Sculpting 2.0 - Colour shapers

Hey, I thought I'd just post a little introduction to the wonderful world of colour shapers!

A colour shaper, or clay shaper, as it is sometimes called, is a kind of brush with a silicone or rubber head instead of bristles. It is used for painting (and for shaping clay, I suppose), and makes for an awesome sculpting tool.

Greenstuff will not stick to it (even without loads of water which obscures the sight on the area you are sculpting), so there is absolutely no risk of ripping off the carefully crafted belt buckle after the last smoothing stroke, and the soft tip is excellent for subtle detailing (like folds, crevices, muscles), while at the same time being strong enough to heavily form the GS surface. All in all, they are the perfect tool for sculpting! At the moment, I use the metal ones only to cut off excess greenstuff.

Here is a picture of mine:



I got them at an arts supply store for about 10€. As I have never actually met any other modellers using these things, I don't even know if there tip is larger than what you'd get at a wargaming hobby supply store. But for the price, they were definitely worth it.

If other people have some more experience with them or other good things to say, feel free to do so. I thought I'd write about them anyway, as they make sculpting much easier and much more fun.

Wow, cool! Never heard of these things before. If GS indeed does not stick to it then they are great. At least better than the toothpicks I have used so far lol.

cianty wrote:

Wow, cool! Never heard of these things before. If GS indeed does not stick to it then they are great. At least better than the toothpicks I have used so far lol.

Definitely And you usually get several different shapes in a set which is very useful. I strongly recommend getting some, and for the price, you can't really go wrong.

*adds clay shapers to "buy on weekend" list*

hehe, I bought them in Berlin (thanks for the adress, Sascha!)

Yup, I've had some myself for about 6 months and they really are a life saver. One thing to note for anyone running out to purchase some for themselves is that there are different hardnesses of rubber so be careful what you purchase. The grey ones shown above are the medium hardness, they'll give a bit but still have some firmness to them. Black tips=more firm, white tips= very soft. I would suggest going with grey. I've used the white ones a bit but they give under pressure a bit too much.