1/6 Head Sculpting etc

[Terminator_Fan_Game]

RE the "cooking", Ive never actually baked any of my sculpts so far.
I always boil them in an old saucepan of water. Works perfect for me.
Soon I will be needing to bake a diorama base Ive made though, because its too big for a saucepan.
I assume its safe to bake in a standard oven used for food, right?

 

[cloudfilter]

I think the general opinion with Sculpey is you can use your normal food oven but definitely let it air out afterwards before putting food in again. If you've got a fan oven turn the fan on and run it with the door open for a few seconds to clear out the fumes.

 

[uscmhicks]

RE the "cooking", Ive never actually baked any of my sculpts so far.
I always boil them in an old saucepan of water. Works perfect for me.
Soon I will be needing to bake a diorama base Ive made though, because its too big for a saucepan.
I assume its safe to bake in a standard oven used for food, right?

Just bumping this up since it saves opening a new thread , how long would you recommended boiling a 1/6 sculpt ?.

 

[Terminator_Fan_Game]

Just bumping this up since it saves opening a new thread , how long would you recommended boiling a 1/6 sculpt ?.

Approximately 20 minutes is all you need.
I think it roughly depends on what size saucepan you use, and how much water you need to put in. I always use quite a large saucepan, and fill it to about 75%, making sure I have at least 1cm or more water covering the sculpt.

Steps -

1] Place sculpt in saucepan and fill with cold water.
2] Turn gas halfway(6:00) and leave for 5 mins.
3] Turn gas 3/4(9:00) and leave for 20 mins.
4] Turn gas off and leave to fully cool down in the water for 25 mins.
(NOTE: It is only safe to handle after about 15 mins)

You can reboil if necessary.(But Ive never needed to, using method above)

 

[galactiboy]

Just bumping this up since it saves opening a new thread , how long would you recommended boiling a 1/6 sculpt ?.

Hmmm... I've never heard of boiling a sculpt before? I'd think that could lead to some of the surface being lost before it hardened

I just always bake them at 275f for 5-10 minutes.

 

[Terminator_Fan_Game]

Hmmm... I've never heard of boiling a sculpt before? I'd think that could lead to some of the surface being lost before it hardened

I just always bake them at 275f for 5-10 minutes.

Are you talking about the sculpt hitting the sides and leaving a dent?
If so, yes, this is a possibility, but has only happened once to me on something that was filled with tinfoil. It left 1 extremely small dent which is barely noticeable.
I know its probably best to bake the clay, but until now, Ive been too scared to LOL!

 

[uscmhicks]

Hmmm... I've never heard of boiling a sculpt before? I'd think that could lead to some of the surface being lost before it hardened

I just always bake them at 275f for 5-10 minutes.

To be honest I was thinking the same thing but I've read on various forums it's a perfect way of hardening a finished sculpt , some people even seem to prefer it to baking.

I thought the sculpt would have just fell apart before hand.

Are you talking about the sculpt hitting the sides and leaving a dent?
If so, yes, this is a possibility, but has only happened once to me on something that was filled with tinfoil. It left 1 extremely small dent which is barely noticeable.
I know its probably best to bake the clay, but until now, Ive been too scared to LOL!

I didn't really want to bake a head made of sculpey in the oven I cook in , apparently as mentioned earlier sculpey shouldn't be toxic in anyway but I'd still feel a bit funny doing it. It's the reason I decided to look into the boiling method , I should be giving the boiling a shot tomorrow , I'll let you guys know how it goes for me.

Thanks for the tips by the way, will come in handy.

 

[galactiboy]

Not just denting... but if I can smooth the surface with rubbing alcohol I'd be worried about boiling water removing details. Although maybe if it's already boiling it just cures it instantly?

I've baked every head I've ever made with sculpey and never had any issues. Now it will get bad if the heat is too high, I made that mistake once and stunk up the kitchen. But any other time it's fine and cures w/o any issues.

Although now I'm curious about boiling... may have to give a go just for ****s and giggles

 

[Terminator_Fan_Game]

the oven I cook in , apparently as mentioned earlier sculpey shouldn't be toxic in anyway but I'd still feel a bit funny doing it. It's the reason I decided to look into the boiling method , I should be giving the boiling a shot tomorrow , I'll let you guys know how it goes for me.

Thanks for the tips by the way, will come in handy.

I was the same. I feel funny baking in the same oven I cook food.
But yeah, I think boiling clay is fine for small parts that fit in a saucepan.
Try to use a large saucepan though...mine is about 20cm diameter, 10cm height.
Good luck!

 

[Terminator_Fan_Game]

Not just denting... but if I can smooth the surface with rubbing alcohol I'd be worried about boiling water removing details. Although maybe if it's already boiling it just cures it instantly?

I've baked every head I've ever made with sculpey and never had any issues. Now it will get bad if the heat is too high, I made that mistake once and stunk up the kitchen. But any other time it's fine and cures w/o any issues.

Although now I'm curious about boiling... may have to give a go just for ****s and giggles

No loss at all in detail from boiling.
Like you said, you should try it just for ****s and giggles!

 

[galmando]

So you can pretty much use whatever you prefer to hold the sculpt in place? Like a pencil or even the end of a wooden spoon?

Will these things pop out easily and not distort the sculpt so you can then cook/bake?

Also, how do you go about neck plugs and stuff? Do they need to be fitted into the sculpt before baking?

There's just so much to learn!!!

 

[K07]

https://www.onesixthwarriors.com/forum/sculpting-using-sculpy/58238-modelling-painting-head.html

Just finished my first sculpt. It's pretty awful... Didn't research things at all before jumping in. As I tried to smooth and shape the sculpey, my sculpt kept getting smooshed and distorted. I saw the foil/rod trick mentioned elsewhere but also found this technique to look interesting. I got a whole pound of sculpey so I'll be able to try both techniques and see which I prefer. This one seems easier.

 

[Kouzia]

I had really helpful vid and site take a look i think they will help
https://www.garieinternational.com.sg/clay/shop/softening_pc.htm
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DONshNwEa0[/ame]

 

[K07]

I finished my second attempt using the Tony Barton method and am EXTREMELY happy with the turnout. It's not perfect, but it actually resembles a human. I will keep doing it that way but I still learned some interesting things from the above video. I found the ears and lips to be the most difficult thing and am the least happy with them. I think I need more tools!

 

[Pennyworth]

No loss at all in detail from boiling.
Like you said, you should try it just for ****s and giggles!

After reading this thread I decided to give the boiling method a go.
I'm new to sculpting and had recently sculpted a baseball hat onto my David Dunn/Bruce Willis sculpt for my Unbreakable custom.
The head was cheap - $35 - and it comes painted. It's made of some sort of plastic so throwing this thing in the oven wasn't an option:

I filled a large pot with water and inserted a strainer type thing that had a post in the middle. I covered the post with tin foil and inserted the post in the base of the sculpt:

I turned on the oven and got the water boiling. After 25 minutes I turned off the oven and let it stand for 2 hrs. After removing the sculpt from the water, I dried it and inspected: No loss in detail, and the sculpey was rock solid.
However, once I attempted to mount the head back on the body, the brim snapped off.
That hat was certainly not, unbreakable. I should have figured that at this scale, it wouldn't be able to withstand much.

Here is a shot after I started to remove the hat:

Still, the method worked. I have to decide if I will attempt to resculpt the hat or possibly use an actual 1/6 scale hat if I can find one. For now, he remains hood up: