Fluke Mould Failure

[Kae]

I'm on the pity pot right now, even though I totally deserved what happened. I chose an incorrect type of clay and decided to work with it anyway. I sculpted a fluke and let it dry, and it cracked like dry mud! :( completely ruined! I chalked it up to practicing sculpting and I'm going Monday to buy the correct clay. :( I just wanted to vent and get some some pity! haha https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQahCNLgUuOIo6Yrj02-8ohm2UbiK2rpvC0B81BnFYBQ4s90rSk

[Thalassa]

Aww! That can be so frustrating to have spent such time on something and have it not work. For me, it's doubly frustrating when it could have been avoided. I start beating myself up for not doing things differently, even though I really can't do anything about it now. ;-) You seem to have an excellent attitude about it, though. <3

[Kanti]

I assume it was water-based?
At least you didn't attempt the mold and THEN have it blow up in the middle of it! You got off pretty well imo
Didnt get too far that you'd have wasted a lot of expensive materials.

Think of it this way, more sculpting practice!

[ShyMer]

don't throw it away! if it's water based, Put it all in a plastic bag ( any kind will do, just don't use one with holes in the bottom or something) with water and it will reconstitute after a while. Just leave it for a couple days. If it's too squishy, leave it open for a while until you get the right texture. Definitely knead it until you get a smooth consistency.

Water based clay is fine to use to sculpt a fluke, just don't let it dry out. For one, as it loses its water, it shrinks, which you don't want because it cracks if allowed to dry unevenly( as you've discovered already) and your mold will end up smaller than you originally sculpted. If the clay is wet, it's easier to pull out of your mold too.


When working, I like to keep a spray bottle handy in case I think it's getting too firm. When you're done, put a layer of damp paper towels and plastic over your work. This way you don't have to seal the clay in the plastic to keep air out(check on ot every once in while though.)


If you don't want to do the paper towel thing because the afraid of the paper and plastic touching your sculpture, set some taller objects around your work and drape the plastic on them instead, also use masking tape to seal the plastic to your working surface.


Clay takes a while to dry out to the useless bone dry stage, just keep an eye on it and keep it somewhat covered with a spray bottle handy and you'd be fine :)

[ShyMer]

One thing I really like about water based clay is I can easily control the softness by spraying more water or letting it evaporate. I don't know if you can do that with oil based clay.


When I started out with my fluke, I wanted it more wet do I could join the pieces together (nice for smoothness) , but as I got to the point where I wanted to add detail, I wanted it a good deal firmer so it didn't squash if I bumped it by accident.

oh and try to use tools instead fingers when you can. fingers make the clay dry out faster and makes the clay look lumpy.

[Mahi Mermaid]

this thread scared me! I bought water based clay too, I think...because when I add water to it it makes it move easier...only I was HOPING it would dry out, so that it would harden, but now I'm thinking I need to keep it wet??

[Kae]

Thanks all from the support! I'm re-wetting the water based clay to try again, But in the mean time I got to huge boxes of Sculpey to work with. Sculpey is so much harder to work with!! Also got my liquid plastic in the mail today so whoo! Progress is slow but sure.

[Mahi Mermaid]

I also have some sculpty, what I used as my "test" to see how many layers of latex I'll need. I like sculpty- it's not too soft but just sturdy enough to hold :)