Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Clay tests-1
I thought I would share some clay tests I did.
Basically these were not pancake tests (i.e. when you press a ball of clay flat and bake to see if it moonies/color changes etc.) But mostly i dont get moonies with pancake tests but after sculpting i do get them on the same batch of clay mix.
These tests i did on quickly sculpted faces, as i wanted to see the effect after clay has been through some pushing and pulling. Through this test I wanted to establish
1)Final color -effect on the character of face.
2)Does it moonie after baking.
3) Sculptability of clay, or how clay reacts to pushing, pulling and nudging by various tools.
4) After blushing/painting what kind of look is achieved (not done yet)
Done on five clays:
1) Prosculpt Fairy light
2) Prosculpt original/flesh or beige color
3) Prosculpt baby
4) Puppen fimo
5) Cernit
These faces were done pretty quick, just a little poke here and there and smoothing finally with a brush and some oil. they were allowed to rest overnight and baked in morning on a glass tile. I started with a cold oven, set at 130 celsius and baked for 15 minutes.
Here are my test results:
What i concluded from this test:
all five clays blended easily for me
1) Prosculpt Fairy light- I found this clay terrible
a) it is a dirt magnet
b) it dosen't have much structure or is very soft for me. Mushy and if you add oil...gooey
c) it has chalky white appearance after bake. No translucency.
d) good to add to other clay. Like to a hard clay..this will soften it up. Or to a clay which moonies a lot..this will wok same as white opaque clay.
e) this clay has too much memory, picks up every little touch, fingerprint etc.
f) as this is a very opaque clay(by comparison) it doesnt gets moonies
g) Prosculpt on its own can be weak-specially for fingers, ears etc.
2) Prosculpt original/flesh or beige color
a) Excellent to sculpt with-waxy texture which i like
b) easy to see what you are doing
c) good memory, but not too much
d) does not attract dirt very much
e) easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints too much
f) After bake color is bit dark- good for guys or character sculpts. But if you want to sculpt a fair maiden you might need to add some opaque white/light color clay to this clay. Pinkish undertone.
g) good realistic translucency, believable skin effect
h) no moonie in my test face, but probability of moonie is there though not much.
i) from my previous experience i know that it darkens with every bake, so be careful for series bake-try to keep no. of bakes minimum.
j) requires little amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface
k) Prosculpt on its own can be weak-specially for fingers, ears etc.
3) Prosculpt baby
a) same texture is prosculpt flesh-waxy and sturdy(not mushy) likeable and easy texture to sculpt with
b) easy to see what you are doing
d) does not attract dirt very much
e) easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints too much
f) After bake color is light- good for most type of sculpts-babies, fair ladies, guys, characters...etc. has pinkish undertone.
g) good realistic translucency, believable skin effect
h) no moonie in my test face, probability of moonie is very low. I never experienced moonie in this clay even in my previous tests.
i) can't say about series bake-as i have not tried any full fledged sculpt yet with only this clay.
j) requires little amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface.
k) Prosculpt on its own can be weak-specially for fingers, ears etc.
4) Puppen fimo-Rose
a) texture is firm yet soft i.e. its not mushy or gooey but if you apply pressure for example to indent the space for eyes...a lot of clay in near by area will also get affected or will be pushed back. So need for good armature to support sculpting process.
you can see in my test face, it is more lopsided as the initial shape of clay ball wont hold to the pressure.
b) easy to see what you are doing
d) attracts dirt though not too much.
e) easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints.
f) After bake color is light- good for fair skin based sculpts... has light pink undertone. Smooth finish.
g) Excellent realistic translucency, delicate procelain like effect.
h) no moonie in my test face, probability of moonie is very low.
i) Good for series bake.
j) requires very little amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface.
k) Puppen Fimo is reported to be one of the strongest 'fairy' clay (maybe Bozzi turns out to be better but most of us haven't got our hands on it yet). Use it to put your shipping nightmares to a rest. By fairy clay I mean...clay straight out of package that is suitable for usual pretty fairy like sculptures. Other wise from what I have heard Kato and Fimo (classic and soft both) are quite strong too. It can be mixed with other clays to make them more strong, it is good if they are of same brand...I can't hundred percent vouch for mixing clays of different brands specially if baking temperatures differ.
The effect achieved with this clay is totally worth it though it is not a very easy clay to sculpt with specially if you like to achieve realistic details in your sculpt.
5) Cernit
a) texture is firm though not waxy. this clay has certain amount of bounce to it.
b) Difficult to see what you are doing as this is very translucent.
d) does not attracts dirt.
e) Very very easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints at all (relative and not absolute).
f) After bake color is light- good for fair skin based sculpts... has yellow undertone. Very smooth finish.
g) Excellent translucency though a little toy/doll like, delicate procelain like effect.
h) no moonie in my test face, probability of moonies is there though.
i) no idea about series bake.
j) requires very minimum amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface- even acetone will do.
k) Strong clay compared to Prosculpt.
For me winners are prosculpt baby and puppen fimo.
* note: --you might notice i use- 'too much', 'less' etc. type of words used a lot...they are all relative to the clays i used here and to my personal preference ;)
Strength wise Super sculpey is worse than Prosculpt thats why i ddn't include it in my tests. Also for me it moonies like hell...specially if i sculpt pretty faces in it. (hasn't moonied on monster type sculpts...go figure...lol)
I hope this helps you decide which clay to use depending on the project you have in mind.
