[marcb.]

I'll be sculpting a full head latex mask pretty soon, and just bought some WED clay for the sculpt.

Now there should be some sculptors out there that use WED clay for mask making and prosthetic sculpting; so what I would like to know is by how long can WED clay stay workable till the point of dryness occurs, even if I cover the sculpt if I'm not finished with the work.

I know its not like water-based modeling clay like for ceramics, but there must be a limit a sculpture has before the clay turns hard and starts cracking.

I like to know.

 

[UnOrthodOx]

Unfortunately, there's not going to be a hard and fast rule here as too many variables. Temp, humidity, thickness of the piece all play a part.

That said, WED was made to dry much slower than most water base clays and if you keep it covered and maybe even keep a spray bottle on hand to keep the 'top' of it moist, you should have practical indefinite workable time. I've never pushed it more than a week, myself before I was done with a sculpt.

 

[Brianaala]

WED clay (named for Walt E. Disney who commissioned it) is just water clay with some glycerin in the mix; so it will stay moist for a longer time (on average about 4-5 times longer). Apart from this one of the most desirable characteristics is that it gets to the "leathery" stage, and stays there for a long time which is great for detail work. Like anything though, UnOrthodOx is absolutely right, there are a ton of variables and the actual working time will vary, just play with it until it does what you want! I hope this helps!