green stuff frustration

so i've been trying to sculpt lot of my conversion pieces with green stuff, to save some money, and i have never been soo frustrated with any medium as much as this stuff. i've always avoided it in the past (just because when ever i buy minis from ebay they are always covered it always looks bad) but this year i thought i'd try some. i've never used so many profanaties at a ball of clay..... how does that Tom Meier guy do it.

any advice you guys can give me to bend the GS to my will?

Lubricate with water. Your fingers will leave finger prints so you need some good tools for shaping, cutting, and smoothing. I'm not very experienced with it so I don't actually know what those tools are but I'm sure someone here will know.

Uhm, that really depends on what problems you are having with it?
Pics of the problem "in action" would be nice, but you can also just descripe it

well one problem i've been having with it is seperating it from its self (i'll take a quick photo)




putty part A needs to be subtracted from putty part B, lol does this make since? i cant just pull it apart, or cut it apart without dragging the whole thing or stretching it (ruining what ever i've been working on). thats one of the problems i'm having

Yes, it does make sence

Uhm, well honestly - That is a problem that, as far as I know, aren't any solutions on.
You will just have to sculpt it over again, after removing the unwanted part..
You see, the point of using GS is that it is sculpt-able, and it is sticky, i.e. it sticks to things.. And GS sticks to GS
But a solution might just be to use tweezers to pull/cut part A from part B - though I haven't tried it my self.
-If you try it, please do tell me if it works

That is, sadly, all the help I can provide you with at this problem, but please do ask if you have any other problems

/Maikacir

Ha! Easy problem to solve.

Lubricate your working surface (water, oil, vaseline or whatever) and let the GS partially dry before foolin' with it.

Edit: I have to get some work done tonight for a big meeting tomorrow but if I get done early I'll write up how to fill gaps, model capes and make GS hairdos (which should demonstrate enough technique to get you started).

perfesser wrote:

let the GS partially dry before foolin' with it.

i think that might be the best way, i'm used to having full control of my medium and this is just blowing my mind and patience lol.

i've been working on stuff all day and its slowing starting to get better for me.

perfesser wrote:

Ha! Easy problem to solve.

Lubricate your working surface (water, oil, vaseline or whatever) and let the GS partially dry before foolin' with it.

Well.. As far as I understand, the problem is to remove GS from GS, not how to remove GS from working surface
- please do corect me if I'm wrong?

yes your right, removing GS from GS

waiting till it the GS is a little hard (I'M guessing) will keep it from stretching when i try to remove excess. it makes since on paper. but of course there's probly alot of situations where it wouldnt work : /

Hmmm.. It might actually work - though, when removing something there will always be a little bit of re-sculpting, so I wouldn't recommend letting the GS harden too much..
Well, there is only one way to find out wheter it works or not - and that is to test it

/Maikacir

Maikacir wrote:

Well.. As far as I understand, the problem is to remove GS from GS, not how to remove GS from working surface
- please do corect me if I'm wrong?

That's the letting it dry a bit part and if the GS ain't sticking to the surface, it won't start stretching and getting all crazy.

Soft GS stuck on your working surface will never play nice. Slightly firmed GS nicely lubricated is much more agreeable.

For filling gaps, of course, you wouldn't want to let the GS firm up (or spread it on a surface other than the intended model for that matter).

thanks for the help so far, i'm sure i'll have another question or two : / in the future

Remember that you can always add more green stuff to dried green stuff. It's preferable to build up green stuff slowly than put a whole bunch on quick and try to remove the excess. I would use just enough GS at first to join and position pieces or form the basic structure and bulk out and texture after letting the initial batch dry by I'm super impatient and have bad tools to boot.

Started a tutorial here. Just the first and easiest technique for filling gaps, but I'll get on to the other basic techniques later in the week.

So Ive started some conversions with gs (chaos dwarves), and have noticed that my gs yellow to blue ratio determines how tacky or firm my puddy gets.

Ive noticed:

More blue- the firmer it is.

more yellow- the tackiers it is.

Anyone else notice this?

O, and no matter how much GS stuff I do, it'll still piss me off lol!

that's the Idea behind it, the blue is the hardener, the yellow the glueish part... so your realisation is indeed correct!

Woot! I was right!

When it comes to greenstuff, I can really recommend colour shapers. The GS doesn't stick to them and thus they ease sculpting a lot. Plus, they are really handy when it comes to smoothing out surfaces.

I just ordered myself some sculpting tools. B4 i was using anything from an orc spear (which wirked rather well funny enough) to a bamboo skewer, to doing my chainmail with a needle. Cant wait for tool.. but then I guess iIhave to learn how to use them. Which is fine since i ordered 36 in of green stuff

I typically apply more green stuff than I need to an area where I'm doing some sculpting and then sculpting by subtracting, ie removing piece A from blob B. The trick is to get the piece stuck as firmly as possible to the place that will be the center of the action. As I tease the shape in to form I get rid of the excess green stuff by working it towards the edge and then pinching it off with my sculpting tool pressed against the model. I know that is probably hard to visualize, but that's the best i can do with text. Green stuff never really gets easy to work with. It's just a bitch.