the Scarlet Letters

Cooooooooooool! Fun stuff, man...these posts are exciting :D

Ouch! That skin condition looks painful! Talk about dry and cracked!

That's a constant problem with super sculpey, it likes to crack... especially at areas where it's subject to stress, like the neck joint. The solution would be to build a larger head blank from epoxy putty, in such a way that the super sculpey doesn't go too close to joints. Even epoxy putty will crack at joints if it's too thin.

Quick and dirty RULES!!!!

Thanks guys!

Say, Mike... Have you ever tried doing replacement heads? I've been twiddling in the back of my mind with the idea. Maybe using Magic Sculpt in a silicone press mold?

As I recall, I think they did resin replacement heads for Nightmare Before Christmas... Dang, now that I think about it, wouldn't that require a bazillion molds??

Is Safety Boy baking Epoxy Putty in his home oven? :-§

What do you use Magic Sculpt for?

Well, technically yes...

(Forgive me if you already know this next bit:) When you use epoxy putty, you actually mix two putties together. A chemical reaction occurs, and after about 20 minutes of curing, you've got a hard substance.

During the curing stage there's an odor. I've been using my desktop ventilation system to deal with that... But I'm not as happy with it as I'd hoped. The vacuum is only really effective 6-12" away from the fan -- fumes escape into the room.

I wear a carbon-filter respirator, but I can smell some of the odor through it -- so while it probably helps, it doesn't do the whole job.

When I realized how much fume spill was happening, I cranked up the heat in the room and opened up the window, to push air out. Clearly my ventilation strategy is still wanting.

I also wear nitrile gloves while working with epoxy in any form. Epoxy goes right through latex.

From what I've read, what happens with epoxy over time is that you develop a sensitivity... You start getting rashes, etc. That's what people write about -- but I'd prefer to remain suspicious. It's not like everything that causes liver damage or cancer has been scientifically and legally identified yet.

So, I try to take whatever measures I can to minimize my exposure to epoxy, while still keeping it in my arsenal of art media... It's just so damned useful! In the next year or two I could see using it even less, if I perhaps move into using ball-jointed armatures more consistently. Of course, then I'll need to be dealing with the risks associated with flux fumes, which is probably even more hazardous. :-(

With regards to baking the epoxy, I don't bake it to cure the stuff; it cures through a chemical reaction. It goes into the toaster oven when I cure the Super Sculpey (polymer clay). My belief -- although I don't have any evidence for this -- is that the epoxy putty is chemically inert at that point.

With regards to polymer clay -- which does include vinyl in its make up -- I've read several scientific papers that conclude it's adequately "non-toxic" for home use. From what I make of the details in these papers, I'm willing to accept this conclusion.

Magic Sculpt is another form of epoxy putty, a particular brand that's formulated for sculptors. It cures in about 4 hours (if I recall correctly), depending on air temperature. It uses a very fine talc as its binder (?), and can give very fine detail. The main advantage of using this instead of Super Sculpey is that it's much stronger.

Super Sculpey advertises that it "will not crack." I've read Moes (like Nick Hilligoss) rail against the claim. I suspect the claim is meant to be in contrast to water-based clays, which present a real nuissance with cracking while they dry. However, if you put stress on the stuff after it's cooked, like we do -- then DAMN, yes, the stuff is prone to cracking. ...Hence my interest in using super-strong Magic Sculpt as an alternative in certain applications.

Uh... That's the long answer.

Short answer: "Yes, but." and "Doing detailed sculpting that needs to be very strong."

One way to do replacement heads would be to first sculpt one in a neutral expression and make a hard press mold (from epoxy putty most likely). Then you can press out a bunch of super sculpey copies and modify each one before baking. Of course you'd have te design the head so it will come out of a press mold without scraping off the sides.

I'm not sure silicone would work as a press mold.... that's something you generally pour liquid into.

I don't pkan to ever try replacement heads myself.... way too much work for a one-man animation operation if you ask me!

Thanks for the info, Sven. I have used several Polymer clays myself in home ovens, it was the idea of also baking the epoxy that gave me pause for you. After reading what you found, I will definitely not be willing to use epoxy--right through the latex?!--no way.

You are the most informed and well researched person on material safety I've ever known personally and so I'm certain you not only thought of these alternatives but discounted them for your purposes but I'm thinking of and about to try Durham's Water Putty in place of epoxy inside the sculpts, etc. And I'm also about to try the new UltraLight Sculpy product for the sculpt itself with the thought that it's flexibility may solve the cracking issue. I'll report my experiences but thought to mention these ideas in case it got you thinking.

@Shelley: I'm dubious about the effectiveness of the Water Putty. I just tried it myself for the first time a month or so ago, and the consistency was extremely similar to plaster. I know Mike used the stuff for his brick wall in "Race the Wind"... But frankly, at this point, I'm not sure why one would ever choose the putty instead of plaster. (Perhaps because it shrinks less as it dries?)

@Mike: I know that using Magic Sculpt with a silicone mold is a possibility... Local (but nationally recognized) animator Joanna Priestly did an animation where she used pour-a-mold brand silicone and Magic Sculpt to make a neutral form, and then had artist friends deform it. (Drat, her flash-based site isn't working for me today.) ...Anyway, the short that I'm thinking of is "Surface Dive", which is included on her DVD Fighting Gravity, which I see is available via Netflix. Priestly does mostly abstract stuff, and mostly 2D animation -- but I'd say she's worth checking out, just to add to your inspiration file.

Re replacement heads, I doubt I have it in me to do a full set for lip sync purposes... But I guess I'm thinking about doing maybe six different emotions for a main character, like Uncle Ray did for his old fairy tale films, with the plaster heads.

I know who Joanna Priestly is.... she did Girl's Night Out and the toilet paper bers on Tv. Great stuff! I didn't know she did any stopmotion.

Yeah, if plaster works for you, then no need to mess with Durham's for most puproses. For some reason me and plaster just don't get along. Just like me and superglue. It's never ever worked at ALL for me!

Huh! I didn't know she did those spots... Weird. I picked up her two DVDs of short films when she spoke at a community college this past summer. There's only the tiniest bit of stopmo in her portfolio... But "surface dive" is a pretty interesting short.

Man, I'm right there with you on superglue! That stuff is nothing but frustration for me. The bottle is always drying up, the bond always cracks, and even when I take pains to wear gloves, I always somehow manage to get it on my fingers anyway. Duco glue occasionally works as a substitute for me... It's still frustrating and toxic -- but not AS frustrating.

I haven't used it a lot yet, but I'm looking at replacing use of plaster in my artwork with joint compound whenever possible. You can get huge tubs for cheap, so it seems to be economical... Its consistency is more like frosting, while plaster's is more like a thick soup. So you can't do everything with it that you can with plaster in its liquid state -- but if you're going to wind up sanding the surface anyway, then it's pretty darned good.