JediDefender.com Forums
Collecting => Customs => Customizing Tips and Tricks => Topic started by: Fritzkrieg on March 13, 2006, 10:23 PM
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I picked up Some Sculpey. I was wondering How to Bake it when your using it on a Plastic Action Figure. I tried a Hair Dryer but it did not work. Is the Melting point of The Plastic Used for Action figures high enough to withstand the 275 degree 15 min Baking Requirement? Or, Can you only use Sculpey for seperate Pieces that you add to the Figure Later after Baking?
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Boil it. You can space the time up with 30 second in and out. About after five time of doing that check and if still soft repeat. Also sometimes it gets brittle or can crack. You can coat it with super glue, just brush it on, will work like a charm.
roron corobb
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I echo the boil trick. I usually boil for 2-3 minutes when sculpy is attached to figures. I've tried boiling for longer and it actually discolored the white a little bit.
One piece of advice - get a dedicated pot to boil your sculpey. It leaves a residue in the pan that I wouldn't want to cook in!!
If I recall, there are some sculpy tutorials over at FFURG but I'm too lazy to go and check.
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I boil mine. Its really a very simple process. The thought of baking my figures just scares the hell out of me. Just follow the same process you would when doing the whole boil and pop thing. It only takes about 3 minutes or so.
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Does anyone bake their Sculpy in the oven? If so, do you use a standard kitchen oven?? I'm thinking of making some accessories for my diorama with sculpy and since I'm not attaching them plastic, I don't necessarily need to boil them to cure.
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I did once, before I learned the boil trick. I used a kitchen oven, and placed the pieces on a tinfoil sheet.
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yes Go ahead Brent, that is how I do my Figurines.
Its 15 minutes, then take it out the heat they absorbed will finish the baking. Just be careful you don't over cook, other wise it will discolor it if its colored sculpey and make it brittle, if you are just using white, don't worry bout it,and as long as there arn't parts that are thin or long and it over cooks, it won't break.
So if its a pillow, or Column it'll be ok.
Adam
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I'm planning on making a Tott Doneeta (Twi'lek Jedi from Tales of the Jedi). It was suggested I use Sculpey Bake 'n Bend to make the lekku. Anyone familiar with that?
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Definitely baking in a standard oven works fine. I've never had the problem of the figure melting before the sculpy gets enough heat. I've also never kept it in the oven for 15 minutes- more like 5 at a temp of about 300.
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I just took my first path down the sculpting side...
To be continued...
Kevin
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DO NOT PUT PLASTIC FIGURES OR PARTS IN TO YOUR KITCHEN OVEN!!!!!
Plastic is a chemical compound that when heated will release toxic fumes which can then be transferred into your food. Super Sculpty is tested to be safe and was not meant to be used in the standard kitchen oven instead of a kelm. Be safe and do not bake plastic in your oven. You may not notice anything at first, but over time you may developed health problems that may not be reversible.
Here is the best way to produce your own action figures or parts. The best thing you should use to add detail or build up features on your figures is using a 2-part epoxy compound. Sith_Fire30 uses FIXIT for his creations and then makes a mold and a wax cast to put the finial details in wax. Sideshow Collectables use Apoxie Sculpt from a company called AVES Products. This stuff works like clay when mixed equally and applied and then hardens like a rock in hours. If you have to use Super Sculpty, I recommend that you treat it like clay and once you sculpted your piece or details, make a mold and then cast in resine or wax. Sculpty was never really design to handle the extremes our hobby demands on products. That is why I abandoned that stuff years ago for more professional look for my sculpts.
Lets keep this hobby safe and stay alive, OK.
Jedi_Master_Ben
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Be safe and do not bake plastic in your oven. You may not notice anything at first, but over time you may developed health problems that may not be reversible.
A small price to pay, for sweet looking action figures.
Sculpt on, my friends. Sculpt on.
(http://www.dhadm.com/images/uploads/guinness_6pack_thumb.jpg)
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Correct you are Ben, Technically we should all have a seperate pot for boiland pops :o, What I meant when I said the oven for 15 minutes, is like pure sculpy no plastic. I make nativities, santas, or any other "cute" little thing you can thing you can think of.
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This is why I boil my Sculpy.
Kevin
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i tried putting a figure in th oven to cure sculpy a couple years ago, it cured fine and while the figure didn't melt, the painted details such as eyes, began to run. it was a wookie figure and the eyes ran about half way down the face!
it looked kind of cool, but not really what you want.... and if it may cause health problems, as ben mentioned it's probably best to steer clear of it!
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Hi,
Just got some questions. What's the brand of Sculpy that you guys used? Cause I seen few of them and not sure which one to get. Is there pics of what they look like? Also, is there a scrulpting guild?
Thaks!
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I started out with just plain old Sculpy, which comes in all the funky colors. From there I played with Super Sculpy, which is a sort of pink fleshy tone, and will set you back 10 or 12 bucks.
