Easiest way to drape a simple blanket over a figure?

[FramFramson]

Very basic sculpting question.

I have to sculpt a sick/injured man under blankets for an upcoming scenario. In the interests of expediency, I'm using some legs and a head (and possibly some arms) from bits sprues, which I then am going to cover with a blanket.

One of the many problems I tend to have with greenstuff and it's ilk is trying to retain the form of anything that will go in place. So I could form a thin square or rectangle on a flat surface, but the problem is transferring that to drape over a figure and fold/tuck into place without it becoming horribly distorted. Alternately, I should probably sculpt it in place as you would in a proper sculpture, but then it will be harder (for me) to create the blanket effect, getting a consistent thickness or trimming the edges cleanly/square.

Is there an easy way to do this using greenstuff? Or alternately, maybe there's a different material I could use, like rag paper, or fabric soaked in glue? What's the simplest approach that will look reasonably decent (i.e. allow me to work in a few folds to make it look like a decent blanket)?

[Wirelizard]

Try working the blanket out on a flat surface, with patterns, fringe, etc, then leaving it to partially cure for a while. If you use a bit of cooking oil on whatever flat surface you've used, the partially cured greenstuff will lift right off and your blanket could then be very gently molded around your figure.

I'm not sure what "a while" would be in terms of actual time, mind you. Some experimentation might be in order.

[gary42]

I've seen some excellent draped tarps using that stiff tissue paper and thinned white glue.  That might work!  It really seems to cling to whats underneath.

[Pijlie]

Paper tissue and white glue would be my suggestion as well.

[Silent Invader]

I've just finished adding a lot of cloaks to minis, which is essentially the same thing.

I used crumpled paper (to break the fibres to form the folded shape), fixed it with superglue then skinned it with greenstuff.

The project has a long wip thread in LAF's medieval section.  Alternatively there's a summary of what I did on the project website (item 4):

http://www.winterwreakswild.uk/index_how.html

[gary42]

Those cloaks look great!,

[Ssendam]

Paper and glue is probably your best method after using Green stuff, which I find requires a certain amount of skill/experience to use properly, although you can more easily apply a texture, like fur. Remember to use a bit of water when working with it which might make it easier to transfer from a rolled flat sheet to the model.

In my experience tissue paper tends to be a bit too thin and once wet with the PVA glue it conforms to all the contours of the model creating a layer on the surface.  That can of course be useful, or not, depending on what you want to achieve and you can layer it for a bit more thickness.

Paper works for me when I've been putting clothes on skeletons ( ... that's an odd sentence ... ). I found it was easy to cut to shape and I socked it in watered down PVA first to make it nice and soft before applying with a brush.

I hope that is some food for thought ...

Good luck.

[Connectamabob]

If it's a one-off or for resin casting, paper tissue soaked with glue, as others have suggested.

If it's for metal casting, roll your putty sheet on a piece of kitchen plastic wrap, or a sheet of plastic cut from a ziplock bag. Don't powder or grease the plastic: you want the putty to stick to it for this. Cut the square from both the putty and plastic as one, flip it over, and transfer to the figure, putty side down. Press and sculpt the blanket folds through the plastic. The plastic "backing" helps the putty sheet retain it's form, and when the putty has cured, the plastic will just peel right off like a sticker backing.

Kitchen wrap is thinner than ziplock bag plastic, but ziplock bag plastic is much more ductile. So kitchen wrap will naturally simulate realistic drapery by actually wrinkling and folding when pressed, but it will wrinkle instead of stretch if you try to make compound curves. Ziplock bag plastic will do the opposite: if you try to make it wrinkle like drapery, it'll just stretch evenly like skin instead.

