Sculpey's Biatches: the Mike Mignola sculpting club

[Maija]

Both for price and consistency reasons, I think the sculptors have mixed the premium sculpty with the "lesser" quality. Probably info early in the thread.

Of course, kneading them together will give you Popeye forearms.
I kneaded a little block each of white and black Sculpey III into a big block of pink Super Sculpey by hand. Well, not hands alone: I used a rolling pin (covered in wax paper to keep out the Sculpey chemicals) to roll and fold and roll and fold and roll and fold and roll and fold and then I'd mush it and pull it and twist it around with my hands for a bit and then roll and fold and roll and fold and roll and fold and roll and fold and I wouldn't want to do this more than a couple of times a year. :p I know a pasta machine is recommended, but I'm cheap. (I make my pasta by hand too. Good upper body work-out and not as hard as kneading Sculpey).

And now I have grotesque Popeye forearms.

(I have no experience with Premo Sculpey.)

So, are you saying I should put you down for a red-painted version, or will you be painting it red yourself? :D
I think painting it myself would be fun, actually! I've got some ideas already. I could pretend it's a Thompson-Graham co-production. ;)

[DannyBoy7783]

I mix one small block of sculpey III with a box of super sculpey, the 1lb boxes. I usually get a tanish color for each and it works well for me. I like super sculpey more because it is a little more stiff. I find sculpey III too soft. The problem with super sculpey is that it is a little translucent and it makes it harder to notice surface details. Mixing in sculpey III gives it a flat tone. What is holding me back is lack of a good workspace and inexperience with using armatures.

[JohnThompson]

I bought a bunch of colored Premo sculpey the other day and find it rather, well...gooey.

How does Sculpey III or Super Sculpey compare in consistency? I think I would prefer something a little more solid to work with.

Thoughts?
Thought I'd chime in here, kc.

Sculpey (the white stuff) is very soft, hard to sculpt in, and is really not recommended for any serious sculpture.

Super Sculpey is a slightly translucent pink/flesh color, and is widely used by doll and garage kit artists, as well as professionals like Randy Bowen and Clayburn Moore. To make it more opaque, add another colored polymer clay to it (most common is to add one small block each of a black and a white clay, either Sculpey III or Premo! Sculpey). Sculpey now also produces its own formula gray (Gray Sculpting Compound), made exclusively for Midwest Clay http://www.midwestclay.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=18

Sculpey III comes in multiple colors, but is a softer, mushier clay than pink SS. It becomes more brittle too after baking.

Premo! Sculpey also comes in a variety of colors, and in general is a slightly firmer clay than Super Sculpey. It is slightly more flexible after baking than SS, which can mean less breakage of thin pointy parts of a sculpt.

That's all the polymer clay I've tried, so I can't speak for Kato, Granitex, or Cernit. Good luck!

[JohnThompson]

By the way, if anybody here is interested in more details about my Hellboy bust, please feel free to PM me. ;)

[kid cthulhu]

Thanks everyone. I'll try a little mixing.

[Ivar_L]

Hi,

I have pretty bizarre and unusual week, so I haven't worked on my Hellboy sculpt much (don't want to go to the details but yesterday I was taking part in the sad event I think every person must do 2 times on his life...).
Anyway, I've fixed some minor details, including the pigtail and bust's shoulder's symmetry. I'll try to fix the last things in a next couple of weeks, including all the small cracks - I need to figure out how and with what to fill them.

Also - now I have something one can see on this picture:
:)
http://img256.echo.cx/img256/1363/hellboysculptmold012kc.jpg

More experiments on the way!

[alz]

Woot! A "marble" statue version would rock! Not sure if it's b/c I've only seen it in white and grown to like it's uniqueness, or if it honestly might look better without any color. :)

[Ose]

The cast looks great John. The faux bronze looks very spiffy too!

Out of curiosity, has anybody here tried making their own latex molds before for smaller, simpler sculpts? I picked up a container of mold builder latex back in March to play around with for costuming purposes (I know it's not the costume-grade stuff, but it should work fine for what I have in mind), but I might use it for its intended purpose as well if I make some small sculpts that I like too much to part with. I've never tried making a latex mold myself, however, so I don't know how well it works. My only experience with rubber molds has been in casting from them, not making them.

[yukon]

I've made a bunch of latex molds, mostly natural objects ( I did a pair of ibex horns once) Latex molds are awesome for capturing fine details from the orginal, but they are super time consuming to make. You have to layer paper thin sheets of latex allowing for drying in between, you should also layer cheese cloth in between the layers to prevent tearing. Latex molds are also great for their reusability, however over time latex does break down. typically you have to also make a "mother mold" to hold the floppy latex in its intended form( I made mine out of plaster). "keys" have to be left in the latex mold so it fits into the mother mold properly ( I made these by making little nubsof cheesecloth layered in the latex and then casting the "mother mold" around the latex mold, that in turn cradled the object. time consuming but worth it for the fine details.

[Ose]

Thanks for the tips yukon. I hadn't heard of the cheesecloth thing, but definitely seems like a good idea. Now I have to find some time to make some small sculpts so I can try making a mold or two.

Speaking of sculpts, I finished that Misshepezhieu mini-bust sculpt I was working. I had to bake him before I moved back from college otherwise he would have been squished. Now I just have to paint him...I'm thinking a red ochre/rust coloured base coat, with more natural lynx-like colours drybrushed over top for the fur.

http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sculpture/misshepezhieuunpainted.jpg

[gardenvariety]

I don't know who Misshepezhieu is, but that's a beauty!!

[Ose]

For garden (and whoever else hasn't heard of Misshepezhieu before) - Misshepezhieu is just a bit of Ojibwe mythology that I've always been fond of, in part because it's local to where I live. He's the water-feline demi-god of Lake Superior who's also known as the Great Horned Lynx. He's known for his bad temper and for being a sign of terrible bad luck or death. For that reason people used to leave offerings of tobbacco and copper in hopes of gaining safe passage across Lake Superior. Kayakers still occassionally leave offerings today on an island known as Devil's Warehouse when they go by it.

I really should have made the bust snarly, but the size of the sculpt was a bit limiting when coupled with my using regular Sculpey. But this is only the second sculpt I've done in the last five or six years, so I'm pretty happy with it.

[Ose]

Finished Misshepezhieu.

http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sculpture/misshepezhieubust.jpg

[jnapper]

Finished Misshepezhieu.

http://www.dragonfyredawn.com/sculpture/misshepezhieubust.jpg

Ose, he's simply awesome! Thanks for the myth too!

[JohnThompson]

Laura, he's GREAT! The paint job really brings the sculpt to life, too. Very impressive, especially considering you used the mushy white Sculpey. I hope you get bitten by the sculpting bug, and that we'll be seeing some more of your work here!

[morna]

Wow he's great Ose! Nice colouring. I usually don't like painted sculpture but this works!

[Ose]

No worries John - I certainly plan on doing more sculpting. I just have to see how much I can squeeze in between everything else I need to try to work on this summer.

I'm glad you both like the paint job too. It's been years since I painted anything like this!

[JohnThompson]

I just have to see how much I can squeeze in between everything else I need to try to work on this summer.
Does this include a new costume as well??? :)

[Petersen]

Don't knock the regular white sculpy....that is what I did the Mouse Guard in.

[Ose]

Yup. I want to get a good chunk of the gryphon stilt-suit costume done and out of the way by the end of the summer if I can. But I also have a full time summer job, two commissions, pre-production work for my 2D short, getting stuff together for the fall Motor City Comic Con and a chain mail shirt that I have to worry about too. Needless to say, it's going to be a busy summer.

[JohnThompson]

Don't knock the regular white sculpy....that is what I did the Mouse Guard in.
Well.... if you've got nothing else to sculpt in, sure, the white Sculpey is a fine medium. Its just that the Super Sculpey is so much better-- stronger, firmer, takes detail better with less fingerprinting, etc.-- once you switch its hard to consider going back. The "Super" is such a vast improvement over the "regular", that its hard to believe they still make the white stuff.

Try some.... embrace the "pink side"!

[Petersen]

I need to do some more sculpting, and when I do, I'll try the pink stuff (mixed with a solid color so I don't get the transparent thin areas)...perhaps some more mice. but that won't be 'till June

I also plan on making an assembled sculpture of Tic-Tok very soon using brass parts from lights, bar rail, door harware, etc.

I'll post once I get started

[gardenvariety]

For garden (and whoever else hasn't heard of Misshepezhieu before) - Misshepezhieu is just a bit of Ojibwe mythology that I've always been fond of, in part because it's local to where I live.
Oh...I didn't know that. I feel like such a bad Canuk, now! :D
(I STILL think he's beautiful, though, Ose!)

[Maija]

I don't think most folks know Misshepezhieu unless they're from up around Lake Superior where it lives. ;) Legend has it the fantastic storms that erupt on Lake Superior are from the Thunderbird fighting with Misshepezhieu who thrashes his monstrous tail to make the massive waves that take down lake freighters. Something for Hellboy to look into!

Cool sculpt Ose!

I can't wait to see your next costume. I bet you can't either. :)

[Ivar_L]

Hi,

to show that I'm doing something with my bust, here is one new picture
(It's rotating gif and it's not the smallest one):

EDIT:
I made a new and better rotating picture, so I'm removing this one. New pic will be somewhere down the thread.

I think it's almost ready, there are some very minor corrections on the lower part of the base. I think I will try to find a time and to try some moldmaking. Hopefully this week...

http://img168.echo.cx/img168/1614/hellboysculptivarbase107al.jpg

[Petersen]

Tip: if using a pasta maker to kneed or mix sculpy or other polymer clay....

1: Check and see if it belongs to someone who wants to use it for food again.
2: Check to see that it deosn't have older hard food bits tucked inside
3: don't be cute, only use the round rollers, not the cutters (this isn't the fun factory)
4:If you ignore #3, don't think "I'll run something else throught to push trough the remaining clay"
5: If you have ignored both #3 & #4, don't use paper as the 'pushing item' as it will wrap itself around the cutters
6: If you have ignored all of these, and your wife comes home....well...I'll get back to you with a useful tip on that one once I find one....

