[Woodcarver] Question for those that make models from clay

[Joe Dillett]

Hi Bill,

A while back Chris Howard was interested in working in clay and was
inquiring as to what type we use. This is what I wrote:
******
I use several types of modeling clay. I use the Chavant Plasteline clay if I
am working out a design and will distroy it later. I use the Super Sculpy if
I want to harden and keep it over a period of time. Big Dog (The Woodcraft
Shop) (800-397-2278) is where I get the clay and the tools to work the clay.
Besides the wonderful wireformed tools I use a table knife and spoon in
forming the clay.

My armitures depend on what I'm working on. Sometimes to save clay I'll
rough out a large block of wood or foam and lay a skin of clay over the
surface. This works best for Plasteline. If you bake the Super Sculpy with a
large wood core it can pull away from the wood. If you have an electrician
friend talk him into saving scraps of stiff copper wire for you. Copper wire
can be screwed to a wood base and bent and even soldered to be held into any
shape. It can be bent, even after the clay is applied, to fine tune a pose.

A while back I was working on a project so I called Chavant to inquire about
clay. They sent be about 40 samples of different clays ranging from hard to
soft, with and without sulpher, different colors primarily red, brown and
gray. After evaluating I determined that I like the Plasteline, that Big Dog
carries, best.

Super Sculpy also comes in different colors but I generally use the flesh
tone. I use it for making molds for castings. It is hardened by baking at
275-degrees for 15-minutes for every 1/4-inch thickness. So if the thickest
part of the clay is 3/4-inch thick it must be baked at 275-degrees for
45-minutes. It can be carved, sanded and painted. After hardening it can
also be added to and rebaked. Once hard if it is returned to 275-degrees it
becomes slightly flexable again.

I do use some water base clay but not very often. It is difficult to get
real size because it shrinks when drying. It also is prone to cracking if
dryed to fast. Keeping it moist during the drying process will help.
***************

Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552
(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.com
jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
http://www.carvingmagazine.com Carving Magazine web site and Readers Forum
http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett
http://www.citizenactions.org
http://www.safeguardsystemsinc.com
**************************************************



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Smith" <baydolphs at yahoo.com>
To: "[Woodcarver]" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 12:30 PM
Subject: [Woodcarver] Question for those that make models from clay


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>
> Hi mike and anyone that models from clay what type of
> clay do u use and is it baked after u have designed
> the peice or do u reuse the clay n keep it soft in
> some way..
>
> As I think it would be good to make models of
> different things for carving, however: I have never
> made a model and find that people talk about models
> from clay in many books on carvings. However, they
> never list or explain about the type of clay used.
>
>
> Bill
>
> =====
>
>
>
>
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