Smoothing Your sculpt...HELP!!!

[cactus725]

Ok guys... my problem is I get a head sculpt I like and I cant smooth the thing out and when I paint it It looks that much more rough..I have tried using alcohol on the piece before baking...sanding after baking...and it still is not smooth...I need some tips...thanks in advanced...Oh yea I'm using Super Sculpey...Neal

[gman]

I don't know if it will work for you BUT I have had pretty good success with nail files -- different grits and then a buffing 4 sided fingernail deal...... I get them at the grocery store.... they've worked great for me.

[cactus725]

Thanks I'll try that!!

[Tothiro]

Turpenoid works well for softening sculpts (use like alcohol). What you're doing with any solvent is smoothing out detail to soften the look by dissolving a thin layer of surface clay. A lot of sculptors use butane (lighter fluid) as well - obviously make sure this is completely evaporated before heating or baking...
If what you're going for is not general details smoothed out, but instead a more mirror smooth surface on the entire piece, this won't do the trick.
Actually the super sculpey itself is working against you because the details and surface have a tendency to balloon out and go from fine to matte finish during baking.

You might try a sealant of some sort, like a spray on clear-coat to help even out the surface before painting.
Alternately, you could change the blend of sculpey you use - Sculpey III will give you a better skin and finer detail, but it's softer and can be harder to use for long parts (fingers, etc) because it won't hold up as well . A lot of polymer clay sculptors use a blend of super sculpey and sculpey III to get the ideal mix by running it all through a hand cranked pasta maker until it's blended.

For a really, really smooth surface (glass or reflective) you just have to polish with high grit sandpapers. You can use a Krylon triple thick clearcoat but you lose a lot of sculpting detail. Micromark.com offers a sanding pad set up to 120000 grit, and they also offer small tip sanders like cotton swabs. Sculpey doesn't sand very fine because it's a coarse kind of material, so for something like that you'd want to probably mold and recast into a resin for your finish work.

Another point is that the translucency and color of the super sculpey hides a lot of surface imperfection while you're sculpting, which you only see after baking or painting. mixing in some white and black sculpey III will make the mix more opaque and the grey color shows off more surface flaw while you're working.

[cactus725]

Man thats great info to know...thanks very much I will try your methods!!! ..Thanks again!

[REMOVED]

Sculpey Diluent is what they sell for it and it's not as toxic as some of the other things people use. You only need a little bit though. You can also use it to soften sculpey. You might also try mixing the super sculpey with some Premo sculpey for a better working clay..... I will still sand sometimes if there's some roughness and the key here is to use successive grades of sandpaper. Testors sells some film packs with a progression that is well suited to this kind of work. You can get it in most hobby shops. Use the coarser black if surface is really rough and then work your way down to the final grits. You can wet sand with it too....

[Tothiro]

Sculpey Diluent is what they sell for it and it's not as toxic as some of the other things people use.

I've only used turpenoid (a non-toxic turpentine alternative) but I've heard about the Diluent ... does it have any edge over other product being that it's presumably specially formulated for sculpey?

You might also try mixing the super sculpey with some Premo sculpey for a better working clay.....

Here as well - never used the Premo myself. Was always a little curious about the other types but I moved over to wax so I don't dive into sculpey hybrids as much anymore. What's the Premo mix like?
I ended up using the blend from this tutorial for most of my stuff until the wax change, but I'm interested in your take on Premo...

[REMOVED]

I've only used turpenoid (a non-toxic turpentine alternative) but I've heard about the Diluent ... does it have any edge over other product being that it's presumably specially formulated for sculpey?

it's not as aggressive and because it has oil in it, it doesn't dry out the clay or cause crescents. Also, it won't damage paints, finishes like turpenoid. I probably wouldn't use turpenoid on my hands but think sculpey diluent is ok. I suspect it is partly made up of mineral oil. Incidentally, mineral oil can also be used to smooth sculpey and it's totally safe, even to ingest. Also you can mix half alcohol with sculpey diluent for a less oily additive/smoothing agent.

