What Do You Use For Sculpting Models

After getting a load of Sculpting tools for xmas iv decided to have a go at making a model but i just wondered what putty to use my first thought was GS but i think it might be a bit expenciveto make a whole model out of so have you got any ideas of what to use and which wire would be best copper, steel or memory.

Doc

Seriously, go with green stuff. Or ProCreate, but I doubt you can find it cheaper than green stuff. You can find it much cheaper in other places compared to what you pay if you go to GW. I've bought materials and tools (and miniatures) from http://www.heresyminiatures.com/ before. Highly recommended.

As for wires, I use paperclips.

Best of luck!

Green (or gray, or brown) stuff all the way down!

I use some "telephone" wire for armatures (I just happen to find a good bunch in the street nearby a phone "box" apparently leftover of some reparations), IMO they give me the best size/flexibility/grip; but in the end, use whatever you feel gives you a good basis for your work.

As FKSN pointed out, try to get your kneadatite (green stuff) from others suppliers, not GW.

Procreate is a good alternative too, but bear in mind that different materials has different "cure" ratios, stickiness (procreate don't stick to itself as easily as gs), memory, hardiness, etc.

If you're doing this for the first time, and don't pretend to SELL COMMERCIALLY your miniatures (well, not the first ones in any case), try going to a hobby center (your mom kind, not our kind) or a craft center, and ask for "epoxy putty". They sell it by the KILO, and usually a kilo cost about 3 or 4 USD.

Admitedly, the quality is a tad inferior (ok, you may be luky and find a GOOD brand), but for most of the work, or shaping the undermuscles, it works ok.

AND you can use it with no remorse, as it's very cheap, and can use it to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Hope that helps.

Gale Force 9 do decent sized packs of green stuff and grey stuff (same as Procreate) for a reasonable price. They also do sets of sculpting tools.

As FKSN said, Heresy sell lots of stuff too. The clay shapers are very handy and worth picking up. There's also a decent sculpting tutorial on the site.

For making armatures, I use brass wire mounted in an old champagne cork. Brass wire is available in most modelling shops and is cheap.

I second or third clay shapers or colour shapers (same thing I think). Great for beginners, like me, makes smoothing and general shaping of green stuff a breeze.

I've seen a lot of top sculptors use Milliput as their filler to flesh out their armature, as its more solid and stable, then they use GS over it to add greater detail.

Greenstuff is by far the best stuff for the job.

Milliardo wrote:

I've seen a lot of top sculptors use Milliput as their filler to flesh out their armature, as its more solid and stable, then they use GS over it to add greater detail.

I've had some success with mixing Milliput and Greenstuff to make a sort of half-way stage between these steps.

Mix the two putties separately first, then combine them. You get a lot more for your money than pure GS with better sculpting than Milliput alone.

If you just want to add chainmail to a model or something small like that practice using blue tack first as it is about the same consistancy as greenstuff. dont leave it on the model though because it wont dry.

Sorry for not replying but i haven't been able to be on long anothe to do so, anyway thanks for the help and i only wish that blue tack dries like greenstuff. One last thing iv read from one of the things on google that you can freeze greenstuff so it stays fresher for longer, has anyone tried this.

Doc

You can freeze it but in my experience it never really recovers afterwards - it becomes a lot less sticky so it won't adhere to a mini while you work on it.

did you freeze it as the two seperate parts? or as a green part?
(otherwise I'd have a lot of seperate parts to throw out of my freezer to make room for pizza... :S)
I believe it's only usable when still seperate... as it will grow old and hard to mix when left in normal state for a long time...

I just keep mine in a plastic zip bag - it keeps for about a year, if I don't use it up before then.

I'm much too restless to do the whole mini in GS nowadays so I do the armature in polymer clay (whatever kind thats the cheapest at the moment of purchase) and steel wire and skin it with GS when I'm satisfied with posing and overall structure and shape.

As for tools I never have the right one as I never do the same mini twice so I either reshape the storebought ones or make my own (the latter is to prefer if you also like to scale up and do bigger stuff as well as you get to choose the material to make them of.)

Milliardo wrote:

I just keep mine in a plastic zip bag - it keeps for about a year, if I don't use it up before then.

Me too.

Ezekiel wrote:

did you freeze it as the two seperate parts? or as a green part?

