Clay

[PillowFire]

I was looking at this link Adam provided for clay:

http://hobbycast.net/products/chavantmodelingclay.htm


I now have a few questions.

1) what type of hardness is recemmended for sculpting armor parts.

2) how many pounds would I need to get to sculpt an entire helmet.

3) how many pounds would I need to sculpt an entire suit of master chief armor.


Also, I would like some advice on where I can buy some manaquins for sculpting, I currently have around 200 dollars from new years, which I am considering not spending on a new airsoft gun and instead using it to fund my project, I had the idea recently to use my already-made pep/resined MC parts as a base for sculpting.

 

[NZTK]

It depends completely on your method of sculpting, for mechanical parts I'd recommend a hard tooling clay but, that being said a medium clay could be used but you'd probably want to do a throw away first. as for the amount of clay it depends on the helmet. $200 is not going to get you enough to do a full suit at once, but you can sculpt then mould each part and reclaim the clay as you go. using your pep suit as a base is a good idea as you'll have the proportions pretty much right to begin with and it will cut down the amount you'll use for each part. you should get some water clay (or even better WED clay) to practice first, its cheap, comes in large amounts and if you keep it damp with a towel and plastic bags, can last you ages. A lot of large props are done with water clay, most of the bigger props in the lord of the rings films were made using it.

 

[PillowFire]

what is a throw-away? also, why practice first? If I mess up, I can re-use the clay, but if I get it right, I can keep it the way it is, can't I

 

[NZTK]

Doing a "throw away" is a process, you sculpt a mechanical type thing in clay, (helmet, scifi armour etc) then you take a mould from it, you cast a hard copy in fibreglass or some other hard tooling product, which becomes the basis for your final master, that you'll take your production piece mould from. Its a process usually done by people who cant finish clay to level they are happy with by hand (like me)

why practice first? If I mess up, I can re-use the clay, but if I get it right, I can keep it the way it is, can't I

That's pretty much practising isn't it?

If you haven't sculpted things like this before, don't expect your first attempt to be worth the silicone. Its very expensive, so, you'll want it to be perfect right?

 

[PillowFire]

yeah, however, I believe that with a lot of determination, and time, and carefullness, I can make it as good as the pro's on this site.

After-all, if you have lots of good reference pics, it should be possible, right?

I didn't know what the term "throw-away" ment, but I do know that it's possible to make something in clay, mold it, then make a copy out of a hard material and continue to perfect that, but that will cost a lot of money, which is why I can't do it.

 

[NZTK]

yeah, however, I believe that with a lot of determination, and time, and carefullness, I can make it as good as the pro's on this site.

After-all, if you have lots of good reference pics, it should be possible, right?

I didn't know what the term "throw-away" ment, but I do know that it's possible to make something in clay, mold it, then make a copy out of a hard material and continue to perfect that, but that will cost a lot of money, which is why I can't do it.

Absoloutly, thats the right attitude to have, with time practice and determination you can make anything you like. Bear in mind though, if you dont have the money to make your masters you're certainly not going to have enough money to mould. Even if you use latex, it will still cost a fair bit to mould larger parts like the torso and thighs. Im not trying to discourage you though, good luck