[Maija]

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Busted!

I'm sorry, I guess I should be more sympathetic but... that's pretty funny. :)

Aspiring sculptors, heed Petersen's words! For he is made wise by his errors... and his wife.

I hope you at least didn't mess up too much sculpey by incorporating dried pasta bits into it.

Heeheeheeheeheeheeeee...

[morna]

oh my GOD that's hilarious!!! hah ahaha heh hehe wipes tears of mirth

sigh

[yukon]

hahahahhahahahahhahaaaaaa good luck!
good god, now youre reminding me of when I dumped an entire bottle of india ink on our white carpet and had to create some elaborate fiction so the boyfriend didn't strangle me. I ended up purchasing an expensive carpet cleaner, good luck with that pasta maker. I don't recommend telling her gnomes did it. they never believe that one.......

[Petersen]

No, not much sculpy was harmed.

and so far my technique has been to use a small pick in each groove and run the crank backwards. The pick catches an end and it all uncoils. But it's still a lot of work.

Then there was the sculpy residue issue to deal with. The pasta maker's directions say not to wash with water......so I ran lots of brad through it. I figured the bread will wipe the rollers and cutters clean.

There is still some bread stuck...the bread got a bit moist as it fell in the sink before I cought it..I'm letting it dry a bit then will use the shop vac to hopefully pull out any loose debris

and that was enough to knock the scuplting wind from my sails for tonight...we'll see what the days to come hold.

****after reading Yukon's post***
Haha...yep, I ploped a bottle of india ink on the light beige carpet of my childhood home at the 'should know better age' of 15. Was doing a Timm style batman in the living room. Dad cme home abouuuut 2 min after it happened. LOTS of water and blotting and stain remover. There was a shadow (don't know how we got it to that point) and a runner was placed in front of the couch. Years later when he moved the rest of the carpet had enough wear it matched the shadow mark and the stain was near impossible to see.

[Maija]

You could also pour some ethanol (ie vodka) through it to take off the residue. You can't use water because it will rust the insides of the machine, but the alcohol will evaporate. Use a small container of alcohol and hold the machine over a pan to catch it so you can pour it back through again, and then discard it of course.

Poor Petersen. You'll climb back up on that sculpting horse soon!

[JohnThompson]

Despite the humor in your experience, David, from what I've been reading you should NOT use that pasta machine for making food again. Although Sculpey is supposed to be non-toxic when baked, that does not apply to the raw clay. Your best bet is to never put unbaked Sculpey on anything that will come in contact with food.

[morna]

..There is still some bread stuck...the bread got a bit moist as it fell in the sink before I cought it..I'm letting it dry a bit then will use the shop vac to hopefully pull out any loose debris...
ahhhh the further adventures..and I'm still chuckling from the last installment. Sorry I shouldn't laugh... smirk.. but haven't we all just been there... the snowball of minor disaster...

I DO sympathize...really

[Jan Bentzen]

Well Ivar - that bust looks completely awesome. Just include it in the art-exchange ;)

- Jan

[alz]

Hi,

to show that I'm doing something with my bust, here is one new picture
(It's rotating gif and it's not the smallest one):

http://img160.echo.cx/img160/981/hellboyrotating27fk.gif


I of course give this bit of feedback with the idea I think this sculpt is FANTASTIC! What about moving the leaves next to HELLBOY to one of the side panels? You have 3 elements on the front panel and only one of each of the remaining 3. Makes the front panel seem too busy? Bowen's classic Hellboy standing statue hid some cool detail on the sides & backsides to make it cool/viewable from any angle.

:)

[Johann]

Yeah i like the touch of ivey, but i agree with alz, continue it onto the sides a bit.

[Ivar_L]

Ok, some more (smaller) leaves...
:)
I'll try to add some small leaves to the corner and maybe to the sun's side of the base. Also, I'll try and look how it fits to add a 2-3 to the scull side. And that's all, I need to save some of my fading energy to the next big step...

I will make another (and hopefully better) gif picture with the finished sculpture before I will cover it with various materials...

[Ivar_L]

Ok, this is the final version of my Hellboy bust.

There are 3 reasons I made this sculpt. First, I really like sculpting. When I was little, stuff called 'plastiline' was my favourite toy, I think I made all animation/book characters I liked from this material and played out self made adventures with them. That was long time ago... :) I really haven't sculpted anything since then, until I discovered that I can buy Cernit here. This Hellboy is my first sculpt that is (almost) finished and I'm happy with. I have a Chibi Sandman (which is kawaii and looks like right out of bath :)), but I need to re-sculpt his robe to be really finished and nice to look at on the shelf.

Second reason is that I wanted to try the full cycle of sculpt making from the polymer clay prototype via mold making through finished and colored resin plaster piece. I have all the stuff now I need to try the next steps, except compressor for airbrush.

And the third reason - I wanted to have Hellboy bust, not the movie version, but Mignola version. The more interesting way was to try to make one itself. It's by far not the easiest and cheapest way, but I like the outcome. I hope the colored version will be so much better than prototype...

The comments and response on this board has been fantastic, thanks! I only hope that I could write faster/better English, understand all the inside jokes and to contribute more myself... This is one of the two Internet forums I'm active in, the another is Estonian DVD community.

So, time to move on and to start this mold making phase. I've seen several photo/text/video tutorials, so I think I know remotely how to do it. I have some ideas of my own, including plastic Sprite bottle and food cellophane (cling film?). Let's see how it all works out, of course I will post the pictures.

Here are last two pictures of my Hellboy sculpt, please forget the previous rotating gif:

http://img191.echo.cx/img191/1427/hellboysculptivarbase118ou.jpg http://img243.echo.cx/img243/4820/hellboyrotating348bit4en.gif

PS: I decided not to add any more leaves.

[fitzroy]

That is pretty damn spanky Ivar.

Great stuff

[JohnThompson]

Ivar, you've done an outstanding job with your Hellboy bust, and its been very interesting watching your progress sculpting it.

Before actually making the molds, I recommend you read the moldmaking and casting tutorials found on Dan Perez's website: http://www.danperezstudios.com/workshop.htm

Dan's tutorials have helped many people get started as producers of their own kits, there is some really comprehensive information on his site.

Good luck! Remember to reserve a cast for me, please!

[Jakob Westman]

It's beautiful Ivar!
And it's been a treat to see it come this far.

Best of luck with the casting.

/ Jakob

[Ivar_L]

Welcome to the
Ivar's Hellboy Bust
Part II:
Moldmaking the Wrong Way

I feel like some ancient Egyptian temple builder today...
:)

One picture says more then thousand words, so, I won't comment them. I hope it all makes sense some day...

http://img31.echo.cx/img31/3945/hellboymold027uw.jpg

http://img31.echo.cx/img31/3200/hellboymold038jt.jpg http://img31.echo.cx/img31/1241/hellboymold046ps.jpg

[Ivar_L]

http://img31.echo.cx/img31/6443/hellboymold059ui.jpg http://img31.echo.cx/img31/7932/hellboymold064zu.jpg

[Mikolaj]

As for me... It doesn't ring a bell. BTW: is it true that russia never accpeted your Estonia borders? I heard that in the news some week ago...

[Ivar_L]

Don't want to go into history, but shortly - Estonian borders before Second World War / German-Russian pact and when Estonia "joined" USSR are different. Estonia was bigger before the war. The later borders are reality and I think they will stay this way, there will be a border treaty signing in Moscow this month. Bush was in Riga, Latvia today, as were 3 Baltic presidents (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). Latvian president goes to Moscow to this Putin's victory parade on Monday, the other two won't. I think it's right, as Baltic nations were between the two totalitarian regimes. The fact is, the Soviet year before the German occupation was so bad, full of killings, deportation and escapes that Germans were almost liberators. There were Estonians in both armies, often depending just from the year of birth. So, there really isn't a reason to celebrate for us on Monday in Moscow. As I said, two totalitarian regimes, one not better than another.
Sorry for this political text, won't happen anymore!
:)

[Mikolaj]

Heh... Nothing happy about goverment here in Poland... All they do is try to fight with each other for the power. :| As to the II word war ening anniverary celebration It's gonna be real ockward for Polish people. This, guy that was strongly supporting the comunism and that brought upon Poland of the 80s something we call now "state of war"- a big wave of represions for or those supporting liberation, democrasy and freedome from russian influance- the one that is acused of ordering thounsands to be killed and even more to be "helped with changing their politic thoughts"(be'n beaten up). He was invited and Is going to party along the leaders of our democratic government. You can't imagine what the press and most of the Poles think about it... And the fact that putin tries to convince people that there was no such thing as "soviet ocupation". AGHRRR!! I hate politicians!! ABck to the sculpting coments... :rolleyes:

[Johann]

so, i'm not in on the mold-making process..could you tell us what we're seeing here.

Thanks..again, it looks supurb!

[DannyBoy7783]

it appears to be an attempt at making a holder for hellboy when the mold is made around him. He also has a soda bottle up his butt...

[Ivar_L]

Here are today's two/five pictures:
http://img146.echo.cx/img146/6647/hellboymold077sq.jpghttp://img141.echo.cx/img141/718/hellboymold085mo.jpg

A couple of words about what I'm trying to do here:
I ran out of plastiline. I got 1 kg and it wasn't enough. Will try to get more.

As the first photo shows, the plastiline (or, let's say, clay) isn't touching the sculpt. At the moment I'm not trying to define the line separating the 2 silicone molds but the future silicone's volume (clay what covers the sculpt) and the area around it where the covering plaster halves meet. I hope it all will make sense when I got time and some more plastiline...