I've never had a problem with separate yellow and blue going off - I use it up far too quickly!
I froze a small amount of mixed green and threw it away after a few failed sculpting attempts.

If I were to need more Green Stuff, then this is what I'd purchase: http://bit.ly/5jw93g

Not a bad price, and it comes with the two separate sticks so the middle doesn't harden. I found out the hard way that the strips aren't so great as you lose a bunch in the middle since the blue/yellow aren't separated.

what about this ProCreate stuff?
http://www.heresyminiatures.com/putties.htm

has anyone used it?

I have, its greenstuff.
(it's like a bigmac isn't allowed to be a turkey burger and a coke has to be a coke. its the formula of the epoxy putty that decide it, kneadite is the brand.)

well maybe a venture later in the year!

ive always wanted ago at making my own model, never been brave enough!

- start small. work up to it. ive been working on small things up to now, trying to get braver on each model!

as long as you get some stiff wire you'll be fine.
my GS minis are done with a softer 1mm solder wire but if you make the
armature in polymer (overhere it's called cernit and is produced by a french company and primarily sold to seriously lonely housewives and cat people for them to make little nekkid trolls and bunnies and ladybugs sitting on pet rocks. which is strange as it's an amazingly pliable material that doesn't suffer the same structural weakness as greenstuff.)
I suggest you get proper steel wire, its a bit messier to pose but you wouldnt want to tin your oven by mistake.
and if you make a unit the first one that you skin will be dry when you've done the last

magokiron wrote:

Green (or gray, or brown) stuff all the way down!

If you're doing this for the first time, and don't pretend to SELL COMMERCIALLY your miniatures (well, not the first ones in any case), try going to a hobby center (your mom kind, not our kind) or a craft center, and ask for "epoxy putty". They sell it by the KILO, and usually a kilo cost about 3 or 4 USD.

Admitedly, the quality is a tad inferior (ok, you may be luky and find a GOOD brand), but for most of the work, or shaping the undermuscles, it works ok.

AND you can use it with no remorse, as it's very cheap, and can use it to PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE..

Hey guys, since I saw this I haven't been able to get it off my mind. I really can't seem to find this stuff in Sweden, I don't know what to look for or if it would even be possible to find it. So is there anyone that would like to either give any hints on if there are anything like this in sweden or even anyone that has bought a lot of it and wants to send a small sample to us for trying out what we think about it?? I am really really curious about this...

Anyone tried sculpting with something like Super Sculpey ( http://bit.ly/6sUJ1O )? How does it work?

Well iv brought some miliput today wich seems very cheap from my local DIY shop at £2 for 4oz and i just need to get some wire and wait for my sculpting tools to come. Any tips you can give me.

Doc

What are you wanting to sculpt? It helps to start small, with a fairly good idea of what you intend to make (photos of "real" equivalents at hand, etc).

Don't do too much in one go as you'll end up sticking a clumsy thumb onto a bit you finished a few minutes before while you are looking at the next bit!

And always, always have a pot of water near - keeping the sculpting tool wet will stop the putty sticking to it.

@Magokiron:
I don't know what kind of rad arts and cratfs stores youve got over there in mexico city but I've had no such luck finding a store other than games workshop. Not even the proper modelling shops knows what it is and starts staring at you in all the wrong ways.
I couldn't even get a crafts store to get decent brushes (I live in the biggest city in sweden with well over 30 arts and crafts/hobbyists and retailers)
They're usually run and maintained by people who have no interest or aspiration to use the stuff they sell.
I almost lost consciousness when I saw a store selling molding silicone but where kinda disappointed when they were suprised at the fact that there were multiple uses for it and that there are different kinds of it.

@Trulsa:
try searching backwards till you find the manufacturer (theres new ones popping up almost bi annually) as most of them take quantity orders from the end user as long as you pay up front with paypal or a creditcard.

Ha, ha.

Well, actually it's a store that sells quartz, wood, resin, and metal beads, etc. for hippie's crafts, along with extracts and oils and things like that.

AND of course they sell the epoxi putty.

Hard to believe that there aren't that kind of bussiness in other places.

You may try a store where they sell RESIN and SILICONE, and qhere they teach you how to make molds and cast your stuff in resin.

Usually they sell the stuff too, as people wants to sculpt they models and THEN cast some copies.

Hope that helps.