Sculpting with Super Sculpey

[Belgian]

Hi, I have recently bought some super sculpey for sculpting and was wondering if this material is handled in the same way as greenstuff? I know you need to bake it but how do you smooth it with? With water? How do you store it?

I need all the basic information but I couldn't find good information online so all help appreciated. 

[Zafarelli]

Supersculpey is quite nice to work with, although a bit different from working with Greenstuff. Smoothing can be done with dry, soft brush - simply brush over the surface until it is smooth. The best part is that you have all the time in the world for corrections. No need to hurry because the putty is starting to set

Here is a tutorial, one of the best I know: http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.de/2010/01/massive-voodoo-sculpting-tutorial.html

[Vermis]

A brilliant step-by-step tutorial at conceptart.org, here, and some other great SBS photos linked from here. They are for larger-scaled figurines though, so maybe not as applicable as Mati's excellent tute.

Case in point: from those examples and others, I gather that the main way to work polymer clay is to push and scrape it with fingers, loops, rakes and a few wooden or metal tools, no lubrication. In the first one, at least, surfaces are smoothed before baking by brushing with thinners or similar. But it's not the only way, as Zafarelli says; and I've found that with oil-based polyclays at miniature scales, the same old wax carver + water routine works pretty well. Just a little differently.

Couple extra pointers: watch out where and how you're baking it, especially in an oven normally used for food. Overbaking can let off some fumes, and you don't want plasticisers in the clay touching any plate or tray you'll eat off. Also, be careful handling baked super sculpey, 'cos it can get fairly brittle. See some links, especially the strength test, here.

[fastolfrus]

Is it similar to working with Fimo?

http://www.staedtler.co.uk/en/inspirations/for-creative-hobby-users/

[Connectamabob]

Fimo Classic* is firmer and has more elastic memory in it's uncured state, but otherwise yes. They are both polymer clays, so the general rules and techniques are the same.

IMO Fimo Classic is better for sculpting wee tiny details, Super Sculpy is better for larger stuff. I don't use plain Super Sculpy anymore myself, as I dislike the translucent flesh tone (nice if you're making doll heads, I suppose, but it's not the best for seeing detail while you're working). My favorite is to mix a one 1lb block of Super Sculpy with 2 little blocks of Fimo Classic (one black, one white) to create neutral grey clay with with great detail and smoothing abilities. There is a grey version of SS called Super Sculpy Firm, but the SS/Fimo mix does detail better.

*There's a newer type of Fimo called Fimo Soft, which is pretty similar to Super Sculpy in consistency, and which unfortunately seems to be edging Fimo Classic off store shelves.

[Belgian]

Thanks for all the useful comments, much appreciated! 

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

But what do you do when it's done. You can't make a vulcanized mold from it b/c it can't stand the process - at least that is my understanding.

[FramFramson]

But what do you do when it's done. You can't make a vulcanized mold from it b/c it can't stand the process - at least that is my understanding.

My understanding is that it can be done, but your caster must be very good at their job - the original figure will absolutely be destroyed by the moulding process and you have to do an extra step to get something you can cast in a vulcanized rubber mould (I forget what the extra, intermediate step is).

So no, you can't DIRECTLY mould it, but it can be used to produce proper production figures.

I think a number of French and other European sculptors are using Fimo/Sculpey as their primary working material.

[Barbarian]

Super Sculpey won't stick to anything.
You need to put a little bit of green Stuff on your wire to make it stick to it.
Super Sculpey, once baked is a bit fragile.
You need to put a structural wire in everything.

[Connectamabob]

IMO for "normal" figures epoxy is better. It's much more durable for stuff that's going straight on the table, and it's much less fuss if you want to use the sculpt as a master for metal casting. Polymer clay's main advantage is you're not working on a timer like you are with epoxy, but that matters less and less the smaller the piece is, in my experience.

Sculpts above 90mm or so are where the advantages really start to turn in polymer clay's favor. Larger sculpts IMO can get really awkward with epoxy, as with bigger stuff it kinda forces you to work in limited sections instead of wholistically. And once you get above 50mm the piece gets exponentially better off being cast in resin rather than metal anyway.

[Vermis]

the original figure will absolutely be destroyed by the moulding process and you have to do an extra step to get something you can cast in a vulcanized rubber mould (I forget what the extra, intermediate step is).

Silicon mould?

I think a number of French and other European sculptors are using Fimo/Sculpey as their primary working material.

Yup. Some ex-Rackham sculptors whose names escape me at the moment, prefer sculpting in fimo classic. It's recently been combined with fimo's puppen label (their doll-making polymer clay, also decent stuff) under the name fimo professional. I'm not sure just what changes in formulation and working properties have been made, though.

A lot of European sculptors like working in milliput too, perhaps unusually, seemingly for 54mm+ display figures than wargaming minis. See if you can find some wips and sculpts for Andrea etc.

Super Sculpey, once baked is a bit fragile.
You need to put a structural wire in everything.

Super sculpey is notoriously brittle. First I heard of it was a comment in The Art of Star Wars: Episode One, where maquettes had to be cast in resin before the super sculpey originals fell apart. Others are more sturdy after baking: take a look at this strength test.

And what Connectamabob said. +1

[nic-e]

sculpey is what you will find used by alot of pro model makers.it is AMAZINGLY good at capturing detail due to it not being as elastic as anything else, but it will shatter and crumble like stale breadcrumbs if you overbake it slightly. if you bake it well it should stand up long enough to be part of a single model or be used to cast a master.

[Marine0846]

A lot of interesting comments in this post.
I don't sculpt other than a little green stuff here and there.
Am just blown away by what people on this forum know.
Thanks for taking to time to  share.

[Mindenbrush]

Carmen's Fun Painty Time - he did a whole thread on using Super Sculpty in making homes etc for cavemen
http://carmensminiaturepainting.blogspot.ca/search?updated-min=2008-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&updated-max=2009-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&max-results=50

[sundayhero]

I'm pretty sure there is (or were) some pro french sculptors using this kind of putty !

I like FIMO soft putty, personnaly. It's cheap, and very good quality. I use the champagne or skintone colors.