[DannyBoy7783]

Even Ivar's molds look pretty :)

[citymadeofash]

Even Ivar's molds look pretty :)
I second that :D

[Ming]

remember to sculpt the keys before applying the plaster.this will help the silicone mold line up with the plaster after everything is set up-i would've used water based clay rather than pastilene ,water based clay is better for clean up and cheaper.... ;)

[Petersen]

So far, I am not a fan of the super sculpy. It gets reeeeaaaalllyyy gooey with hand warmth. Doesn't help that we hit 80 today and havn't had the air on at all....

hope once it cools down later tonight I can take another stab at it.

[Ming]

If you don t mind the sting, use a gas duster-spray it up side down it freezes it a bit

[JohnThompson]

So far, I am not a fan of the super sculpy. It gets reeeeaaaalllyyy gooey with hand warmth.
David, you should try "leaching" the clay:

Using a pasta machine or non-stick rolling pin, roll out thin sheets of clay (approximately 1/8th inch thick). Sandwich them between white, untreated typing paper. Stack the paper/clay sandwiches and place a weight on the stack (a book will do). Check it after 2 to 3 days for firmness. If the clay is still too soft, change paper, and repeat until you're satisfied with the consistency.

This will firm up your clay and keep it from picking up as many fingerprints as it does straight from the box. Remember to store leached clay in a plastic bag to prevent further evaporation of the plasticizer.

[Petersen]

hmm..seems like I just got that pasta maker clean...

question: say I have smething baked (a head/face) and wanted to make a removeable mask for it. if I sculpt on the baked clay and try to pull it off, the unbaked stuff sticks in the crevaces. if I cool it once sculpted will it release cleanly?

[JohnThompson]

A lot probably depends on how the mask conforms to the character's head. To keep the fresh clay of the mask from sticking to the baked surface of the head, you could first cover the head in plastic cling wrap. You will need to remove the mask from the head before baking again, or the plastic wrap will melt onto the head.
Another trick that would work for a smaller mask would be to dust a layer of talc powder between the cured and fresh clays. This also will help keep the clay from sticking.

[gary bolt]

I did an artist-in-residency in the sclulpture department of a Vancouver college and they were super paranoid about talc (carcinogen when the dust is breathed in) but had all kinds of worse health risks like fiber blanket lying everywhere (cacinogenic dust) and casting bronze and aluminum directly on to styrofoam (black flame!)

[Petersen]

Here's what I'm thinking:
cling wrap over the face & head. Sculpt the mask. Cool in the fridge, pull the mask off without distorting it and bake seperate from the face/head
sound good?

[JohnThompson]

Me likey! :)

Good luck!

[Maija]

Talc (soapstone/talcum powder/baby powder) inhaled in large quantities over long periods of time (ie. mining and milling talc, or carving soapstone) can be problematic, but the studies of its carcinogenicity in low exposure are inconclusive.

Dabbing a small amount on a sculpture to keep a piece of fresh Sculpey from sticking isn't dangerous. Just don't shake clouds of it into the air and snort it.

Of greater concern is sanding baked Sculpey (I suspect it contains talc and or silica clay). Use waterproof sandpaper and do it wet (in the sink with water running or a bucket).

Incidentally it sands up really nicely to a bone-smooth finish.

[DannyBoy7783]

I am taking an osteology class right now and bones are not as smooth as they appear. Though our bones collection consists of 500 year old Incan bones...:)

Sculpey does sand to a very smooth finish though. I wish I knew it earlier in my sculpting days.

[Maija]

As smooth as sanded bone, maybe? ;)

And old Incan bones sounds cool. Do they carry a curse?

[DannyBoy7783]

....I hope not.... :eek:

[Petersen]

I scraped the mask plans. partialy for technial reasons and a good share to do with personal/artistic ones.

Sorry I don't have progress pics and only this one angle for now...but here he is,

[Conundrum]

AAAAH! My nightmares have come to claim me!














Seriously though, that's great. Cute. Creppy(or creepy-man, it's late.). A little disturbing. Yes. Excellent.

[Ivar_L]

Here is the latest mold-making update:
http://img154.echo.cx/img154/2199/hellboymold097cw.jpghttp://img238.echo.cx/img238/4766/hellboymold106te.jpg

The area around the mold with holes will be made from plaster, the area with stripes will be silicone. A couple of more details/guides to the mold and then the next step is to try to cover the first half with plaster. Then I flip it over, remove the cardboard and the plaster-emulating plastiliin (Russian made, 1kg=<$4, btw). Then I need to cover the second half of the sculpture (I hope it's still inside there... :)) with the layer of silicon-emulating plastiline. And then again plaster. Etc etc etc.

The complicated thing on this mold is that it kind-of rotates 45 degrees from base part to the bust part. That's why it looks like it looks.

[citymadeofash]

The mold looks like some sort of medival torture device! (ala the Iron Maiden in Wake The Devil)

[Ivar_L]

:)
That's EXACTLY what I said to my girlfriend - that it looks like Iron Maiden-like device for a body part I won't mention here...
:)

[Maija]

Tee hee, Ivar :)

Petersen you make me sick. I can't believe you've finished and painted that already!

Arrrrrr! That's not a man! It's a merciless art-making machine!!

[Ivar_L]

By the way, I have a question -

looks like there was an article (http://www.shiflettbrothers.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=441&highlight=toyfare) in Toyfare magazine. Can somebody, I don't know, scan it or tell about it? Was it any good?

[Ose]

Question for anybody who might know: does unbaked sculpey (regular or super) stick to plaster, or is it water resistant enough to peel away from the plaster once the plaster dries?

[Jan Bentzen]

:)
That's EXACTLY what I said to my girlfriend - that it looks like Iron Maiden-like device for a body part I won't mention here...
:)

Go ahead Ivar - stick your foot in it ;)

[gary bolt]

Hey fellow biatches...

I'm sneaking up on a project that involves sculpting a shallow bas relief and I was thinking it might be fun to try with Sculpy. Could I build a thin layer of Sculpy over a commercial ceramic tile, or thin piece of plywood? Would it stick? Any input, as always, would be appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

[Ming]

it wouldnt it stick-unless you put some support like nails or screws if you're sculpting it on wood.i would try applying some epoxy on the tile and sculpting some groves so the sculpey could stick.sculpey does not stick to anything a lesson i learned in my beginning days of sculpting.or try sculpting it with aves epoxy you'll have several hours before it sets...maybe King Thompson will chime in with some Hoople head answer :p

[Ming]

Question for anybody who might know: does unbaked sculpey (regular or super) stick to plaster, or is it water resistant enough to peel away from the plaster once the plaster dries?

it won t stick-coat it with a light coat of vasilene just in case

[Ming]

By the way, I have a question -

looks like there was an article (http://www.shiflettbrothers.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?t=441&highlight=toyfare) in Toyfare magazine. Can somebody, I don't know, scan it or tell about it? Was it any good?


you should have post this earlier this week i threw out that magazine :(

[JohnThompson]

maybe King Thompson will chime in with some Hoople head answer :p
Hey, I resemble that remark!

Nothing to add, but I second the advice to sculpt it with epoxy putty if you want it to both stick to the tile and have some real strength to it. Baked Sculpey will scratch, gouge, or break if you're using it for a tile.

All Hail the Merciless Ming!

[JohnThompson]

I forgot to add:

Nice chastity belt, Ivar! :eek:

[Ivar_L]

And all I wanted to do was a simple mold...

[Ivar_L]

Ming wrote:
you should have post this earlier this week i threw out that magazine Maybe you remember something about the article? Especially about portfolio part?

and
JohnThompson wrote in his own art thread about his Hellboy bust:
I have a list of names of people here who have expressed interest in owning a copy of this bust, and I will honor those requests first. Any left over will be made available to members here who didn't contact me earlier, or those who may wish to have multiple copies. Maybe you could add me to the list? I may have something to trade if all things go right... You are on my list 3 times...
:)

And - it has nothing to do with your creepy avatar, JT ;) -
before I restore my own pathetic art thread, here is a quick sketch from today - (blue pencils/brush pen's other non-brush tip (I love it!)/digiphoto/quick Photoshop manipulation)

http://img203.echo.cx/img203/8100/swearengen6000ks.jpg

[JohnThompson]

http://img203.echo.cx/img203/8100/swearengen6000ks.jpg
PRICELESS! Nice caricature of Al!

But, what do you mean by "creepy avatar"? :mad:

[Ivar_L]

I'm just hearing Al's voice when I'm reading... :)

[Ming]

No this is not my creation just in case any of you jump the gun, its from electric tiki design:

http://www.electrictiki.com/classic%20heroes/hellboycollage.jpg

[alz]

Wow!

NICE BODY/POSE!

The face seems a little warped, but it's a really sweet pose, with great little bits o'detail.

[Ivar_L]

This sculpt looks very very good. There is only one thing I don't like...
the head.

Profile is almost ok, except the horns - they should go more forward, not so much up. They look like those things... (don't know the right word...) things one plays hockey with. They don't look like this in comic. And maybe the forehead should be a little more vertical?...
Also, Mignola always draws the eyebrows as one stright line. It's always the easiest detail to spot on the sculptures if it's wrong. Mouth also looks strange... At the moment the head looks like it's inspired more by the film and not so much by the comic...

I really like the angular way the muscles are sculpted, also all the coat's folds, right hand, base, etc etc... It's almost perfect. If they can make the head look like from Mignola's comic (it is, more angular in the same way as the rest of the sculpt), it will be the best Hellboy sculpt I've seen.

(I think I will try to add my Hellboy's head to the sculpt in Photoshop and see how it looks... :) Don't think I could do a body as good as this...)

[Johann]

yeah the body detail on that baby is amazing. Not too wild about the head, but the rest makes up for it. Hey i'm not complaining, i couldn't do half that good.

[citymadeofash]

yeah the body detail on that baby is amazing. Not too wild about the head, but the rest makes up for it. Hey i'm not complaining, i couldn't do half that good.
took the words right out of my mouth.

yeah, the face is pretty weird looking (weird in a way that would be enough to deterr me from buying the scuplt). Nice figure, but hey, if you screw up the face, what good is an un-intentionally ugly super hero?

