[spooky little girl]

Hey anyone play with clay? I just tried some this weekend. I think the "rotten pumpin" might be a theme this year. The Creationon the right is actually a ring holder to put next to my kitchen sink, but my daughter thinks it looks like a ghost. Good girl!!

 

[victoria1313]

I make all my art with super sculpey polymer clay - ck out my album - trolls etc made by me

 

[spooky little girl]

Vic,

Your work is amazing! Wow that's a lot of Sculpey!!! Nice job

 

[Baron Samedi]

I use Das clay extensively, for prop making and for some of the sculpting on my "Movie Monsters" figures.

SLG,
Those little fellas are as cute as all hell..and yeah, the one on the right does look like a ghost!

 

[spooky little girl]

Baron,

Question for you on Das clay. How long does it take to dry, and does it crack at all?

 

[DeepSix]

I use Fimo clay, I find sculpey is just too horrible to work with. It's very gummy (sticky and soft) and crumbles way too easily. That's just my experience with it.

 

[Baron Samedi]

Baron,

Question for you on Das clay. How long does it take to dry, and does it crack at all?

Das clay is very crack resistant, I've never had any problems with cracking.
It's very easy to work and very durable when dry. I normally find that it dries quite satifactorily if left overnight.
I've never tried drying it artificially (hairdryer or heatlamps) so I don't know if it would crack under these conditions.

If you've never used Das, I would certainly recommend giving it a try.
It's very reasonably priced and widely available at many art and craft stores.

 

[Skulkin]

Spooky little girl, those are great. Sounds like your girl has your genes! I thought he was a ghost, too.

 

[Zombie Machairodont]

Aw, they're adorably spooky! Sounds like you are rubbing off on your daughter quite nicely .
I have only dabbled a bit with clays and I hope to do more, but I really like Fimo (you can bake the stuff over and over unlike many other polymer clays). I've also worked with paper clays on my beastly-skull masks because they dry very light, but I have had some problems with cracking if they are on a base form like styrofoam or plaster strips. I would love to find some Precious Metal Clays since they sculpt like polymer clays - too cool - but I can't seem to find them in stores (and I would prefer not to order online if I can help it). Has anyone seen the PCMs in stores? Sounds like I need to try Das clay as well!

 

[spooky little girl]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm in a bit of a pickle right now, I think. I used regular old air drying clay over a styrofoam head last night, which turned out great.....but this morning it was cracked to all hell. So I reached for the first thing I could think of and painted elmers glue on. Then I thought what if the glue makes it crack more? So I painted some glaze on top of that. I certainly hope that my hours of sculpting last night are not in vain. I imagine it might need something else to make it more sturdy now???? Any ideas?

 

[Spats]

I'm a Magic-Sculp fan, and you should be, too.

Google it and spend money.

 

[Moonie]

Yall have given some great advice

 

[spooky little girl]

Two more cuties I made last night. Thanks for all the clay advice!

 

[victoria1313]

a manniquin head instead of a foam head will allow u 2 sculpt over better- at least with poylmer clays
sculpey comes in different forms, i use super sculpey its beige, u must make sure its soft and fresh b4 buying it

 

[Zombie Machairodont]

I had a fairly similar problem when sculpting my lobo-drake mask, which was paper clay over a styrofoam base. It also developed huge cracks as it air dried, which I also filled with white glue to keep things in position. Once it was fully dried, I filled the cracks with more clay (which thankfully didn't really pull-away from the previously dried clay) and then heavily varnished the whole thing. I know (boy, do I know) how frustrating it can be to find your medium misbehaving, but remember it is a learning experience. I hope it works out for you!

 

[spooky little girl]

Thanks Zombie M,

It's good to know I'm not alone on the learning curve. I like to think that my yankee ingenuity helps me out of messes like that!

Victoria,

I'm thinking it might be easier to sculpt over a REAL head the next time. That way the clay won't dry out for at least a good 3 months. But EEEEWWW the smell. !!!!

Wow, I'm really getting in the spirit, ain't I?

 

[runswithvampires]

i use sculpey clay to make my jewelry.

 

[runswithvampires]

heres a site that should help with making things with clay. good tips Making handcrafted jewelry from polymer clay

 

[Baron Samedi]

I'm thinking it might be easier to sculpt over a REAL head the next time. That way the clay won't dry out for at least a good 3 months. But EEEEWWW the smell. !!!!

Hmmm..Shouldn't be a problem if you shove a couple of drinking straws up your victim's...er, subject's...nose before covering his/her head with clay..oh, you might want to stick one in their mouth too.

Don't matter too much if you forget the straws though, if you apply the clay properly, it should seal in any pong.
(Think "House of Wax" and "Mystery of the Wax Museum")