Christmas project but some new materials and techniques

wotan

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Hi all

You were kind enough to tolerate my threads about puppets a while ago, and I am once again working on something a little different. Apart from the project itself I hope that one or two of these new techniques will prove of interest to you.

I am going to be sculpting a fairy' head for a local christmas project, but I will be using some techniques that may be useful in more usual model building.

First up I found these styrene balls in a local dollar store, this will provide the armature for the head.

Foam ball 1.jpg

In addition I found these wooden beads on Amazon, that will serve as eyes. More later.

Wood beads.jpg

I started off by carving the styrene ball to a rough head shape. I then opened up the hole in two wooden beads using my Dremel and stuck them in.

Foam head 1.jpg

Next step was to use just a little Magic Sculpt to complete the pupils of the eyes.

Foam head 2.jpg

Now the first new thing for me, I discovered Paper Clay. You can buy this stuff in some art shops, however you can also make it from scratch yourself. The recipe is as follows:

Paper Clay.jpg

1 1/4 cups of damp toilet paper.
1 cup of premixed drywall compound (also known as Gyproc)
3/4 cup of PVA glue
1/2 to 1 cup of plain white flour (this can be adjusted to control the final consistency of the mix)

This is all mixed together to create a soft white clay substance. Make sure the toilet paper is well soaked and broken down to create a fine consistency. This stuff is great for simple modelling, creating terrain features, etc etc. When dry it can be sanded and carved to create smooth or textured surfaces such as stone walls, paving etc etc.

This is my first coat of the stuff applied to my styrene armature.

Head 1.jpg

One thing I found out is that if you apply it thickly it can take up to 24 hours to dry out. Once dry it can be sanded ( I use 600 grit foam backed sanders) to an almost porcelain finish. More to come

John
 

Tim Marlow

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The change between the eyeball pupil shot and the last shot is striking. You are really able to bring this stuff to life John. Just magic :thumb2:
 
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Jim R

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Hi John
I always find your work very interesting and this will be no exception. As Scottie says you are very talented.
Jim
 

Mini Me

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Amazing........I was looking at Kermit the Frog and "POOF" next thing you know, there she is! ;)
Top work John! Rick H.
 

wotan

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Thanks for all your indulgent comments guys.

Here is the last "new" product that I will mention. UV resin

resin.jpg

Picked up on Amazon for not very much money. Clear resin and a small UV flashlight. I use this stuff to pour into the eyes to make a very nice finish. Inly takes about 20 seconds with the UV light to harden off. I could well imagine this being useful for dials on a dash board, headlights and a number of other applications in regular modelling.

eyes.jpg

You can see the effect for eyes. Unfortunately I got a few bubbles in her left eye, I should have been a bit more careful. The right eye came out fine.

John
 

Neil Merryweather

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Great use of the UV resin, John. I have even used it to mould things, both in a press mould and a clear silicone one. As long as you can get the light to it ,it works excellently. And so fast!
 

rtfoe

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Thanks for all your indulgent comments guys.

Here is the last "new" product that I will mention. UV resin

View attachment 438362

Picked up on Amazon for not very much money. Clear resin and a small UV flashlight. I use this stuff to pour into the eyes to make a very nice finish. Inly takes about 20 seconds with the UV light to harden off. I could well imagine this being useful for dials on a dash board, headlights and a number of other applications in regular modelling.

View attachment 438363

You can see the effect for eyes. Unfortunately I got a few bubbles in her left eye, I should have been a bit more careful. The right eye came out fine.

John
This is amazing John, from a sphere of polystyrene to this. Coming out nicely. I have a tube of UV resin the size of a tube of watercolor paint and have not used it yet. Now that it's mentioned, I'll try it out on some bubble marks on the rifles that I have casted.

Cheers,
Richard
 

JR

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Beautifully made John and so cleaver.
 

Mini Me

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The "Eyes" have it John, that is a beautiful rendition. I'm sure the community will enjoy it being displayed for the Holiday Season. :thumb2: Rick H.
 
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