(course that could be a bad thing... people very very likely may be reading these and going "oh...tsk tsk such a shame...she's lost it altogether".. ) ;)
Morgen! You left a rep for me on Blab, and I said - actually out loud - Morgen's Blog!! - and ran over here. Yours is one of the blogs on which I lurk somethin' awful.
Anyway, heyla, I am liking this snorty fellow you're working on! It needs to be part of a grouping, on a wall. <3 <3 Even just the one would look gorgeous on a wall. How big is it? (If you said, I missed it.)
And my Cool Tip for Happy Sculpting with Oil-based clay is actually two tips! I sculpt with rather hard oil-clays (Roma Plastalina #4) and save my sanity and hands wiiith..
1.a.) A little gooseneck clip-on desk-lamp with a metal shade. I stick globs of clay all over the shade, and pull them off as needed. The bulb is just 40w, so not hot enough to get scary or melt the clay and drip it everywhere if I wander off and leave the lamp on, but plenty hot enough to get the clay very soft if it's on the lamp for quite awhile. Also, hey, light! My eyes need it.
1.b.) A ceramic tile or little glass dish; put the clay on it, point the lamp at it, et voila. A nice pile of pre-warmed clay. Using a bigger lamp makes this more efficient.
2.) An embossing gun! Like stamping artists use. Not as scaryhot as a regular heat gun, but plenty warm enough to soften up a large area of clay if you need to. But not So warm that you can't mess with a smaller area.
What else.. I used OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits) to smooth my oil-clay 'cause it's what I had handy. Your clay may be too soft, but you can actually get a polished finish on firmer grades of oil-clay with a little flick of water and a square of canvas. It's weird to explain, you just have to try it a time or two; the little scrap of canvas gets clay all stuck in it at first, and then it polishes beautifully. Even hard clay needs to be cold for this to work well, though. Something to do 'first thing in the morning,' not when the sculpture is warm from being worked all day.
Ramie! Interesting warming ideas... I gotta go look up embossing gun. Hmm! They make these wax 'pen' things that may be similar that I've been looking at... considering.
Meanwhile, YES! (to the Odorless!).. that's exactly what I'm loving the best too after trying a bunch o'things. It gets easy to make gummy but it gets better if you leave it alone. I'm learning...
I can see how the canvas would do a nice job of blending things down.. hmm! :D
So many tips to try... I don't want to go do the bookwork & tax bs I have to right now. I'm in too happy of a place for that!
I'd rather be painting and sculpting... ;)
My fiance is a chemical engineer by degree (worked at timberframing & welding/fabricating these past few years). I've tasked him with learning to use Smooth On... for to make a waste mold.
That "Wild Hair" horsie there is nearly done, I may even try veins and whisker bumps in this. Christmas is around the corner - I'm SO happy to have Christmas possibilities now! :D
5 comments:
NOW we've created a monster...
:D
(course that could be a bad thing... people very very likely may be reading these and going "oh...tsk tsk such a shame...she's lost it altogether".. ) ;)
Morgen! You left a rep for me on Blab, and I said - actually out loud - Morgen's Blog!! - and ran over here. Yours is one of the blogs on which I lurk somethin' awful.
Anyway, heyla, I am liking this snorty fellow you're working on! It needs to be part of a grouping, on a wall. <3 <3 Even just the one would look gorgeous on a wall. How big is it? (If you said, I missed it.)
And my Cool Tip for Happy Sculpting with Oil-based clay is actually two tips! I sculpt with rather hard oil-clays (Roma Plastalina #4) and save my sanity and hands wiiith..
1.a.) A little gooseneck clip-on desk-lamp with a metal shade. I stick globs of clay all over the shade, and pull them off as needed. The bulb is just 40w, so not hot enough to get scary or melt the clay and drip it everywhere if I wander off and leave the lamp on, but plenty hot enough to get the clay very soft if it's on the lamp for quite awhile. Also, hey, light! My eyes need it.
1.b.) A ceramic tile or little glass dish; put the clay on it, point the lamp at it, et voila. A nice pile of pre-warmed clay. Using a bigger lamp makes this more efficient.
2.) An embossing gun! Like stamping artists use. Not as scaryhot as a regular heat gun, but plenty warm enough to soften up a large area of clay if you need to. But not So warm that you can't mess with a smaller area.
What else.. I used OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits) to smooth my oil-clay 'cause it's what I had handy. Your clay may be too soft, but you can actually get a polished finish on firmer grades of oil-clay with a little flick of water and a square of canvas. It's weird to explain, you just have to try it a time or two; the little scrap of canvas gets clay all stuck in it at first, and then it polishes beautifully. Even hard clay needs to be cold for this to work well, though. Something to do 'first thing in the morning,' not when the sculpture is warm from being worked all day.
Sorry to write a book! ^.^;
Ramie! Interesting warming ideas... I gotta go look up embossing gun. Hmm! They make these wax 'pen' things that may be similar that I've been looking at... considering.
Meanwhile, YES! (to the Odorless!).. that's exactly what I'm loving the best too after trying a bunch o'things. It gets easy to make gummy but it gets better if you leave it alone. I'm learning...
I can see how the canvas would do a nice job of blending things down.. hmm! :D
So many tips to try... I don't want to go do the bookwork & tax bs I have to right now. I'm in too happy of a place for that!
I'd rather be painting and sculpting... ;)
My fiance is a chemical engineer by degree (worked at timberframing & welding/fabricating these past few years). I've tasked him with learning to use Smooth On... for to make a waste mold.
That "Wild Hair" horsie there is nearly done, I may even try veins and whisker bumps in this. Christmas is around the corner - I'm SO happy to have Christmas possibilities now! :D
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