[alz]

(I think I will try to add my Hellboy's head to the sculpt in Photoshop and see how it looks... :) Don't think I could do a body as good as this...)


Kinda like this!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/alz/HB_collage_ivar.jpg

(noticed you don't have as much back-skull as the other guy did, so I ended up blending your front into the back of his skull in some areas to fit the body)

((couldn't find an angle for the last image))

[Jakob Westman]

That's looking pretty good. But I agree with the comments on the face. That looks kinda off so far. It's a sweet pose though, kinda similar to the Nagle statue. If we're gonna start comparing it to Mike's rendition of Hellboy I also think he's got too long legs and too short torso to look like the comic book version.

Fun to see these in-progress pictures though.

/ Jakob

[jnapper]

Kinda like this!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/alz/HB_collage_ivar.jpg

Whao-- this looks way cool!! What is it now? A photoshop of Tiki body and Ivar head?

[citymadeofash]

Long winded rant about tiki sculpt
The photoshopped version with the different face and the tiki body looks AWESOME. I think the main reason why the face isnt working in the origional Tiki sculpt is because of the lips. Mignola never, I repeat, NEVER draws anything but a straight (or ever so slightly curved) line for Hellboy's mouth. In the Art of Hellboy book, Mignola provides a character sketch detailing Hellboy from nearly all angles and provides details and minor notes on some "do's and dont's" on how to illustrate HB. One of the notes, if memory serves me correctly, has something to do with how his teeth are always on the bottom jaw, not the upper, and that the mouth is always in a relative straight line, with only a rectangular or semi-crescent shaped gap between the lower and upper 'lips'. If they straighted his mouth out, the sculpture would look ALOT better, even if the horns and the eyes could use some improvement.

Short rant about tiki sculpt
Hellboy's face has more in common with a stone head from easter island, than some grimmacing gargoyle (which is what the tiki sculpt looks like)
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/eisp/images/index_09.jpg
http://www.fiddlesticksdallas.com/images/Windstone/962-gargoyle.jpg
All in all, if they simplified his features, gave him broad flat lines for the jaw and brow, lowered the horns, it would look 10 times better. Or they could just get Ivar to lop of their head and replace it with his :D


my 2 cents :)

[JohnThompson]

Rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-rant-

Or they could just get Ivar to lop of their head and replace it with his :D
Why not just buy the Tiki statue when it is released, lop off the head yourself, and replace it with the custom Ivar head that he will sculpt and supply free to us all? :p

[Grim Tim]

But what if they're not the same scale? :eek:

[Ivar_L]

Why not just buy the Tiki statue when it is released, lop off the head yourself, and replace it with the custom Ivar head that he will sculpt and supply free to us all? I have nothing against chopping some animals for food (as long as I don't see it) but I'm strongly against chopping sculptures!
:)
By the way, I just finished messing aroud with plaster and some burlap-like fabric. Now I have the first half covered. I will post some photos and comments later today...

Haven't seen my Hellboy bust for 2 weeks now (it's inside of carton, plastiliin and plaster)... I think I need to start something new. In ideal world I have 8 sculptures I'd like to try to make, so I will go now and think about what I'd like to try first...

[Ivar_L]

alz -
I like what you did with Photoshop! Didn't find a photo for 3rd picture myself, tried only two top pictures... :)
I like how the bottom two pictures look different...
;)

[Ivar_L]

Grim Tim wrote:
But what if they're not the same scale?They're not, I think - my head is ca 5 cm (2 inch?).
But I think the finished Electric Tiki sculpt will be as good as they can make it.

[JohnThompson]

But what if they're not the same scale? :eek:
I meant that Ivar could sculpt a new Hellboy head.... you'd be willing to do that, right Ivar? :D

[Ivar_L]

Of course! As soon as I tried some other characters with different skin color...
:)
But seriously, I'd like to try and see can I sculpt some smaller faces than this one. I need some additional tools...

[Ivar_L]

Ok, some new photos I took yesterday.

Finished first plastiliin (as we call it here) side with a couple of added details and less prominent stripes:
http://img265.echo.cx/img265/3585/hellboymold115oo.jpg
It's not the same as my last photo, it's different!

Now I'm starting to mess around with plaster -
plaster (or gypsum, as my online dictionary says) and some fabric I'm using inside the plaster
and
the set-up:
http://img270.echo.cx/img270/8961/hellboymold120lr.jpg

It's my first time to use plaster so things went not as smooth as I had hoped...

[Ivar_L]

Another double picture from yesterday -
first cover with plaster (it's still wet and not smoothed out)
and
the picture that (I thought when I took it) shows the finished side:
http://img270.echo.cx/img270/7378/hellboymold135jw.jpg

Photos from today -
this time, the first plaster side IS finished.
http://img270.echo.cx/img270/9108/hellboymold144ck.jpghttp://img270.echo.cx/img270/1358/hellboymold159zs.jpg

About the pictures -
this hole will be the hole I will pour silicone in, it will fill the room between plaster and Hellboy bust, currently filled with plastiliin. When it's time to pour silicone (I really AM afraid of this moment...), the hole will be directed upwards.

What I learned today:

This oval ice cream box is very good for mixing plaster - it has no corners, it's size is perfect for the volume I can work before it hardens and it's quite flexible, so the dry plaster will go off easily. That was the nice lesson.

Another lesson wasn't as good... As I said, it was my first time to use plaster. So, I didn't know how much water and how much powder I should mix. I was afraid that it will harden too quickly and I can't mix it with fabric fast enough to use all of it. So, I think the mix I made was too watery. Also, it looked like the canvas somehow drained the water out of the mix...

Anyway, the big problem was, the plaster wasn't hard today, more than 15 hours later. So, I got some more plaster and removed almost all the fabric/plaster mix. It went off like old wallpaper or something... I was lucky - the first layer of plaster was hard, so I didn't destroy the plastiliin beneath it. This time I made much more solid mix and I think it worked.

So, for anybody using plaster the first time - if you think that you have enough plaster (gypsum) powder in water, you probably should add a little bit more.

What next? I will turn the "bomb shelter" upside down and will remove cardboard thing and plastiliin, imitating at the moment the ledge of the other plaster side. And then I will cover the other half of the sculpture with silicone-to-be plastiliin...

I hope tomorrow.

[Petersen]

in Art school we learned a technique for mixing 'perfect plaster'
Hard to describe but here goes:
you pour some water into your bucket (Icecream tub). Then you carefuly sprincle the paster powder into the bucket slowly. You try to let fall evenly and throughout the entire area of the bucket (not just the center) think of it like sprinkling powedered sugar on bownies by hand...light, try not to clump it, and even. you will notice that the plater will sit on the surface for a second and then sink. Keep sprinkling until the plaster forms tiny islands on the surface that take more than a few seconds to sink. Stop adding plaster and mix.

[morna]

ya we did something kind of similar... but we didn't worry about even sprinkling - maybe the stuff we were using set up too quickly - we just plopped it right in the middle by the double handful but kinda tickling as you went so as to fluff it, waiting a moment between plops for the water to soak in, and a low mountain would form. Knock down the mountain a couple of times ... when the knocked down parts of the mountain showed on the surface make one more mountain, letting the water soak all the way in... mix and go!

[Tad]

in Art school we learned a technique for mixing 'perfect plaster'
Hard to describe but here goes: think of it like sprinkling powedered sugar on bownies by hand...

Mmmmm.....brownieeeeeez

[Petersen]

Doing some repair to sculptures today and found out a really good reason to switch to super sculpy.....regular sculpy is really tough to repair!!!!

One of the ice legs broke at the con. I figured I would pin them and epoxy. they crumbled, and cracked and split. phooey. one leg is fine, but the other is gone. I have sculpted a replacement with super sculpy and prepareing to bake it.

I havn't leached the super sculpy like John T said to do, but I have left it out with the lid open and it has helped some. Still abit gooey for my taste.

Hellboy is still on the operating table. lots of pins at the ready. and the mouse is awaiting his nearly baked replacement leg.

I also fixed a mezit abe...anyone else have problems with the joints frezzing an breaking on those guys??

[Petersen]

Here he is..fixed.

[citymadeofash]

the face is looking pretty darn good in the first two pictures petersen :)

[Petersen]

Thanks CMoA
I made him about 2 years ago(??)

I didn't use any substructure for him and spot welded (using some wierd low temp rod) the links of chain together for the base.

I woke up the other day to see the bas on the floor. I thought.."Where is Hellboy" I found a finger, then the hand, then the arm, then Hellboy himself behind my monitor. The base weld had broke and he topled forward smaking the scanner pretty good (nice red thump mark on the side)

I renforced all the bits and parts that broke with various size nails with cut off heads for pins. Epoxy and a threaded rod screwed into the brass chain and wooden base. I still se the cracked line on the arm and may try to fill and sand, but not tonight.

[morna]

um... city...? it's PetersEn Petersen not Peterson sorry

true spelling naziism will out

[citymadeofash]

duly noted :)

[Ivar_L]

New mold making pictures -

This is how my mold looked right after I flipped it over and removed the cardboard support. All the plastiliin is still there.
By the way, nice thing is that I can use this carton structure as a stand for making the second plaster side, this asymmetric mold is quite stable on it.

http://img24.echo.cx/img24/7911/hellboymold167gs.jpg
Two things of note - Hellboy bust is wrapped in cling film, so it doesn't touch the plastiliin/clay. I'll try to keep it so. Only on the last step before the silicon, when I must define the suface between two silicone halves, only then I will let the plastiliin touch the sculpt.
And another thing - when the plastiliin/clay is not solid but made of small balls then it's much easier to remove it. I was happy to see that Russian made plastiliin I used came off from cypsum/plaster very easy and the plaster surface was practically clean.