There is a sculpting guild here, but you have to be at least a level 10 Mage, have at least 200 gold, and be able to cast fairy fire causing +100 damage. You must also have completed Hrothgar's Nibelung Quest. Once all that's been done, you'll receive the secret handshake instructions via pm.
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Ah, I never finished the Quest, THAT'S why I never got the secret handshake! ;D
I do a lot of polymer clay sculpting (the official name of Sculpey). I also have a pasta machine for conditioning the clay before I start to work with it. I find it a great medium. I would encourage beginners to read up on the subject, most book stores / libraries have great craft books on Polymer Clay. I highly recommend purchasing Creating Life-Like Figures in Polymer Clay - a step-by-step guide by Katherine Dewey. I feel it is the guide for everything from proportion, clothing, hair, to paints and finishes. I use the heck out of it when I am sculpting.
(http://www.sarges-customs.com/How%20To/Clay%20Book.jpg)
Random ramblings from the Sarge. Hopefully I can get off my butt after the holidays and start posting more.
Mike
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Okay, I just found some sculpies, but there are differences. I'm not exactly sure which ones are the best for making SW parts. Plz lmk which product to use.
Ultra Light:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc0596
Super Sculpey:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc0406
Sculpey 3:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc0055
Original:
http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayProductPage?productNum=gc0054
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I can't tell you what's the BEST to use, you have to decide that for yourself. Different types of Sculpey have different properties: some are more firm, some softer, some are tacky, some are smooth. Some people prefer one property over another.
I've never used Ultra Light, or Original, but here are my thoughts on the others:
Sculpey III - Too soft for my tastes, so it was real easy to accidentally mess up an hour of work with the slip of a tool or finger. That said, it was a good medium to begin sculpting with, and it's cheap.
Super Sculpey - It's a tad firmer than Sculpey III, but one drawback I didn't like was it is slightly translucent. Seeing the part underneath what I was sculpting made it more difficult to find flaws in my sculpt. Ultimately it was too soft and not as tacky as I like clay to be.
One cool thing is you can boil both of the above in water to harden it, which is helpful when you sculpt onto a plastic piece that can't be baked in an oven.
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I can only comment on Super Sculpy as its the only one I've used. I found it to be okay when sculpting. My biggest challenge was that the pieces were always brittle after they were cured and ofter broke. I switched over to using two part expoxy modeling compounds ("Greenstuff", Fixit Sculpt, or Milliput). These two part compounds are much stickier and are a bit more difficult to work with but they cure rock hard and don't break nearly as easily.
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I've only just begun working with sculpting materials. Tried Sculpey III for shoulder armor, but like others said, that broke to easy. I now use Greenstuff from Games Workshop. I made a belt and a towel. Very tough material and indeed, it cures rock hard.
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Hey Incom and BrentS, what is the cure time on the "green stuff"?
I (when I have time) use FIXIT sculpt now days. Sculpey is good and all for starting sculpting, but if you want to get some really good details, definitely give the FIXIT sculpt a shot. (Just take a look at Sith_Fire30s recent work to see the wonderful details that stuff can hold) My very first attempt sculpting with the stuff allowed me alot more detail than any of my previous sculpey sculpts.
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Keep in mind that Sithfire also uses Bantha5's wax for his final head sculpts, but initially and for body parts he uses the Fixit Sculpt.
For a beginner though, Sculpey III or Super Sculpey are probably the best way to start.
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Hey Incom and BrentS, what is the cure time on the "green stuff"?
You know, I'm not sure. I usually just wait and use it the next day.
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Me too. I mostly work on my customs in the evenings, so most of the time there's at least a 20 hour gap between it. Greenstuff is quite sticky though, you really should keep a bowl of water nearby to keep your sculpting tools and fingers moist.
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Hmmm sounds like working with it is very similar to FIXIT. That will definitely help in giving me and idea of what to expect if I get some to try out.
Were do you find sculpey III? I have never seen it. I just see the regular sculpey in most places I go. (I actually still use sculpey once in a while to make a rough shape of something, then do a detailed layer over it with FIXIT, that way when I need to hollow the parts out, the sculpey is the softer and easier to dremel out part.)
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Hi!
When I did my Darth Nhil figure I used super sculpey for the armor,
He fell and the spikes and a part of the shoulder armor broke...
I had to redo the armor, so I cut out a corner from a figure bubble and glued left over parts from diffrent figures, anything looked like a spike, then I worked the sculpey on to the armor and put glue over the boiled piece.
He fell two times after that but the armor didn't break.
The moral of this post is, put your sculpey around something more durable and you'll have slightly better odds if an accident occurs.
Or maybe I just got lucky ;)
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No such thing as luck :). You did the right thing. When making spikes or other thin accessories, it's best to sculpt on something er... spikey. Little pieces of plastic work fine, but pieces of a paperclip will do well, too.
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Hello everyone,
I'm looking to cast a head from an existing figure's head. Would Skulpy work? What would be my best route? Any help is appreciated. Thanks!
Tony