There are a lot of clays out there, as you noticed, but there are other questions or needs that should be answered first.
Is weight an issue for the final piece?
Is fragility or sturdiness an issue?
What do you plan on doing with it?
Would you be using it over and over again?
Would you be exposing this to water or the elements?
While the air dry part will vary with the amount of water you use, and the atmospheric conditions at the time and location of use, the sandability or carvability will be the bigger issue. While materials like Sculpy, Super Sculpy, etc. are carvable and sandable, they require baking in your home oven for curing to the point of sanding or carving them. The material, like most clays, gets easier to manipulate or smooth out as you work with it. The more you work it, the softer and more plyable it gets. With water solvent clays, it is the opposite, the more you work it, the faster it dries out unless you add more water to the mix. The down side to water based clays and ceramics is that they have a tendency to be brittle or more fragile when they are only air dried. If you fire them in a kiln, then they can get very hard, but they also become uncarvable or sandable once you have fired them. The water based clays and ceramics are cheaper by the pound than Sculpy products, but a lot less workable, and you can't fire them or bake them in your own oven. The Sculpy clays come in various mixes for different strength needs. They can be worked and reworked almost endlessly before you bake them, then, once baked, they can be carved, sanded, glued, etc. They are waterproof, and can be painted or finished with almost anything.
|
Linear Mode