Here is the first half of the plaster/mother mold after the clean-up. I removed all the plastiliin what simulated the second plaster half. Of course I let the plastiliin (and some paper towels I used when I wasn't sure I had enough plastiliin at hand) there. Now I will make the other silicone half simulating plastiliin cover. Let's see how it turns out...

http://img37.echo.cx/img37/3480/hellboymold171rt.jpg

[citymadeofash]

wow...... even your plaster mold looks beautiful :p

[Ivar_L]

Thanks!
:)

Two more double-pics, one from yesterday, one from 15 minutes ago -

http://img220.echo.cx/img220/3936/hellboymold181wp.jpg http://img38.echo.cx/img38/7325/hellboymold190ym.jpg

I hope I will get to the plastering tomorrow...

[Ivar_L]

Plastering the second side:
http://img279.echo.cx/img279/6484/hellboymold207cs.jpg http://img207.echo.cx/img207/9232/hellboymold213ac.jpg
Will clean it up tomorrow. I hope vaseline works and I can open it...
:)

[Ivar_L]

So, after some clean-up:
http://img269.echo.cx/img269/6325/hellboymold222rm.jpg

It opened! Vaseline really works!

After some more clean-up, outside and inside:
http://img282.echo.cx/img282/1517/hellboymold230jf.jpg

The fabric I use inside the plaster is probably not the best possible - it's bright white as is the plaster, what is good. On the other hand, it's quite tough or somehow sodden, it doesn't cut cleanly when I'm polishing the plaster surface with knife. I need to do some more clean-up and mix some more plaster for fixing the broken corners.

The line between the two mold's sides is quite complex and I'm happy that there is absolutely no problem opening them. Also, the wavy line gives additional synchronization between the mold sides. which is always good.

And one more IMPORTANT thing - I saved all the plastiliin (clay) I removed from the mold. That's almost exactly the amount of silicone I will need for this side of the mold.

Anyway, this is how one side of my plaster mother mold looks like. I'm quite happy with it...
:)

I hope I haven't bored you all off with my Hellboy bust progress pictures... If I'd plan to try to sculpt something, I'd love this kind of work-in-progress stuff. Of course, I'm doing it the first time, so I may make some mistakes. I'm very very happy there are tutorials in the net like THIS ONE (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18287) , so I hope maybe my stuff will also help someone.

Ivar

PS: a question - what is the more common size for round sculpted plaques or medallions? I know that the Lord of the Ring ones from Weta Sideshow are 6" but is this the common size? I'd like to try to sculpt one...

[TheCableGuy001]

Lookin' great!

[Ming]

hope you don t take this the wrong way but that mold is taking forever!!!

[Ivar_L]

This whole thing is taking forever...
I'm making it on my free moments, there are job and other people and different events I have to deal with too...
:)

[Ivar_L]

Closer to silicone...
I started to define the plane between the two silicone sides:
http://img178.echo.cx/img178/1982/hellboysilicone026ly.jpg

The rough line is ready. Now I will remove the sculpture and cut down the cling film so that it covers most of the plastiliin "bed" the sculpt lays in. Then I will sculpt the exact line separating the two sides... And then I need to mix my silicone.

But not today, that's all I had time now...

[gary bolt]

Ivar, thanks for sharing your progress. Your original sculpt was beautiful but so is the mold. Even the photos themselves are beautiful. What kind of set up are you using for your photos. Could you post an image of your lighting set-up (or maybe describe it)?

[zefo]

sweet .

[tomasej]

Hello all. I just signed on to this board although I've been checking it out for a couple weeks (to see if it was worth the time to register and post and stuff). This is the most fascinating thread I think I've ever seen on-line. You folks are doing some fabulous work, and it is great seeing the stages and progression. I've always wondered how some of this type of thing gets produced and now I have a whole new appreciation of the process. Thanks.

[morna]

Welcome to our goofy little world tomasej!

[Ivar_L]

Welcome, tomasej!

Sir Edward wrote:
What kind of set up are you using for your photos. Could you post an image of your lighting set-up (or maybe describe it)?Thanks. Those work-in-progress photos are great learning and analyzing tool for myself. And posting them to everyone to see is pushing me forward and won't let me quit before Hellboy's bust is ready... :)

About photos -
I have Nikon Coolpix 4500. There are some small things that could be better - apperture could be bigger, menus simplier and high ISO noise better, but it's small and very practical camera. I really LOVE it's swivel-design. All my photos are made with this camera. When I photographed Hellboy's bust, I used my small tripod (Vanguard Turist 5), especially when I was making rotating gifs. But for the mold pictures I just hold it in my hands.
Background is just a thin grey cardboard, 19.5x25.5 inches. I just put it on my table when I finish another step and fix it, so that halve of it rests on the table and halve on my monitor. On many earlier pictures with the black background I used Art of Hellboy's back cover... :) Most of the black backgrounds are later cleaned and replaced in Photoshop.
Lights are also quite simple. For example, plaster looks much better with natural light coming from the window behind the table, so, when there is a light out there, I'm trying to use it. Some of the mold pictures are made with only the light coming from window. Flash makes everyting flat, but I'm still using it if the natural light isn't enough. I can adjust it in camera, so it's in it's minimal power. This way it doesn't kill the natural light and shadows, at least not all of them.
For photographing the bust it's not as simple. I have 2 similar lamps in my room, one on the floor and one on the table (Antifoni from Ikea), so I use them and try to get at least some of the surface defining shadows and the textures visible. What I discovered was that on the best pictures one of the lamps is practically right over the sculpt - this way Hellboy's eyes look the best. White balance can also be tricky, so sometimes I correct the sculpt's color later in Photoshop. Sometimes I also use white sheet of paper to bounce some light to the shadows.
So, it's nothing special, cardboard, window, camera and 2 lamps. Quick and lazy set-up for quick pictures. :)

[gary bolt]

Thanks, Ivar. Good info.

[Ivar_L]

It's time for some new pictures.

Just to remind what I'm doing here - here is my bust with some other fellows:

http://img62.echo.cx/img62/6326/hellboysculptprototype6qd.jpg

By the way, is there a way to fix or tighten action figure's joints? My Abe's are so loose I can't put it in standing position.

[Ivar_L]

Some photographs with last days progress:
When the line separating the two silicone halves was roughly defined, I removed the bust from the mold and cut down the cling film:

http://img198.echo.cx/img198/2526/hellboysilicone038uq.jpg

Cling film is there because I just don't want to clean my whole bust from plastiliin (clay) before making the second silicone side. I think next time I will use water based clay, then the clean-up will be easier.

Then I finished the separating plane. When the mold is ready, then on the place of all this plastiliin will be other silicon side. I tried to sculpt plastiliin's surface as cleanly as I only could. Of course, the most important thing here is that the line where plastiliin touches sculpt is very clean and is the best one between two sides of the future mold:

http://img198.echo.cx/img198/3376/hellboysilicone042yh.jpg

The mold is asymmetrical. The next picture shows even better why. It also shows what will be inside one side of the mold and what will be in the other:

http://img198.echo.cx/img198/385/hellboysilicone058jm.jpg

And finally, here is the finished side of the mold with the additional groove. Hopefully it will keep the bust's material (resin, resin plaster etc) from leaking out and inside silicone mold. It also helps to synchronize the two sides:

http://img198.echo.cx/img198/4453/hellboysilicone067jr.jpg

[Ivar_L]

And then today...

I finally mixed my silicone. I must say, I'm quite paranoid about it. Never mixed one, never seen someone doing it. Silicone I got is supposed to be mixed from two components as 5:100 or 1:20. To mix 700 g and 35 g components with a borrowed scale when I don't know how exact it is... Also, silicon I have has one opaque white component and other transparent component, so it's not easy to see is it correctly blended... (There are silicones where one component is green.) And I'm not going into air bubbles.

Anyway, I mixed it and poured it. And now I'm keeping my fingers crossed silicone will be hard tomorrow. The leftovers what are covering my Little Sandman, are!...
:)

http://img198.echo.cx/img198/4475/hellboysilicone073bc.jpg

http://img198.echo.cx/img198/9750/hellboysilicone084xi.jpg

[tomasej]

Hey, Ivar! Looks incredible. Let me add that I think your Hellboy sculpt may just be my favorite ever. (Love to get my hands on one.) I had a question about your mold: It appears that the top half mold will "wrap around" the neck of the bust some what. Am I just not seeing clearly your pictures. Or is this not the problem my "know-very-little-about-this" self thinks it could be?

As to your Abe figure problem: When this has come up with my figs I either glue 'em in place or stick plastic shims in the offending joints (sometimes the shims don't even fall out when re-positioning them) I've thought about gluing the shims to one side of the joint, but it never seemed worth the trouble.

[Ivar_L]

tomasej wrote:
It appears that the top half mold will "wrap around" the neck of the bust some what. Am I just not seeing clearly your pictures. Or is this not the problem my "know-very-little-about-this" self thinks it could be?Thanks for kind words! I'm somehow surprised I'm not hating it now myself, after messing with it for several months... :)

Yes, it will wrap around a little. I was thinking about it too but I thought this will be the best line. As silicone is quite flexible, I hope it will not be a problem. There isn't ideal way for the neck, as there are 2 pairs of widest spots on it's sides. It's not half of the neck in one mold, half in another, but it still close enough. Left ear may be trickier...

[DannyBoy7783]

Hey Ivar, wonderful as always....

2 things:

1. For loose figure joints people recomend putting super glue in to the joint and then working the joint until it has dried completely. This sort of coats all the parts with a thin layer making it a little bit tighter. You have to be very careful though that it is totally dry otherwise you may end up with stuck joints!. Antoher way, which I haven't tried but might work (I just thought it up now) would be to use elmer's white glue perahps and do the same thing as stated above. A third option if you just want to display them would be to use hot glue on the joints. It generally comes off easily from plastic when you pull on it so it wouldn't leave a permanent mess.


2. If you have cling wrap inside your mold won't that totally change the surface texture? Won't the mold come out with cling wrap marks all over it? Even if the cling wrap isn't used the actually casting process it looks like you are using it on the hellboy during the molding process. I might just be seeing this wrong though.

