Hugh Laurie as House Custom Headsculpt by Chris Howes Interest Thread

Collector Freaks Forum

Help Support Collector Freaks Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
I'm assuming thats different from Sculpey III? I usually use the small blocks of elephant gray.

Where can one purchase this stuff Chris?

Check out well stocked art supply stores or hobby stores. Nationally, in the US, Hobby Lobby usually carries it and sometimes Michael's stores. But you'll find better prices online.

I'll buy 5 or 10 boxes at a time from Creative Wholesale .

They have the best price I've ever found. You'll pay around $12.00 or $13.00 in most stores, but only $8.00 to $9.00 here.

The only problem with SS Firm is if it has been sitting around too long it tends to dry out a little bit and get slightly crumbly. You can recondition the clay by kneading in a TINY amount of petroleum jelly or a TINY drop of mineral oil. Be very conservative in your use of these. You can always add a little more if you need too but too much will make it too gooey. If that happens add a little more dry crumbly clay. The use of a dedicated pasta machine will make this somewhat easier! Such machines are sold in hobby stores for use with polymer clays but you may pick one up cheaper at your local Walmart or other such store. Not mandatory, but if you are going to be conditioning a lot of clay it can be useful.
 
Thanks so much Chris, and if I can bug you for two more little issues I get all the time.
1) How do you avoid fingerprints?
2) How do you get them so smooth? Mine always end up with little deviations in the clay that make it look like they got punched in the jaw last week and is still a little swollen.
 
Thanks so much Chris, and if I can bug you for two more little issues I get all the time.
1) How do you avoid fingerprints?
2) How do you get them so smooth? Mine always end up with little deviations in the clay that make it look like they got punched in the jaw last week and is still a little swollen.

Well, fingerprints are fine until you get to finishing. At that point mount it on a stick or rod of some sort. I usually just jam whatever spare tool I have laying around up it's neck and use that as a handle.

To get the surface smooth, as you say, there are many techniques, I'm sure. I just use a variety of tools, both wooden and metal, to work the surface into shape.

Get yourself some cheapo wooden sculpting tools and then sand them down to a variety of shapes, but all very smooth. Rub them down with some of the petroleum jelly you've bought for your SSF and wipe them off. This gives them a nice surface. Then just use them to press and scrape the clay into submission!

I also make my own steel tools. This is a somewhat advanced project however. I use Piano wire (available at good hobby stores) of different diameters which I cast a resin handle around. I then grind, heat, hammer on an anvil, to get the desired shape and thickness. The steel is then polished to a high degree on a polishing wheel until it's absolutely smooth and shiny. It's a thing of beauty! :D If I'm making a blade or spatula tool then that's the final step. But if I'm making a hook tool I then bend the steel into a hook shape then add serrations by dragging the edge of the tool repeatedly across the teeth of a flat file.

This hook tool is what I often use to scrape a basic smooth surface. You can perhaps use the edge of a no. 11 exacto blade to similar effect.

When you get down to final finishing, use a series of soft water color brushes with a very small amount of lubricant or solvent ( rubbing alcohol or naptha, just a drop!) to smooth and finish the surface. Don't be afraid to cut down the brushes to get the shape and thickness you need.

Bake it up hard! But only bake it at 200 degrees F, not the 275 they recommend. Let it cool in the oven if you can be patient enough to avoid thermal shock cracks. Now you can sand and carve if need be. If you need to add more clay, use a little p jelly to help adhere the new clay to the cured clay.

Hope that helps! :)
 
Wow, Chris!

Now I'm all psyched up to sculpt something ...
... what to sculpt?

:D
 
You know, whenever I hear more in-depth details about how this stuff gets created, it just makes me appreciate the talent and patience required even more!!!
 
Hey everyone, sorry about the crappy, blurry sideways pics. :(

Don't know how that happened, anyway this is my House in progress, with Michael Scofield head that came with the body. :D

housebbt.jpg


house1y.jpg


house2y.jpg


house3.jpg


Was thinking about repainting the shoes, but not sure to what colors if so.
Someone posted this link and I thought I can make them into these pretty easily.
https://www.myairshoes.com/nike/nike-air-zoom-dunkesto.html

Recipe FYI: jacket is Hot Toys Harvey Dent, undershirt, jeans and socks from Saturday Toys Prison Break clothes set, blue shirt is ACI iirc.

I did get a dark blue ACI jacket but I liked the gray of the Dent one alot more.
 
Recipe FYI: jacket is Hot Toys Harvey Dent, undershirt, jeans and socks from Saturday Toys Prison Break clothes set, blue shirt is ACI iirc.

I did get a dark blue ACI jacket but I liked the gray of the Dent one alot more.

Great! I see your using the same general recipe most of us are using. We just need our humble sculptor to show himself in the thread soon.
 
Bump due to a "memorable" House episode tonight. :lol Whatever that means. But hey, Meatloaf is on it! I wonder what song of his will be used? :lol
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top