*EDIT* BIG IMPORTANT THING I FORGOT TO MENTION: You need to thin the putty to a very soft consistency (knead water or alcohol into it) for best results, otherwise the force required to deform the putty will tear the plastic. Being stuck to the putty concentrates the tensile stresses from localized pressure into a much smaller area, so it will tear much easier than it does in the kitchen. This will be especially be true with Green Stuff. *EDIT*

Here's an old test I did years ago with Aves using kitchen wrap. The Shapes a round because I just rolled a few blobs out for the test, but did not think to cut them:

[Silent Invader]

Those cloaks look great!,

Thanks  

The superglue is key as it pretty much immediately fixes the 'cloth' folds whereas PVA makes them much more clingy. The superglued paper then provides a hard frame for the skim of greenstuff.

[Connectamabob]

Those cloaks do look brilliant. The difference between white glue an superglue is good info. I've used superglue saturated paper for raised panels on vehicles, but I've never actually done the paper-for-cloth thing.

[SBRPearce]

Those Aves test swatches look like the leather upholstery of a really deep club-chair or sofa! Thanks for sharing - now I have an idea for some furniture for a Pulp-era project.

[Vermis]

Came in here to see if I could provide some kind of answer and ended up taking some away. I'm going to have to try out some of these techniques. Still not quite sure on the difference between cling film and ziplock plastic, but I can easily find out for myself.

[FramFramson]

If it's a one-off or for resin casting, paper tissue soaked with glue, as others have suggested.

If it's for metal casting, roll your putty sheet on a piece of kitchen plastic wrap, or a sheet of plastic cut from a ziplock bag. Don't powder or grease the plastic: you want the putty to stick to it for this. Cut the square from both the putty and plastic as one, flip it over, and transfer to the figure, putty side down. Press and sculpt the blanket folds through the plastic. The plastic "backing" helps the putty sheet retain it's form, and when the putty has cured, the plastic will just peel right off like a sticker backing.

Kitchen wrap is thinner than ziplock bag plastic, but ziplock bag plastic is much more ductile. So kitchen wrap will naturally simulate realistic drapery by actually wrinkling and folding when pressed, but it will wrinkle instead of stretch if you try to make compound curves. Ziplock bag plastic will do the opposite: if you try to make it wrinkle like drapery, it'll just stretch evenly like skin instead.

Here's an old test I did years ago with Aves using kitchen wrap. The Shapes a round because I just rolled a few blobs out for the test, but did not think to cut them:

Amazing stuff! This is brilliant! Exactly the sort of "Old hand's trick" I was hoping for - and then some! 

[Connectamabob]

Still not quite sure on the difference between cling film and ziplock plastic, but I can easily find out for myself.

Picture poking your finger into a water balloon (without popping it). The latex skin of the balloon is stretchy, so it deforms as a smooth, rounded dimple around your finger. This is what ziplock plastic does.

Now put a linnen pillowcase over the balloon, and poke it again. The cloth doesn't stretch, so in order to deform it pulls itself into folds radiating around your finder. This is what cling film does.

One other important point: since the film doesn't stretch so much, you need to sculpt either concentrically outward from the center, or in a "sweep" from one side of the sheet to the other, pressing your sculpting/embossing tools with a diagonal bias towards the already sculpted areas. This is because every deformation you apply will pull sheet from the surrounding area (surface area of the plastic sheet is a constant, and will be conserved across the total sheet: like wrinkles on a bedsheet or tablecloth, rather than the surface of clay like you're used to). By sculpting with diagonal pressures towards the already sculpted areas, you make the sheet pull from the unsculpted areas so it doesn't undo the stuff you've already sculpted.

[sundayhero]

I've just finished adding a lot of cloaks to minis, which is essentially the same thing.

I used crumpled paper (to break the fibres to form the folded shape), fixed it with superglue then skinned it with greenstuff.

The project has a long wip thread in LAF's medieval section.  Alternatively there's a summary of what I did on the project website (item 4):

http://www.winterwreakswild.uk/index_how.html

Really nice result, and clever technic. I would never thought doing this myself. I saved the tutorial, thanks !