I’m trying to choose a suitable modelling material for a project (more details in a moment) from the profusion of different clays, pastes, polymer materials and similar stuff that’s available to me. These things aren’t really cheap, so I don’t want to throw away pots of cash trying them all individually - so I’m hoping I can get some objective descriptions of their properties here…
For example, Das is a claylike material that hardens by air-drying. Unlike clay, it is slightly springy when fresh, with little tensile strength, making thin sections prone to splitting and tearing. It’s soft and saggy - good for solid pieces with pressed detail. Not so good for delicate modelling.
What I’m actually seeking is a material with properties similar to plasticene, but that sets hard and fairly tough, without warping or shrinking - to make a rigid form similar to the one I made from wax here - when it’s set/baked/dried, it needs to be rigid and strong enough that I can spread silicone paste directly onto it without fear of bending it out of shape.
(But I’m interested in collecting descriptions and discussion of the properties of all of the modelling materials available to the hobbyist anyway - so please chime in even if the materials you know about are not suitable for my current project)
I’ve used Fimo, but not for anything technical. I haven’t noticed any shrinkage or warping. Pieces over 1/8" or so are pretty firm. Finer pieces have bent or snapped. You can cure it in the oven, but use disposable or dedicated utensils, and watch the fumes. BTW, it IS cheap. Michael’s craft store often has sales at 1/2 off–which works out to a buck or two per package.
They’re not that bad. If you run an exhaust fan or crack a window, and leave the bird in another closed room, it should be fine. Mostly just an acrid smell. In my drafty old house, i don’t even bother with the window.
There are a few varieties of epoxy putty like “Milliput” and “Green Stuff” that should be suitable. It comes in two parts that only start to set after you mix them, so you don’t need to worry about airtight storage or baking, and I find it to be less fragile than Sculpey.
I did a lot of sculpting on action figures for a while.
Sculpey has a variety of formulas. Some cure harder than others. It’ll probably work well for what you want. It’s pretty durable and rigid. (I made some accessories for my action figures and they’re still in good shape, despite being very small). If you don’t want to cure it in the oven Sculpey and I think most other oven bake clays can be cured in boiling water (it’s kind of a boil and test method. OTOH if you overcook it, it doesn’t burn). Sculpey at least doesn’t get quite as hard and it’s more prone to warping.
Das “clay” is essentially oily papier mache, so not what you want.
You can get “Green stuff” from any of the Warhammer chain stores in the UK, but not the cheapest option. I don’t know what epoxy brands you have in the UK - 3M Bondo, maybe?
Might I suggest window/glazier’s putty? It’s generally cheaper than the epoxies and you get some fairly hard setting kinds.
I can get Milliput from Amazon really cheap - I was hoping I’d find some generic epoxy putty in the shops here at lunchtime, but the only stuff I could find was expensive, and in little pre-measured nuggets for emergency repairs.
I’ll have a look at glaziers putty - but aren’t the drying times quite long for that? (I suppose they might not be for thin sections)
I’ve used a lot of Milliput. The white has a fine grain, and for figure modelling, which is what I do, it’s really the only variety to use. Other figure modellers swear by Aves, which they claim is far superior to Milliput; I wouldn’t know; I’ve got some Aves, but haven’t tried it yet.
Until it’s hard, you can smoothe Milliput using a brush and water, or your finger and saliva, if you don’t care about your health
If I were building that lard lamp, I’d roll out some Milliput between two pieces of waxed paper to about 1/4 inch thick, wait a bit until it was semi-set (maybe half an hour), cut out the leaf shapes using a scalpel, then curve them into shape.
I’m going to order some Milliput - I nipped out to Games Workshop and they wanted six quid for a tiny blister pack of the stuff - I’d have needed three packs that size, probably.
Well, I managed to find some epoxy putty at a price within my budget, however, initial results were challenging.
This is a repair putty that has a very short working time (10 minutes), which made things a bit interesting - also, although it’s a dough, it’s quite sticky, so I had trouble getting it to let go of the tools I used to work it. I tried rolling it around a pencil, and later around a hot melt glue stick, but it could not be peeled from either.
I’m going to try again tonight, rolling it around a wax crayon (pretty sure it won’t stick to that)
I haven’t yet experimented with the idea of constructing the item from flat pieces joined together, but I may have a go at that too - although it might be that I have to make my own cookie style cutter to get the right shapes consistently.