Here as well - never used the Premo myself. Was always a little curious about the other types but I moved over to wax so I don't dive into sculpey hybrids as much anymore. What's the Premo mix like?
I ended up using the blend from this tutorial for most of my stuff until the wax change, but I'm interested in your take on Premo...

Premo is firmer than other sculpey compounds but not as hard as their firm clay. I actually usually mix it with sculpey iii and i haven't really found a formula that is perfect. Premo has a lot of elasticity to it and I find it easy to smooth it without softeners.

I bought some Prosculpt, which i think is manufactured by Sculpey which is very soft. Haven't tried it yet but i think it may need to be mixed with a harder clay. A lot of doll makers use it. It may be same formula as Living Doll clay actually....

Also got some wax but have yet to try it. Have you tried melting it into a mold and then working the head? What brand do you use Tothiro...???

[REMOVED]

p.s. Sculpey has a new glaze that can be baked and if the item doesn't have a lot of detail, I've used this to help smooth the surface before casting..... It is somewhat self levelling so brush strokes don't show...... In hard to reach areas, where I couldn't sand (like inside a cat's ear), I used a thin coat of liquid sculpey and baked it to smooth surface (also self levelling). Of course, anything you add on top of sculpt will obscure detail, so this works best on items without a lot of detail.

[Tothiro]

Also got some wax but have yet to try it. Have you tried melting it into a mold and then working the head? What brand do you use Tothiro...???

Well, I had been blending my own wax using Art Asylum's recipe for a while - it was pretty close in color and rigidity to the Gentle Giant house blend and I liked it... I'd gotten some other wax samples from various sculpt houses but one of the Hasbro boy's R&D guys tipped me that The Compleat Sculptor offered a wax mix that was chemically reverse engineered from a sample of Hasbro's in house recipe, and it turned out to be better for Hasbro because they could just send people over there instead of mailing out wax supply to any freelance guys.

The TCS wax is called the Azbro Mix. Not super creative. It's a deep salmon which is more akin to a super sculpey blend, but the opacity is better and the color is darker so the detail shows up fairly well. It's also more rigid than the softer Gentle Giant/Art Asylum blend I was using... so there's less fluidity to it but that's ok... with wax I've found it's one of those tactile things you just get a feel for.

Mixing wax batches is such a pain that I actually really prefer putting in for the Azbro stuff now.

I've tried recasting the wax... not with awesome results. The best way I found to do it was a slow melt in a toaster oven with the wax chopped fine in a funnel resting on top of the silicone mold... just heat and serve. Casting into room temp molds doesn't work because the wax solidifies instantly.
The toaster oven would have worked fine, it's just the wax shrinkage of about 3% is killer. I haven't found out how to avoid that yet (*though I hear one of the sculpt guys at hasbro has - I just don't know him to ask. I'm guessing it's something to do with a gradual step cooling process in the oven).

I use a Kerr Ultra Waxer digital controlled heat tool with multiple sculpting tips that I picked up for about $200 on ebay from a dentist swapping his equipment out. I love it. You can build up in little bits (slower than sculpey for sure) with a heated scoop tool and a digital wax warming tray. The great part comes in the flexibility of resculpting because at one setting the medium is like milk, and at another it becomes like clay, and at a third temp it's like soft-baked sculpey but has more structural strength... then when you're done with detail work you can burnish the exterior with a cold rounded tool and make it really shine.

I still use sculpey blends a bit (I have a bag of it that's probably dead by now) but it's more a base technique that I coat over in wax to save cost on larger stuff. If I ever do a Hellboy Sadu-Hem or a Starro I'd definitely use the old tinfoil->sculpey->wax trick

That's a great tip with the sculpey glaze... I wonder if there's a thinning agent that would work and still allow it to "fire" properly?