Post #377798 by OceaOtica on Sat, May 3, 2008 9:29 AM

Great thread guys! I have been messaged with a few questions as well so will tack on some info here. i usually use Lagunas water based (em210?) white clay for building a separation wall. When using water based clays for sculpting or molding purposes, there is always the fine line of too wet too dry. One technique that helps in the last final smoothing your piece or parting wall is to use 99% alcohol (or 70% is thats what you can get) instead of water. This will not saturate the clay like water, will evaporate faster, and helps to prevent sludging the surface. A great tool for smoothing water based clays is a foam rubber cosmetic sponge. When bulking out the form and getting to the early steps of smoothing before final detailing, a powder puff with water is a great tool.
Working out "thumbiness" in a sculpture early on is key. A lot of people want to rush to detailing, thinking it will hide uneveness or bumpiness, but it usually does not. Get your bulk shape as clean as you can before adding detail. With oil based clays, use some window screen, the thicker waxier feeling stuff, wrapped on the tip of your sculpting thumb, and work the surface to take out that wavy thumbiness.
If you are just begining as a sculptor, start with water base. If you get a good feel for sculpting in water based clay, you will have a step up when starting to work with oil based clay.

Hope this is clear helpful info, and answered some PM's.

[ Edited by: oceaotica 2008-05-04 10:19 ]