My beginning into making artisans

[I_am_not_me_]

Hey guys, so first post here. I got into keyboards not too long ago and immediately became interested in artisans. I'm really enjoying sculpting but am making very slow progress with the actual casting. I figured I should document my progress so far and add as I go and troubleshoot.



Here we have my first attempt with sculpey 3. I honestly hated it because the putty was so squishy and felt like playing with gum. Maybe I suck but I would not recommend. Nevertheless, I attempted to make a silicone mold and learned that concave thin shapes are not the best idea because they hug the silicone and rip off :/



With that in mind, I tried again with super sculpey and the difference was night and day. I loved this clay for sculpting and learned from my mistakes. I avoided certain things and this sculpt was easier to make a mold out of. I then attempted to make a cast with resin.





As you can see, I was not successful. I've been using smoothcast 300 and that cures very fast from what I can see. This made my amateur hands very panicky and struggle even harder with the synth sticking to the resin. After this failure, I learned from some nice artisans that vaseline and mold release was a godsend for this issue. I then made a few more sculpts for fun.





What I learned from these following sculpts is that size matters. The hermit is too big and while it fits, it looks very imposing and out of place. Then I cast the hermit and attempted a doubleshot.



I was happy about the results but they were not great. The stem didn't form all the way and I think it ended up loose because I put on too much vaseline. Also I'm not digging the super smooth texture that highlights all the imperfections that I couldn't see on my sculpey sculpt. I still haven't found the answer for this though. My latest effort is another sculpt for fun.



From here on, I'm planning on trying smoothcast 325 for longer curing times and getting my pressure pot setup thanks to a super nice guy from reddit helping me out. Thanks for reading!

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So I've been super busy and haven't gotten time to make any new sculpts but I was thinking about the things I didn't like about my hermit crab sculpt. The first was how smooth and cheap the texture looked and the second being how ill-defined his little features were. I got the idea to use a razor blade to give the original sculpt a more matte texture and also accentuate the features while removing some rough textures. I'm pretty happy with the result and just finished making the silicone mold.



Okay so after a fee duds I was super careful in letting the ease release dry and attempted this beauty which is my first success and I am stoked!













Clearly I messed up the black somehow on the eyes but I'll figure it out. For now I'm just happy to see my first successful cast

[Corgi Butts]

Keep it up!  Great starting progress 

[I_am_not_me_]

Thanks! Will do o7

[Taylorisg]

Yay for documenting progress! Been following on Reddit!

[Kenda]

Look interesting. Good job


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[numberfive]

Good call on posting here, it's harder to keep track over time on Reddit. I'm sure I'm not the only one inspired by your work to start artisan crafting, keep up the great work!

[I_am_not_me_]

Good call on posting here, it's harder to keep track over time on Reddit. I'm sure I'm not the only one inspired by your work to start artisan crafting, keep up the great work!

Thanks man! It means a lot. I've been lucky to meet several people who became interested in making artisans right along with me and helping each other troubleshoot has been a really great experience.


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[SKD]

Smooth cast 325 and 300 have the same pot life a demold time. You probably want 305 if you are sticking with white resin, 7 min pot life, 40 min demold time.

[I_am_not_me_]

Thank you, I appreciate the correction. Does the longer pot life and demold time affect anything else?