I want one of your busts real bad :)

[Ivar_L]

Thanks for the tips, I will try something!...

Cling film is only between bust and plastiliin and is there only to protect sculpt from it. When I remove plastiliin (maybe I should write plastiline? It MAY be the same thing...) to replace it with silicone I will also remove cling. There is nothing between silicone and plaster and between silicone and sculpt. When I pour the silicone, it will fill (I hope!) the room between sculpt and plaster and plastiliin/clay wall.

[DannyBoy7783]

Ok, but when you are making the mold you have the cling wrap stuck to the hellboy bust to protect it. So isn't the cling rap between the bust and the molding material? Wouldn't the cling wrap leave an impression in the mold because it is between the bust and the molding material. If I am just wrong and don't understand feel free to just say so. I don't really need to understand why I'm wrong if I am :)

[Ivar_L]

Er... don't ask me, I'm doing it the first time...
:)

But seriously, maybe I understood what confuses you.
There is a picture where you see the mold with bust-like hole in the plastiliin and cling film inside it. This is not the mold side I did today. I put the bust back inside. So, there is plaster mold with plastiliin, cling film and sculpture inside it. This is one side of the mold. On the same time, the OTHER side is cleaned up, there is only plaster and nothing more. I connect the two plaster sides and fill this OTHER side (there was plastiliin and cling film when I made the plaster side, but isn't anymore) with silicone. That's what I did today. The next step is to remove all the plastiliin and cling from the first side, clean it up, connect the sides (one has silicone inside) with some vaseline and make other silicone side.

Cling wasn't wrapping the bust, there was 2 cling films - one between one side's plastiliin and bust and another for another side.

[DannyBoy7783]

ok, not sure if I followed that but I'll take your word for it Ivar that you know what you are doing :) the mistake I was talking about seems too obvious to be missed anyway. Good luck!

[Ivar_L]

In fact, silicone is hard! It means I will have two molds soon - one for my Hellboy bust and another for my Little Sandman! (picture in my art thread) Now I need to sculpt something new. And fast!
:)

I will take new photos when I open the mold tomorrow, I hope they will explain all...
:)

[tomasej]

Er... don't ask me, I'm doing it the first time...
:)

But seriously, maybe I understood what confuses you.
There is a picture where you see the mold with bust-like hole in the plastiliin and cling film inside it. This is not the mold side I did today. I put the bust back inside. So, there is plaster mold with plastiliin, cling film and sculpture inside it. This is one side of the mold. On the same time, the OTHER side is cleaned up, there is only plaster and nothing more. I connect the two plaster sides and fill this OTHER side (there was plastiliin and cling film when I made the plaster side, but isn't anymore) with silicone. That's what I did today. The next step is to remove all the plastiliin and cling from the first side, clean it up, connect the sides (one has silicone inside) with some vaseline and make other silicone side.

Cling wasn't wrapping the bust, there was 2 cling films - one between one side's plastiliin and bust and another for another side.


So what your saying is the cling wrap wasn't on the half you were actually making the mold from. It was there to protect the half you weren't working with from getting plastiline all over it. The plastiline was kind of a place holder for the silicone that was dumped in one half at a time?

[JohnThompson]

So what your saying is the cling wrap wasn't on the half you were actually making the mold from. It was there to protect the half you weren't working with from getting plastiline all over it. The plastiline was kind of a place holder for the silicone that was dumped in one half at a time?
Yes! (if I may be so bold as to answer for Ivar) :D

[Ivar_L]

Yes!
:)

And here are the pictures from today when the silicone had cured a little over 20 hours:

http://img140.echo.cx/img140/1589/hellboysilicone091vr.jpg

A couple of things to note here:

I used a lot of vaseline on the inside borders of the plaster "mother mold", but white silicone still came through it on the bottom side. (Mold was in different position all the curing time, pouring hole up.) I knew it could happen, but still was a little bit bold and used (some 3 layers of) simple masking tape to seal the sides. Silicone didn't leak out from behind the paper tape, so it worked.
Instead of sculpting the channel from where the casting material will go to the mold, I used a neck of the Sprite bottle. As there is a layer of silicone around it what goes out of the plaster mold, I used plastiliin to seal the surrounding crevice (is it the right word?). This plastiliin is still there on the photo.
There is a small hole visible. I drilled it, because plaster mold needed an extra hole for the air to come out of the mold. It goes to the highest point inside the plaster mold silicone needed to fill. There is a narrow zone inside this mold (on the lower part of the backside of the bust), so it helped the silicone to flow through it to the bust part of the mold. By the way, the silicone pouring hole was right over the Sun icon on the base. When I was pouring the silicone and saw it finally coming through this small hole, I knew that whole space between plaster and sculpt was filled with silicone.


And here is first plaster-silicone mold side right after I opened it and without any clean-up:

http://img140.echo.cx/img140/5153/hellboysilicone107vf.jpg

There is a layer of vaseline on the plaster border around the silicone. I need to clean it up. Also, I need to remove all the excess silicone what got between the plaster sides. This silicone can go through very small holes (a good thing!) so there is some visible on the neck of the Hellboy and between the bricks on the front of the base. I'm suprised there is so little of it, looks like I sealed the brick wall seams quite good... I will remove all the un-needed silicone as also some small pieces of plastiliin what stuck from other side of the mold.

So, tomorrow morning I will clean it up and so the first side of the mold is ready! I already removed most of the plastiliin from the other plaster side (and the cling film too!!!). It was the lower part of the mold, so plastiliin didn't come out of it nearly as nicely as from the top side of the mold I'm finishing. I need to do A LOT of clean-up there...

And then it's time for pouring the other side of the silicone. And then the mold is ready!

[Ivar_L]

I tried to draw a chart about how I understand this mold making process:

http://img110.echo.cx/img110/4814/skeem5on.jpg

[Ivar_L]

http://img85.echo.cx/img85/402/hellboysilicone116bg.jpg

[DannyBoy7783]

that diagram helps. I think I finally understand how you did all of this Ivar.

[citymadeofash]

I still say Ivar, that even your molds look beautiful!

[Grim Tim]

Ivar - while the size of your sculpture doesn't necessarily warrant the making of a matrix mold, in my opinion (but then again, I'm used to making molds the "quick and dirty" way), I must say that you have done a *magnificent* job on it - especially for never having done one before! Superb job!

And while I am sure that you are aware, I just wanted to stress the fact that a release agent (such as the Vaseline that you have been using, which should work just fine) needs to be applied to the first half of the silicone, before you pour the second half - silicone bonds to itself, and without said release agent, it would become one solid piece of rubber with no way to remove the sculpture, save cutting it out (which would be bad, for obvious reasons).

Anyway, once again, very nice work. You're now a dangerous man, what with the sculpting skill AND your newly acquired proficiency at mold making! ;)

[citymadeofash]

all I can say is "I want one I want one!"

[Johann]

Whoo, I finally get all this. It's certainly coming alone. And maybe one day, i too will attempt this process.

[Ivar_L]

Hi all,
some minutes ago I finished my mold's another plaster side. I messed with it much more it's worth, but as it's my first time, I wanted to make this matrix mold as good and clean as I only could...

I had some problems here - plastiline I used came off very easily from the first plaster side, it was practically clean right away. But this side was different. It was the first one I made and it was most of the time the lower side, so the plastiline stuck there pretty thightly. Also, as this was my first try to use plaster, there was several cracks I wanted to fill before pouring silicone.
I hope I will get to this tomorrow. Then I will see my (hopefully) finished mold on Sunday.

Grim Tim wrote:
Ivar - while the size of your sculpture doesn't necessarily warrant the making of a matrix mold, in my opinion...Yes, it's not that big or complicated. But as the main reason for making all this was learning, I wanted to make this mold as by-the-book as I could. I think it was a very good tutorial for myself, as the plane separating mold's sides is not the simpliest. And there's another reason for a matrix - it takes much less silicone than box mold.
...I must say that you have done a *magnificent* job on it - especially for never having done one before! Superb job! It's a little too early to say that, but - thanks! :)
And while I am sure that you are aware, I just wanted to stress the fact that a release agent ... needs to be applied to the first half of the silicone Of course. It will be pretty precise brushing as I don't want to touch the sculpt with vaseline... I hope a very thin layer will be enough?...
Anyway, once again, very nice work. You're now a dangerous man, what with the sculpting skill AND your newly acquired proficiency at mold making! I'm far away from America so I think I'm not THAT dangerous... :) But of course I have nothing against if some American company wants to buy this sculpt and produce it...
;)

I'll try to start something new soon. In fact I already started preparations for another bust like this one. Reference picture is ready as also front and profile sketches, I will try to make an armature tomorrow. It will be easier and I will NOT mess with the base as much as with Hellboy's. I won't post as many work-in-progress pictures as this time. There is already an official bust quite similar, so I don't think it will be as interesting to other people. It's just for me to stand together on my shelf with my Hellboy. Also, as it's not Hellboy character, I don't think this thread is a right place for it, I will post pictures to my art thread.

PS (I won't make a new thread for this): I saw Batman Begins today. It was a very special screening for only maybe 5 people. (In fact I saw another film today - Cindarella Man, so two good films in one day). I write about DVD-s for our local FHM and have some friends in movie theathers' company, so I got asked to the screenings and if I can, I go. For example, I saw Sith movie on 29th April.
Anyway - I'm not very much a superhero person, but this was enjoyable movie. City was fantastic, as also Cillian "28 Days Later" Murphy as Scarecrow (and all other actors) . First time I saw logic behind every gadget, cave, costume or behaving in a superhero movie. Good movie and I think the ending fills all Batman fans with joy. Maybe the best set-up for sequel I've seen...
Only things what could have been better (or just a little bit different) are the beginning and and the action scene at the end, both were a little bit jumpy. But that's all.
I still think that best comic book movies are X-Men films and Ghost World (and The Crow), but this one was really close. My friend thought there could've been more blackish humour, but I think there was enough. I was hoping some more irony from Constantine... Different tastes.
I hope there will be longer cut on DVD...

