From: =?Windows-1252?Q?Mathieu_Ren=E9?= <creaturiste-AT-magma.ca>
To: <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 07:55:26 -0500
Subject: [Puptcrit] Oil-based clay tips


Hi all. I am waiting for a huge upload to a customer to finish, so I thought I could share the joy of oil-based clay.

Also known as non-drying clay, or Plastalina.
Klean Klay falls into this category as well.
Giotto Pongo is what I started with, it is for kids, it is crap until you heat it (double boiler) and add a bit of vaseline and flakes of beeswax. 
but the dream formula is called Chavant!
It is just perfect!
I tried Roma plastalina, and it was not as wonderful, but I can't say exactly why.


What? You have not tried the real stuff yet?
What are you waiting for?

Pros:
It's amazing!
Its precise!
It smooths like nothing else!
I can be kept indefinitely in the working stage (provided it does not stand on an absorbent base (plaster abosrbs the oil and makes even oil-based clay dry).
It will last years.
No conditionning required, only a bit of low heat to soften it (see below for instructions).
It comes in various degrees of hardness, from very soft to very hard (all can be softened by heat).
It does not produce dust.
It won't dry your hands.
Much less messy than waterbased clays. 
It does not become uselessly too soft when kept in the hand (contrary to polymer clays).
A good plastalina like Chavant NSP (sulphur free) will last years of constant use, provided you keep it clean.
In my opinion, it is much more pleasing to the touch than any other clays.

Cons: what cons?
ok, ok, perhaps for people who like to create their final piece directly, this is not the best thing to use, as it really needs to be molded. Or does it? I actually use my plastalina as much for a positive to work my paper  mache on, as for making molds and making the final in that.


How to heat oil-based clay:
It's very easy. 
Make a safe heating oven.
All you need is a proper box and a lightbulb fixture so you can install a 60W bulb in there.

Following the instructions on the John Brown sculpting DVD, I took a banker's box (made of strong carboard), lined it with aluminum foil, placed a lightbulb fixture (a clip-on lamp) inside the box (I did not have the one with the metal reflector), and voil=E0! A collegue friend saw it, fell in love with oil based clays as soon as he tried it warm, and decided to up my attempts. He found an all-metal bread box, and installed a lightbulb fixture in that. to keep the door securely closed even when carrying, he installed a hinge and eyelet for padlocks. Works like a charm.
What wonder! It heats up even faster than my box, and even if you open the door often, ti keeps the heat there.
He goes a bit extreme when he is in a hurry, he uses a 150w bulb. I don't reccomend it, the clay becomes dangerously hot when the 60W is lit for more than 45 minutes, so a 150W must be magma!

I want a bread box!
So much so that I cut a door on one side of my carboard oven, to have as easy an access as my collegue does.

Smoothing oil-based clays:
First a good raking is necessary to ensure prefect evenness of your sculpt. It has become an essential part of my modeling now, I can't imagine working without raking. For this, I use a regular loop tool on which Icut some lines with my Dremel, sing a cutting disc.  
After raking, the sculpt is even, but fuzzy-looking, thanks to all those teeth marks.
Then yo can smooth with a tool, your fingers, or heat, like a mini torch (for a random texture effect).

You can use solvents with a brush (alcohol, turpentine, citrus thinner, turpenoid) or mineral oil (very little, as it will make your clay more runny).

You can freeze your sculpt until hard, then tool it as if it were wood or stone. Keep it cold, take breaks and put it back in the freezer.



  

  


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