Proposed FAQ article- Oilbased clay

very nice read. I would add only: that most plastilenes ( and waxes ) can be 'sanded' using an old nylon stocking wet with naptha or mineral spirits. While this will soften the surface of the plastilene- you need merely wait a few hours for the volatiles to flash off. For a courser grit, use old sheets. Also- both wax and hard plastilenes can be kept maleable by using an electric warming tray like you might use on a dinning table. Just insert one of those do-it-yourself reostat dimmer switches into the power cord and you can adjust the temperature to get any consistency you prefer.

Also- I would recommend proven products known to work well. For those using high sulfur plastilenes the most reliable silicone made is G.I. 1000 by Silicones Incorporated. In 15 years of near daily use I have never had a lot that did't cure flawlessly, even when the plastilene was not sealed with acrylic spray. ( the only release agent needed ) As for platilenes, both roma and chavant are great, another great clay is made for the Automobile design industry by American Art Clay Company, in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is called HBX-2 and has a terrific, very firm body. It is designed to soften rapidly in a microwave (about 60 seconds for a 2 pound block) It works very well, getting firmer as it cools. The best part is that, once heated and allowed to cool, if you leave it for a week or two, after doing the sculpture, it becomes very very very firm, to the point where it can sand-papered and surformed. You almost have to hit it with a hammer to ding it.

About armatures- large volume armatures can be made in urethane foam and even styrofoam. To get a plastilene to stick to the foam, leave it a little rough or even poke lots of little holes in it and paint it all over with molten Beeswax. The beeswax soaks into the foam and the plastilene sticks l

[Thanks, Christopher. ]

[This is just the sort of input I was hoping for- nobody knows everything about anything, including me. I'll incorporate this info into the text, and post it again when I'm done.]

[Where do you get this?]

[Are 'platelines' a different kind of clay, or is this a typo?]

another great clay [You forgot your nonsense syllables...]

Andrew Werby

' The west coast distributor is: Circle K Products P.O. Box 909 Temecula, CA 92593 †909-695-1955 They also make a rubber called 1040 which will make molds that will store on the self for 14 years.

hmm ...plas- ti-lenes , that's what happens when you type with your hands full.

Sentence should end, '...sticks to it like crazy glue, only not stiff. Maybethis will get through. Christopher

mmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm m kk rrrrrrrrr kkkkkk

either update the current information or add new material?

Are you going to be maintaining this and should new material be sent to you or can we post directly? I'm not certain how this is working....sorry.

Chris Ray http://www.chrisray.com - contemporary sculpture Crocus Design Works - web site design

[I'll be keeping all the alt.sculpture FAQs on my site at unitedartworks.com, under Resources/Newsgroup FAQs, but if you've got another place in mind we could probably store them there as well. If you've got more info you'd like to add to any of the existing ones, now would be a good time to tell me about it, but I can keep revising them in the future. If you'd like to write one yourself (on sculpting directly in copper, perhaps?) you're welcome to do so. So far, in addition to the ones I wrote, we've got an excellent one by Wies Norberg on water-gilding, but that's it. ]

[No problem, I'm making this up as I go along- what do the big groups do? I figure I can maintain the ones I wrote, so if you have any ideas about these you can e-mail me and I'll try to incorporate them. If you decide to write one, please do post it to the group- I've gotten some excellent feedback already. It seems that the way this should work is that each author should maintain his or her own writings, and hold copyright under his or her own name. That way they can't (legally) be exploited commercially without permission, although fair use (educational, etc.) can take place. Let me know if you've got any other ideas.]

Andrew Werby