[Grim Tim]

Yes, it's not that big or complicated. But as the main reason for making all this was learning, I wanted to make this mold as by-the-book as I could. I think it was a very good tutorial for myself, as the plane separating mold's sides is not the simpliest. And there's another reason for a matrix - it takes much less silicone than box mold.
Yeah, I kinda' figured the reason you were doing it that way was to experience the whole process - I definitely approve and salute you... and you *are* doing a very good job of it. And yes, not only do matrix molds require less silicone, but they're generally a lot more stable than quickie box molds. But at the shops that I've worked at, the usual motto is "waste anything but time," so the amount of silicone we go through isn't exactly a great concern.

Of course. It will be pretty precise brushing as I don't want to touch the sculpt with vaseline... I hope a very thin layer will be enough?...
Absolutely - a thin layer would be best. Just make sure the silicone is completey covered with Vaseline, and you'll be golden.

[Ivar_L]

So, I have my molds. The are not perfect, but they are ready. Here are the pictures from the last couple of days:

Second plaster side is cleaned up, repaired and ready:

http://img85.echo.cx/img85/8620/hellboymold268qt.jpg

Here is the mold before opening today:

http://img85.echo.cx/img85/6379/hellboysilicone126vb.jpg

I mixed the second side's silicone yesterday, as I wanted to have it hard and ready today, Sunday. Sadly I had very little time to do it slowly and to think about all aspects... So I forgot several things. I learned a lot from this mold making process, I will write the most important lessons down later today.

[Ivar_L]

Here are the finished matrix mold sides.

Silicone molds inside the plaster sides:
http://img85.echo.cx/img85/5906/hellboysilicone135ix.jpghttp://img85.echo.cx/img85/7454/hellboysilicone143dr.jpg

Silicone molds:

http://img85.echo.cx/img85/269/hellboysilicone157wt.jpg

Silicone mold and it's plaster mother mold:

http://img85.echo.cx/img85/493/hellboysilicone166lm.jpg

I will write more about my mold making experience later today. All comments and questions are welcome!
:-)

[JohnThompson]

All comments and questions are welcome!
:-)
I got a question: when are you gonna pour some resin into this mother??? :D

Oh yeah, and when do I get my casting?

[Ivar_L]

That's a tough question...
Let's see first what I can do with the materials I can get and with some acrylics later. I hope I can pour SOMETHING into it on Tuesday... I don't have resin, I have only some resin-plaster, this is the first material I will try. I will get some two part resin and pigment later from a friend who makes canoes, so I will try his material. Looks like this bust takes some 600 g of whatever material it takes. Or at least it's volume is ca 0.6 liters.

I need to do some clean-up work with silicone molds first, there is some miniature excess silicone there. Also, there are some bubble holes... Was thinking about fixing/filling some of them with needle and minimal amount of mixed silicone... Or maybe it sounds too crazy? I just don't know is it easier to fill them now or to try to cut them out of the copies after casting...

Longer raport about the bubbles and other stuff later when I'm back home from work.

[JohnThompson]

I need to do some clean-up work with silicone molds first, there is some miniature excess silicone there. Also, there are some bubble holes... Was thinking about fixing/filling some of them with needle and minimal amount of mixed silicone... Or maybe it sounds too crazy? I just don't know is it easier to fill them now or to try to cut them out of the copies after casting...
I would advise against trying to fill bubbles in the mold with more silicone. :eek:

The bubbles will appear as tiny balls of resin on the surface of your casts, and will easily trim off after demolding.

[Ivar_L]

So, I opened my mold today. Screw-driver was handy. I destroyed small part of plaster side (need to fix it later), but the mold opened. Thin layer of vaseline worked well.

Most of the stuff I tried to do when making this mold I learned from different tutorials. I didn't copy any of them, also there are several details I invented myself (and for myself) - supporting cardboard base, for example. Or Sprite bottle trick - it was pretty good idea and worked very well, it was much easier than to try to sculpt this casting material canal. The exact way I separated the mold for two sides was also my idea. I like how the mold and separating line/plane running around the bust is asymmertrical. I don't know how much clean-up I will need to do after casting, but I think this kind of line between mold sides is much more undetectable than symmetrical. Or a straight line what runs around the bust and through the Sun and Moon icons.

Mostly the silicone mold looks very good.

The biggest problem with silicone and also with resin (I think) are bubbles. Without vacuum chamber it's quite hard to get all the air out of the silicone.

One thing I learned is that the position of the mold when curing should be such that in every part of the mold there is a room for bubbles to move vertically away from the sculpt. If there are big undercuts, then bubbles will still move up but they will gather to the surface of the sculpt and there will be holes. That was probably the biggest mistake I made - I should've made the silicone pouring hole symmetrical to the base's sides, so, that on the curing time they could've been in this position:
/\
Another big mistake was that I forgot to brush the surface of the sculpt with silicone before sealing the sides.
Also, I should have drilled a couple of holes for the air to come out from the plaster. And some shaking could've removed some of the bubbles... Also, some more waiting after mixing the silicone and there could have been less micro-holes. The working time of the silicone I used is 100 minutes, there was time to wait a little bit more.

So, I have my bubbles. Fortunately not many and only a couple of them can be a real problem.

The front side of the Hellboy is perfect, no bubble-holes there. Backside has many visible micro-bubbles, but it looks like they are not open, there is membrane of silicone between bubble and sculpt. There is one 1.5 mm bubblehole on the shoulder of Hellboy which is open.

On the base the most problematic is the front. There are some bubbles in Hellboy logo, also there is one between two leaves. That's the one I really don't like - I need to carve and fix not only the sides of the leaves but also the brick wall seam between them.

This bubble-filling idea of mine was not a good one, I will not try it. I will see how the first casting turns out. If I really don't like the base's front and the clean-up carving I need to do with every cast, I have another idea how to fix the mold. This Hellboy bust is one big experiment, after all.

What else I learned from all of that?

The silicone layer in matrix mold can be quite thin. I think 1.5cm (1/2'') is enough. I spent more silicone on this mold than was necessary.
Silicone is quite wobbly and I really can't imagine a stable and deforming-proof box mold. Maybe for small details like hand but not for the whole sculpt. Or it must be really massive... Matrix mold with plaster cover is the way to go.
Removing as much of the air and bubbles from the silicone before pouring is very important, as also brushing the most detailed and crucial parts.
Mold making is not that complicated, after all!

[Ivar_L]

HAA!

http://img272.echo.cx/img272/2816/hellboycast031yi.jpg

:) :) :)

[Petersen]

sweet! nice when it work out isn't it?

[Ming]

:D :D Nice!! :D :D

[JohnThompson]

Excellent cast, Ivar! I'm PM-ing you my address!

[tomasej]

:D :D Very Nice. Congratulations.

[alz]

Very cool! Congrats on the process!

[Xedious]

I still want one of those, btw. :) They turned out nice!

[Ivar_L]

Two kinds of emotions here...
:confused:
On the one side, Hellboy looks amazing. It's heavy - 1 kg. I used German made resin plaster (Rayher). I had 1 kg bag and it took most of it, mixed with 0.3 liter of water. When I opened the mold after half an hour, it was warm - some sort of chemical process was going on.

I'm very critical person, especially about my own creations. But this casting looks so much better than the original that I'm really in awe. I feel like seeing it the first time... Cernit original is kind-of translucent, so the details aren't as visible as they could be. This copy is white and the face looks much better, very angular and cool. There are details and textures I had no idea I sculpted... And I can't take a photo where all this is visible.
:)

The other side of the coin - bubbles. I brushed face, ears, ponytail and logo areas before closing the mold, but there are still bubbles in other places. The worst one is on the sideburns, so one of the lower hairs broke. The good thing is that most of the mold's bubbles are easily removable - the connection with bust is usually so minimal that it takes a little push with sharp sculpting tool and the come off. Even the one between the leaves isn't too bad, so only the ones inside the Hellboy logo will need some presice clean-up.

I'm taking this first casting as test. It has some other imperfections, for example it looks one of the silicone sides was not fully on place inside the plaster, so the bottom front line of the base is not stright. I think I will experiment with this cast and try some acrylics on it...

And now some more pictures!

[Ivar_L]

Mold with plaster inside:

http://img272.echo.cx/img272/5115/hellboycast015oh.jpg

35-40 minutes of curing and - mold right after opening, resin plaster is still warm:

http://img272.echo.cx/img272/4614/hellboycast021zv.jpg

[DannyBoy7783]

Dibs on that one! :)

[Ivar_L]

Here is the test cast before any clean-up. The cast looks like it was right out of the mold.

http://img272.echo.cx/img272/6241/hellboycast04a6yc.jpghttp://img272.echo.cx/img272/677/hellboycast04b7gu.jpg

http://img272.echo.cx/img272/155/hellboycast057rq.jpghttp://img272.echo.cx/img272/5458/hellboycast066eu.jpg

[Jakob Westman]

Wow Ivar,
that's SUPER cool!! I'm thrilled it all worked out so well.

Me wants... / Jakob

[alz]

Holy Cow! Freakin' nice close-up shots :)

[Johann]

Congatulations man! It's beautiful.

[morna]

ya it's funny how much more texture it seems to have now that it's cast. Beautiful work Ivar!

[Griffin]

Absolutely brilliant!

[Gene Poonyo]

WOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!
Very Impressive!!!

[DannyBoy7783]

morna, nice avatar :)

[Ivar_L]

Hi and thanks!

Want to see what I started today?...
;)

http://img140.echo.cx/img140/9097/sincitypreview6kz.jpg

[DannyBoy7783]

So I decided I'm going to give up sculpting and kidnap Ivar and enslave him. I will make him toil for decades churning these wonderful busts out for me. Watch out Ivar, I'm coming for you.

[JohnThompson]

Hi and thanks!

