I've been making miniatures for a while. I started with "Sculpey" poly-clay, which you bake to harden. I've made over a hundred minis using the sculpey, but I never liked it.
Someone suggested "Super Sculpey" and I've been using that lately, and I like it much more than the regular sculpey, but it still has to be baked to harden and I tend to mess up the sculpt accidentally while doing final detail work.
So I bought a variety of epoxy putty materials which I've been using. They range from some epoxy putty I got at Home Depot, to some epoxy putty intended for making quick casting molds at Hobby Lobby, to something called "Apoxie Sculpt" which I bought online and some "milliput" I got at the local gaming store. I have also used the famous "green stuff" but I just can't justify the expense of that stuff, $10 for enough to make four or five minis? The whole point of making my own minis was to get the cost down to pennies per mini, so "green stuff" is pretty much cost prohibitive.
What do people here use? I've found most of the epoxie putties to be either too soft and moist, or too hard and brittle. The green stuff probably is the best, but as I said, it's just ridiculously expensive.
I did buy some "ProCreate" which I haven't used yet. I am hoping it is similar to the green stuff.
One of the things I wish I could do is use some material that I could use a UV light to harden so that I can sculpt a section, blast it with UV light to harden, then not have to worry about smooshing it when working on another area, and then add some more and then harden it. Is anyone aware of any material that will work this way?
Kneadatite (greenstuff) and other modeling putties are MUCH cheaper if you get them at thewarstore.com
Greenstuff and milliput are what the pros use (Apoxie Sculpt is cool for bigger things, but I think it's too stick for making minis and you have to let it set up for about 30 minutes before it's workable, whereas greenstuff is ready to use as soon as you mix it).
I've got to echo Sean's comments about greenstuff. I get most of mine base-work putty from hardware stores in the plumbing department, and then get the realy fine finishing material from my FLGS. Milliput comes in four different grades, and I like their fine white for detail work.
But every sculptor I've ever talked with has their own opinion, and the best way to learn about a product is to try it and see if it fits with your sculpting techniques.
Yeah, it probably does boil down to individual preference. I have been using super sculpey for quick and dirty minis lately. I know this is probably qualifies as miniature sculpting blasphemy, but I frequently make a batch of minis that are pretty crude, but provide a good visual way for the encounter to be managed. In fact that was all I wanted to do originally. And it's been great fun even with my crude minis. My gaming group has appreciated them and expressed nothing but approval, even for the too-big kobolds with black dots for eyes.
But then I just started getting into the creation process and decided to try to "get serious" with a beholder, and that came out so well that I started thinking I might be able to actually do something decent, and now I've got all these different kinds of epoxy putty I'm messing with.
Lol, the last thing I need is yet another costly and time-sucking hobby... but last night I made the first mini that I actually started to put real details into, and so far so good. So I suppose I am probably going to keep messing with this.
I did not really like the Apoxie, it was too wet and sloppy for too long. I am going to try the milliput and procreate this weekend. And I still find the super sculpey to be suitable for large minis, and its a whole lot cheaper for that use than the epoxy putty. I will probably start doing large minis with super sculpey, with the fine detail done with epoxy putty. That's probably the most cost effective and fastest way to make a hill troll or dragon.
Hey. A few notes on the super (and regular) sculpey.
First off, for large figures, are you bulking them up before you add the sculpey? The usual procedure is to make an armature out of aluminium wire, then bulk it with aluminium foil.
Quick example of the process: Shifletts on Youtube
Any wire and foil will work really, it's just that the aluminium is soft and easy to work with.
For smaller figures in (super) sculpey, keep in mind that 1. you can harden them in boiling water, much easier than an oven and 2. you can harden it, then sculpt details on top, then harden again.
You can mix regular and super sculpey - you'll get it slightly firmer than straight pink super sculpey is that way. I find it's easier to see what I'm doing once I mix in some black and white regular sculpey to get rid of the semi-translucent pinkishness of super sculpey.
Best of luck in your sculpting adventures, man!
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I like Milliput for details that need to stay sharp-edged and take a knock.
Green Stuff never seems to fully set, but that may be me not mixing it right. Here's photos of something I made, which came a cropper a few days later when my son got hold of it.
Green Stuff never seems to fully set, but that may be me not mixing it right. Here's photos of something I made, which came a cropper a few days later when my son got hold of it.
Huh. I mix it 50/50, and after about an hour it's pretty hard (but I usually let it sit overnight to fully harden, just in case). It still has a little give, but it's solid enough. Maybe you got a bad batch or didn't mix thoroughly or in even proportions?
Yes, my "standard process" (such as it is) for large items is to start with a wire armature, then bulk it up with aluminum foil, then to cover that with sculpey clay and shape it, then bake it.
I have not yet baked an "incomplete" mini with the express purpose of adding more detail later, but I am just on the verge of doing that right now. I see how a super sculpey basic form could be made and then the critical details could be added in epoxy putty, a process that would probably save a significant amount of money. I almost did that with my current sculpture, but I decided that because the pose wasn't ideal, the basic figure has enough detail for now, and I'll put that much effort and time into a mini where I like the pose.
For the mini I am working on now, this is the first time that I created the basic form and then pressed, shaped and cut small pieces of clay to create details like the cuff of the boots or a bustier. I was very pleased by the results, so I think my future "serious" efforts will probably start with a super sculpey "naked" figure and then I will add the clothes and details with epoxy putty.
I am thinking of making a series of basic forms in various poses, without details, and then creating silicon molds of them and casting a number of pre-made base forms which I can then add details to without having to create armatures and sculpt the base form for every one.
I am also considering sculpting some "add-on" elements separately, then casting them to be added on later. Those "add-on" elements would include weapons, equipment, wings, horns, shields, etc...
Not sure if anyone else works this way.