A test with Pro-Create (greystuff)

[Duke Donald]

I did run out of greenstuff and the new batch I ordered has never arrived. Thus, I decided to use some Pro-Create (greystuff) that I had lying around. I bought it a while ago but never used it for a proper sculpt as my first impression hadn't been too favourable.

After having sculpted this mini, I have to revise my opinion; While it is a bit disconcerting at first, this is a really nice putty. It feels nearly like a clay. It is very firm, easy to smooth and takes details well. It also can be filed. Another nice property I've discovered is how temperature sensitive it is. It cures in 10 minutes in the oven at 50°C, but remains soft for a long time in the freezer. I put the mini in the freezer as I got interrupted whilst sculpting and when I took it out five hours later, it was still soft.

This is not my best sculpt but with a bit of practice I suspect I could get better results than with greenstuff. Also, it allows sculpting in far less time because it is so easy to smooth, cures so quickly in the oven and doesn't have to be built up over so many successive layers as greenstuff. I sculpted this mini in about twelve hours, which for my standards is blazingly fast.

[von Lucky]

She looks stunning (that hair!).

[Atheling]

I too prefer ProCreate as a putty though i've never got as far as sculpting a mini from scratch.

Excellent work 

Darrell.

[matt3o]

is it similar to super sculpey?

[Captain Blood]

Interesting feedback, thanks for sharing. Will have to give it a try.

[Ray Earle]

I quite like pro-create. And have used it quite a lot for conversions. It's not quite as tacky as green stuff though. The fact you can cut back into it and sand/file it is a bonus.

Nice sculpt by the way. 

[Daeothar]

I greatly prefer ProCreate over Green Stuff as well. What I usually do though (because I still have tons of GS, and not so much PC, so GS, to me at least, is cheaper) is use GS to do the course work, i.e. the work up from the armature to the basic shape and pose, and then I use PC to do the surface detailing and small stuff like hands, faces, details etc.

Nice sculpt you have there, btw... 

[Vermis]

Nice work, Duke. Good to hear it agrees with you this time.

Matt3o: I wouldn't say so, but I personally think polymer clays behave differently to epoxy putties anyway. I think it's not a million miles away from green stuff, in comparison to other media - I'd call green stuff and procreate the two 'elastic putties' - but as folk have said it's softer, more easily smoothed and shaped, easier for sharp edges and fine details (less 'shape memory'), slightly less tacky (more important to get those rough shapes and masses stuck on quick, then work them at your leisure) and grey. Though I think Polymeric System's new(ish) advice to mix 3:2 yellow:blue for general use, improves the performance of green stuff in most of those regards, too.

To be honest I haven't noticed it to be great for filing and sanding. I think it's a bit rubbery after curing, like green stuff, but maybe a bit less so. Though like I say, I'm also comparing it to a bunch of other putties, most of which cure hard and are a lot more easily filed and shaved. I mixed a bit of apoxie sculpt into procreate for my Victorian grinning villain, elsewhere on this board, to slightly improve that property in the latter putty.

[Andrew May]

"What vermis said"

I use "Uro" polymer clay for almost all if my sculpting but I find Procreate very useful for building up quick and solid armatures.

A few tips, one option is mix a little milliput into it to help give a more "clay like" or less rubbery feel. Up to 5% will into the mix will give you a nice all round putty, more will soften it too much for my liking but extend your work time plus give you an extremely strong figure. Personally I only do this for strength (or if it's something needed sanding/filing) as I dislike the mess on my fingers and tools from milliput but it's quite nice to work with nonetheless (if you're curious I use a mix of milliput black and superfine white to keep everything tonally similar and grey). 
The other option is to add a little polymer clay (sculpy, Fimo, etc). It gives it that nice clay feel to a degree and extrends the work time. If you intend to put the sculpt in a vulcanising mould then don't add more than 5-10% as it weakens the material. If it's a one off or for resin casting the go up to 50% and it should stay solid once cured. You won't need to bake it, the epoxy reaction will be enough to harden the sculpt.

Also, talking of ovens...if you've got space it's worth investing a small amount of money in a halogen oven. Mine cost about £25 and sits in my studio curing epoxy on "thaw" and cooking polymer clay on 120 all day every day.

Oh, nice figure too!