Basically these were not pancake tests (i.e. when you press a ball of clay flat and bake to see if it moonies/color changes etc.) But mostly i dont get moonies with pancake tests but after sculpting i do get them on the same batch of clay mix.
These tests i did on quickly sculpted faces, as i wanted to see the effect after clay has been through some pushing and pulling. Through this test I wanted to establish
1)Final color -effect on the character of face.
2)Does it moonie after baking.
3) Sculptability of clay, or how clay reacts to pushing, pulling and nudging by various tools.
4) After blushing/painting what kind of look is achieved (not done yet)
Done on five clays:
1) Prosculpt Fairy light
2) Prosculpt original/flesh or beige color
3) Prosculpt baby
4) Puppen fimo
5) Cernit
These faces were done pretty quick, just a little poke here and there and smoothing finally with a brush and some oil. they were allowed to rest overnight and baked in morning on a glass tile. I started with a cold oven, set at 130 celsius and baked for 15 minutes.
Here are my test results:
What i concluded from this test:
all five clays blended easily for me
1) Prosculpt Fairy light- I found this clay terrible
a) it is a dirt magnet
b) it dosen't have much structure or is very soft for me. Mushy and if you add oil...gooey
c) it has chalky white appearance after bake. No translucency.
d) good to add to other clay. Like to a hard clay..this will soften it up. Or to a clay which moonies a lot..this will wok same as white opaque clay.
e) this clay has too much memory, picks up every little touch, fingerprint etc.
f) as this is a very opaque clay(by comparison) it doesnt gets moonies
g) Prosculpt on its own can be weak-specially for fingers, ears etc.
2) Prosculpt original/flesh or beige color
a) Excellent to sculpt with-waxy texture which i like
b) easy to see what you are doing
c) good memory, but not too much
d) does not attract dirt very much
e) easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints too much
f) After bake color is bit dark- good for guys or character sculpts. But if you want to sculpt a fair maiden you might need to add some opaque white/light color clay to this clay. Pinkish undertone.
g) good realistic translucency, believable skin effect
h) no moonie in my test face, but probability of moonie is there though not much.
i) from my previous experience i know that it darkens with every bake, so be careful for series bake-try to keep no. of bakes minimum.
j) requires little amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface
k) Prosculpt on its own can be weak-specially for fingers, ears etc.
3) Prosculpt baby
a) same texture is prosculpt flesh-waxy and sturdy(not mushy) likeable and easy texture to sculpt with
b) easy to see what you are doing
d) does not attract dirt very much
e) easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints too much
f) After bake color is light- good for most type of sculpts-babies, fair ladies, guys, characters...etc. has pinkish undertone.
g) good realistic translucency, believable skin effect
h) no moonie in my test face, probability of moonie is very low. I never experienced moonie in this clay even in my previous tests.
i) can't say about series bake-as i have not tried any full fledged sculpt yet with only this clay.
j) requires little amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface.
k) Prosculpt on its own can be weak-specially for fingers, ears etc.
4) Puppen fimo-Rose
a) texture is firm yet soft i.e. its not mushy or gooey but if you apply pressure for example to indent the space for eyes...a lot of clay in near by area will also get affected or will be pushed back. So need for good armature to support sculpting process.
you can see in my test face, it is more lopsided as the initial shape of clay ball wont hold to the pressure.
b) easy to see what you are doing
d) attracts dirt though not too much.
e) easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints.
f) After bake color is light- good for fair skin based sculpts... has light pink undertone. Smooth finish.
g) Excellent realistic translucency, delicate procelain like effect.
h) no moonie in my test face, probability of moonie is very low.
i) Good for series bake.
j) requires very little amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface.
k) Puppen Fimo is reported to be one of the strongest 'fairy' clay (maybe Bozzi turns out to be better but most of us haven't got our hands on it yet). Use it to put your shipping nightmares to a rest. By fairy clay I mean...clay straight out of package that is suitable for usual pretty fairy like sculptures. Other wise from what I have heard Kato and Fimo (classic and soft both) are quite strong too. It can be mixed with other clays to make them more strong, it is good if they are of same brand...I can't hundred percent vouch for mixing clays of different brands specially if baking temperatures differ.
The effect achieved with this clay is totally worth it though it is not a very easy clay to sculpt with specially if you like to achieve realistic details in your sculpt.
5) Cernit
a) texture is firm though not waxy. this clay has certain amount of bounce to it.
b) Difficult to see what you are doing as this is very translucent.
d) does not attracts dirt.
e) Very very easy to smooth with brush and oil or by fingers-does not pick up fingerprints at all (relative and not absolute).
f) After bake color is light- good for fair skin based sculpts... has yellow undertone. Very smooth finish.
g) Excellent translucency though a little toy/doll like, delicate procelain like effect.
h) no moonie in my test face, probability of moonies is there though.
i) no idea about series bake.
j) requires very minimum amount of sanding afterwards to smooth surface- even acetone will do.
k) Strong clay compared to Prosculpt.
For me winners are prosculpt baby and puppen fimo.
* note: --you might notice i use- 'too much', 'less' etc. type of words used a lot...they are all relative to the clays i used here and to my personal preference ;)
Strength wise Super sculpey is worse than Prosculpt thats why i ddn't include it in my tests. Also for me it moonies like hell...specially if i sculpt pretty faces in it. (hasn't moonied on monster type sculpts...go figure...lol)
I hope this helps you decide which clay to use depending on the project you have in mind.
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