, sun is out so it's time to while away sunny evenings sculpting away.

Unfortunately, this is a step up for us, moving away from foam, so we would like some pointers for good clay supplies. SO far we have found Nimba Creations, who have a 'professional oilbased sculpting clay' at £9.50 for 900g, and Tiranti's 'Chavant Non Sulphurated Plasteline NSP Professional Oil Based & Le Beau Touché Sculpting Clays' at just over a fiver for 900g.

Was wondering if any UK based people had experience with any of these, or knew of any better. Cheers

 

[Maverick118]

Tiranti's are good, the Chavant they stock is an excellent clay, though if you're not used to it I'd go for the soft grade as it's easier to work with. The grey clay they carry sculpts nicely too, and I'm using it for most of my big stuff like the torso and the like. Not sure about le beau touche though as it's got wax in the mix, so not to sure how molding would go or if it would inhibit some of the silicones out there on the market. They are good when ordering too, and my last delivery of 35kg of plaster and 25kg drum of latex was ordered on the tuesday and on the doorstep on the friday so thet's not bad. NimbaFX I've not dealt with but I've heard good things about their products and service. One tip if you're relatively new to sculpting always start cheap and work up if you find you're good at it. hope this helps.

 

[BurntKona]

Great help. Thanks for the tips.

One good thing we found was Nimba does a PDF "getting into the FX industry", which has links to quite a few supplieirs we hadn't found before, plus some good tips for newbies to sculpting such as myself.

 

[Savage Yautja]

I have 50 lbs. of Chavant NSP Clay in the medium grade and would not use anything less. The soft grade can be too soft and hard is well...hard. Working with the medium grade softens it quickly and the more you work with it or the warmer it gets the softer and more easy it is to work with. First clay I've ever used.

 

[JediUsurper]

another vote for chavant medium.

its what ive used so far for my pred sculpt, hopefully get to finish it when world cup is over hehe.

 

[BurntKona]

Well, just had a box of Chavant medium delivered to my desk. Very impressed with Tiranti's service, very quick to deliver and helpful on the phone

 

[Maverick118]

Yep, sometimes it's worth paying that little bit extra for good service like they have. I've got nearly all my supplies from them and have no complaints at all.

 

[proffessor pie head]

a couple of tips for working with chavant nsp medium...i love it...to smooth out wrinkles etc use zippo lighter fluid and a brush also smoothing the surface with a stipple stponge dipped in isopropyl alcohol works very nicely for smoothing large areas. when your working with chavant you can soften it in the oven take it out before it liquifies let cool 5 mins then its perfect for building up large forms quickly almost like water clay. you can also leave your block under a desklamp to keep it soft while yuor working with it. you made just about the best choice my friend. check out mouldlife they do really good prices on chavant £4.50 pr block

 

[Maverick118]

Helloo stranger nice to see you popping in here as well as the lab. I made myself a clay oven for my NSP. Just a simple file box and installed a light bulb in the lid. Pop your clay in there for half an hour witht he light on and it's good to go. Learned this from the Gnomon sculpting DVD's. Very informative.