Want to see what I started today?...
Uhh.... :confused:

Is it Jacko after a verdict-celebrating plastic surgery binge? :p

[DannyBoy7783]

I hope you are joking John, hard to tell sometimes with just words :)

[Mikolaj]

The finished sculpture looks totaly amazing!!

[Johann]

Want to see what I started today?...


!!! Man, awhile back when you were still working on Hellboy i was inspired and started to make a Marv bust with the similar style base. Unfortunately i got frustrated and only made a head which subsequently led to a couple of custom Sin City key chains. ie; Marv and Yellow Bastard Roark.

-Well anyway i can't wait to see what you do overtime. And now i don't have to make anything, just watch you're progress. :)

[Ivar_L]

I have nothing new to raport about Hellboy, mostly thinking about various aspects... Also, I hope I will get resin and primer this week, so I will try some more casting and also (hopefully) some coloring. Tried acrylics on a piece of resin plaster and liked what 5-6 different shades of red can do.

I was working a little on my Marv today. I don't think this thread is a right place for those non-Hellboy sculpt pictures, I will show them in my "art" thread. So, last two Marv pics here, from today. This is how it looks at the moment (tried to get some shadows to the picture, but...):

http://img155.echo.cx/img155/912/marv068xw.jpg
http://img155.echo.cx/img155/1970/marv074wu.jpg

This one comes together much faster than Hellboy - today was only the second day I sculpted it (I don't count the day I made the wire-clay armature). It's far from perfect, but I have something to work on.
This time I'll sculpt and bake a separate base. When the head is ready and baked then I will sculpt all other parts of the bust, coat etc. Also, I'm thinking about removing his head (revenge for Kevin! :)) and tilting it a little to the one side. IF I will get to the casting stage, the finished thing should be white with red logo on the base. Or maybe with some additional red splatters on Marv's coat and shirt?...

[BKole]

That is absolutly stunning. Marv is a favourite of mine, and seeing him come to life in a sculpture such as this is...Awe inspiring.

Wow.

[Petersen]

I hate the finish of the material you use. I think it's clear how that affects the photo when you see the side by side of your original and cast of Hellboy.

So it's hard for me to crit the Marv. It's amazingly complete for how little you claim to have worked on it. Perhaps he's not bulky or square enough for my taste, but I could tell who it was at 1st glance...and like I mentioned, some of that may be the finish of the material

[Ivar_L]

Yes, white Cernit doesn't photograph well, it's just too shiny when unbaked and it's nice and white after the first baking. Later it becomes more grey than white.

I think I made the armature on 2 evenings, on second I covered it with clay. It wasn't really sculpting. Today was the third real sculpting session. Each "session" is more or less 3 hours, I think...

http://img221.echo.cx/img221/1439/marv014jo.jpg

Pics 1 and 2 are from the first, 3 is from the second armature day. The clay on the third picture is some Russian made polymer clay, not very good but cheap and I used it the first time to cover the armature.
Pictures 4 and 5 are from the first real sculpting session, 4 shows the Cernit covered armature I baked and use now as the base. 5 shows the face after I started to add small pieces of clay to it.

At the moment I'm sculpting only the head, body will be more massive and shoulder line will be higher. I got to this phase of the face really fast, Marv's face is maybe the best face to compose from little rolls and balls of polymer clay. Now it slows down, as I started to refine all the lines and to try to fix the symmetry of eyes and ears. Mouth is wider now and left side of the face is more detailed, but it's hard to see the difference from the photos, so I will post new ones when there is some significant difference visible.

It started incredibly well, I hope it will stay so. Progress on Hellboy, especially on base was very very slow...

[tomasej]

Hey, Ivar! Are you going to make casts of Marv next? You could develop a nice little cottage business here. So far, he looks great.

[Ming]

1st off sorry for the sucky pics i wanted to post better pics this weekend but JT put a gun to my head....any way this is a work in progress a couple of hours of work started last night.gonna work on this once i finish this post.but if you want an elaborate arry of pics of every nook and cranny it won t happen-unless some one in the ny area wants to donate a digital camera :o .i do have some more pics but these are the ones that i liked....so without further blah blah........

http://mochiindesigns.com/hellboy1.jpg

http://mochiindesigns.com/hellboy2.jpg

[Johann]

Ming, you are a monster.






Brilliant!

[Johann]

oops, double post.

But that really is fantasic, just too cool.

[JohnThompson]

Sweet Baby Jesus, that's cool!!! It looks great so far, Moses! I can't wait to see all the belt doo-hickeys like the crab and fish, the vulture on his back, and the PICKLE MACE!!

Sculpt, grasshopper, sculpt! More, more!

[JohnThompson]

Moses, I just realized:

That's the head of Al Swearengen at HB's feet, isn't it? "Prehistoric" Hellboy sure is a ruthless bastage, ain't he? :D

[Ming]

yup thats c-sucker himself :D ....just got a new roll of film i'm gonna do the whole pro-photo setup for better viewing...so you'll see what it looked like today and sunday on monday .then tuesday i'll get a new roll and you'lll see on wedensday what it looked like on monday :D

[JohnThompson]

Wednesday will be double the anticipation: your new sculpt photos and issue #1 of THE ISLAND!!! :D

[Ming]

NOOK and Cranny Montage tomorrow...thats if anybody other than JT is interested :o

[Ivar_L]

Al's close-ups too, please!
Also - check your camera and if there is a macro mode (usually a flower sign), use this!

[Ming]

...sorry i ment wedensday :o

[tomasej]

Heck yeah!!! We want to see more. Don't you know we're all bunch of nuts who enjoy nothing more than drooling over someone's fabulous sculpture? Err, I meant we're devoted art lovers who appreciate talent.

[JohnThompson]

NOOK and Cranny Montage tomorrow...
...sorry i ment wedensday :o
Tease!
Can't wait, you dirt worshippin' heathen!

[Ming]

the story so far...more pics tonight ;)

http://mochiindesigns.com/helld.jpg

[Maija]

You do fantastic work, Ming!

Can't wait to see how you execute the "vulgar and dangerous" pickle weapon.


You know, kinda like T-Wyrm!

[morna]

Is THAT where that came from!!?? I've always wondered. heh heh

e's looking great Ming!

[Maija]

I've always found that it takes some scrubbing to get the Sculpey residue off of my hands, but I just made a useful discovery.

Calgary is on water restrictions right now because of dirty flood waters over-taxing the water treatment plant so I've been using a hand-sanitizing alchol-based gel for hand washing. It worked like a charm to remove the Sculpey residue! Which makes sense given that alcohol can be used to smooth down Sculpey.

So, that thought led me to try using it to smooth down Sculpey and it works much more nicely than straight alcohol! The viscosity means that it doesn't run down your piece and you don't have to pour out very much of it. It also seems to do a better job of smoothing than straight alcohol. Since I've had a devil of a time finding Sculpey diluent anywhere in Calgary I'm going to just buy a big bottle of hand sanitizing gel and use that instead!

[Jakob Westman]

That's great Ming!
Such a cool pinup, great choice of reference.

Btw, I wish Tim would post an update on the "animated Hellboy" custom he's working on. Any news for us Tim?

/ Jakob

[Jakob Westman]

I have been thinking about how I'd like to see John's bust painted and since he already posted that bronzed version a while back that got me thinking in those paths. I REALLY think it'd look good as a bronze bust. Not red like "this-is-hellboy-himself" but more like "this-is-a-sculpted-and-bronzed-bust-of-hellboy". Especially so with the great textures and crescent shaped cuts that Mignola uses.

So I photoshoped this together where it's in bronze but with a stone base.
Me, I think it looks SUPERB!!

And once again, what a great job John. It really looks amazing!

/ Jakob

[Johann]

Hey ming, whatever happened to that great Krigaffee? I reacall you got frustrated but is it still intact?

oh, and count me in for Nook and Crannies!

[Maija]

THE JEWEL WORSHIPPED BY THE WIZARDS OF MU AND THE BLACK PRIESTS OF ATLANTIS FINALLY PASSED DOWN TO GUNG THE MAGNIFICENT WHO WAS CHOSEN BY THE GODS TO CONQUER THE WORLD...

Here's a part of a larger piece I'm working on. It's about two to two-and-a-half inches square. It's not baked yet as I'd like to sleep on it and maybe tweak some details. Once it's baked I'll be chipping the edges a bit so that it looks like a piece from a recently blown up temple.

And that's all I'm saying about it. ;)

(Just wanted to show that I'm actually sculpting these days, which is why I'm not online much)

[kid cthulhu]

Wow, amazing work by all!

Every time I try to sculpt, I just get frustrated and end up graffiti-ing bus stops. I'm impressed.

And Ruta, that's some nice detail at that size!

Can't wait to see the finished piece, Ming.

And Ivar needs little more encouragement... :D

[Petersen]

with a melon-sized jewel like that I could..dare I say it...rule the world!

[JohnThompson]

Spot on, ruta! You've done it!

Wonderful chunk of temple you've got there. I can imagine this in a shadow-box frame along with the Kalakistan fragment and a replica of Emp. Zombie's crowned-skull medallion. Yes! Anything, only let us have progress!

Jakob, that's one fine looking bust in that color scheme, if I do say!

I got inspired to try a prop replica myself after seeing Grim Tim's amazing work. Not much time in this one yet, but perhaps you can see where I'm going with it...?

[kid cthulhu]

Lookin' good, JT!

[Tad]

ruta, that's the way all the really great temples were constructed: start with the bas relief then fill in the temple bits around it.

Nice work.

[Conundrum]

Ruta and JT- SPLENDID! That chunk is sweet pickles and the bell is dandy! More!

[Petersen]

*ding ding*

I want one outside my front door for guests to ring.

[morna]

Me too! It's looking sweet JT ....and I see you're no longer invisible - nice!

ruta: that fragment is lovely - love the horse's mane

[JohnThompson]

Yeah, I forgot I had that "invisible" thing turned on...

I caught some hell from Ming for that. Turning it off was supposed to produce more pictures of his sculptures.

Moses! We need those "no