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Can anyone recommend a PM mix or medium that can give fine detailing but be somewhat light weight? I want to make a small mask that has rather fine detailing to it (lines, grooves, indents, etc), but is leight weight enough to be worn.
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Hi Seeria
No doubt you'll get some helpful answers here.
My penn'orth is that you can do a surprising amount with newspaper type paper as a laminate first. You can then paste up a few layers of tissue on a smooth board and lay them on, pinching and poking to get the detail you want.
My method now tends to be a fine pulp made as follows: -
Take a length of about a dozen pieces of toilet paper. Separate the layers as far as is reasonable and tear into pieces (they don't have to be too small);
Put them in a tin can filled to the brim with water;
With a paint stirrer on a drill or an electric hand held blender, wizz them into a soup texture;
Strain and squeeze out most of the water;
Add Methylated Cellulose paste, a small drop of linseed oil and mash with a fork until totally smooth;
Add finely ground chalk and mash again until you have a thick paste.
Apply with a small spatula or similar to create the relief you want.
This can be smoothed with sandpaper or, better still, a Dremel grinding attachment.
Now lets see what the others come up with!!
DavidO
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Hi Seeria,
I tend to use David's recipe for fine pulp, kindly given to me when my first attempts went disasterously wrong. The only thing I leave out is the linseed oil (I can't stand the smell of the stuff, it's why I gave up painting in oils). I have managed to do some lovely fine modelling with it.
The only thing that has not worked for me with this is when the relief I am working on stands out to much from the body of the piece, where the stem of the relief work is narrow than the tip. Under these circumstances I move over to laminate over armature.
Then I use tissue paper, any good quality craft tissue will do and this can be pulped or layered.
Either way both forms of tissue PM are very light weight when dried.
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Sounds great! Thank you. Will post results eventually. *bounces off to testing*
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Three words: Creative Paper Clay
No muss, no fuss, easy to work, easy to sand or sculpt (no dremel required), no guessing on mixing, less time involved, dries rapidly, cures in 24 hours, hardens with a liberal coat of PVA before curing, saves time, saves time, saves time, but is costly.
You can also mold this in candy molds, create sheets or coils, fix depressions in your PM, mix a slurry, and.... and......
And.. (a big 'and') it smooths wonderfully!
Now aren't you sick of me going on about this stuff!
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Why buy make your own and i bet you can make it faster than you can go down the shop and buy it. 
.
Sue
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hehe and and and.... heh
I don't mind the work, I do mind the cost. Less consumerism the better.
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Why buy make your own and i bet you can make it faster than you can go down the shop and buy it.
Sue
Oh yeah? How much are you willing to bet?
Your way is make the goop, which is gonna turn out lumpy. You gotta strain it. You gotta drain it. You gotta clean up after making the goop. Then you gotta work it. They you gotta apply it, and let it dry. After drying, it's very hard, and to carve it requires a lot of time, and perhaps even a Dremel tool.
The clay way, you go buy it, and it's ready to work. Plus it has all the properties of clay -- you can hand form it, roll it, coil it, sculpt it. When it's dry, it can be carved and sanded VERY easily, with results that can't obtained with glue hardened pulp (which is much harder than this clay).
The caly way saves you a bunch of time! I know this for sure, because I have both ways. When you've tried the clay, let me know. Until then, you really don't know, now do ya?
Time can't be replaced. Money can. I'd rather lose the money. Trust me. Go spend $5.00 and see. I'm sure you'll come to the same conclusion that I have -- Paper clay is superior.
p.s. I'm only trying to help. If you don't want it, that's your decision, but don't ridicule me.
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Three words: Creative Paper Clay
Hey, Lengo. Is that stuff lightweight? or is it heavy like clay? I use Sculpey quite a bit but I have trouble on certain applications because it is heavy, relative to paper anyway. Is this paper clay stuff light like foam.
Also, do you have to use the whole pack at once? What I mean is, if I open the package and only use some of its contents does the unused stuff go bad quickly? I have that problem with ModelMagic (A lightweight modelable foam that I use in applications where Sculpey is too heavy). Thanks.
P.S. Ever get glue in your beard?
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The paper clay is very light. I'm doubtful about making something wholly out of it, but some people do.
No, you don't need to use it all at once. I've been working on 8 oz for over 4 weeks, and still have about 3 oz left. I recently bought some more 'cause it was on sale, but it'll be a while before I get around to opening it.
Once you open, though, keep it moist. I put it in a ziplock freezer bag while still in it's original bag. I include a soaked a paper towel to keep the humidity high in the bag.
You can get detailed information and see some projects made from it here:
http://www.paperclay.com/
Personally, I love this stuff! I find it most versatile. Gus wouldn't exist if it weren't for this clay.
http://www.iinet.com/~lengoforth/Gus2small.jpg
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The adobe way, you go buy it, and it's accessible to work. Plus it has all the backdrop of adobe -- you can duke anatomy it, cycle it, braid it, carve it. When it's dry, it can be carved and sanded VERY easily, with after-effects that can't acquired with cement accustomed lurid (which is abundant harder than this clay).
________________
Thermostat
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I find a mixture of Kleenex and undiluted white glue is light weight, highly malleable, dries relatively quickly, and holds small details well. Granted, my stuff is so small, it's hard for me to accurately judge how heavy a larger scale project, like a mask, would be.
I've never tried Paperclay, but I know a number of artists who sing its praises.
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For fine stuff, I've mashed fine tissue (toilet) paper with paste (not too much), using a small knife or modelling tool. You can then mold it easily. When dry it is hard and strong. You need small tools though.
DavidO
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Try using dental tools. Here in the U.S., they are easily available through American Science and Surplus http://www.sciplus.com They have two sets of 3 double-ended tools for $6 or less. Get their small paper catalog, you'll see other stuff you 'need'.
They do have a $10 minimum order.
Sue
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Also
http://paizo.com/store/gameAids/tools/g … 48btpy89fj
a set of 12 sculpting tools for miniature work. On sale at the aforesaid site for $35. I have a set and find it extremely useful and good value.
It's worth searching for the best deal though.
DavidO
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Veterinarians use dental tools, too. A little rust won't hurt anything for your uses.
Also check out places that sell pottery supplies (clay, tools, etc) and see what they have that might be useful.
Sue
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