How a Miniature Begins-The Armature

For this weeks tip I thought I would show everyone how a miniature starts. I know this is a little advanced but I thought everyone would like to see how a figure is sculpted from the beginning.

The videos below show how I stretch and pose an armature and I go into underpinning a little.

The tools I use are simple miniature pliers and clippers that you can find at most hobby stores, and a pair of calipers which you can find here . Calipers are essential for measuring proportions so if you are serious about sculpting humans I'd pick up a set.

If you are interested in getting some armatures Reaper miniatures sells some Here. They also have some with muscles, these are good if you want to get a handle on how things work for practice but its always better to do it on your own.

As always if you have any questions feel free to post them and I'll answer them as best I can.

I apologize for the number of videos but I had to break them up into parts because blogger only accepts short length videos.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Sculpting Putty Part Four- Drying and Storage

The putties I described earlier all have the same properties and methods for storage and drying. You should only keep about an inch or so of putty out in your work area at a given time, chances are you will never use more than this amount on a given project. The rest should be stored in the freezer to keep it from drying out. If putty is left out it will slowly cure from the exposure to air and you will notice that your putty will have small lumps of hardened putty that will generally not mix and leave your putty with a rough, gritty texture. Make sure you "pick" out any such lumps before you start working.
Keeping putty in the freezer retards the natural hardening process so if you find you are working on a piece and have to leave for any reason before you have a chance to finish you can put the piece in the freezer and it will keep it from drying for a short period of time ( I wouldn't push it past 24hours). When you come back to work on the piece just pop it out of the freezer and in a few minutes it will thaw and you can resume work.

Drying
Once putty is mixed it will "air" dry within roughly 20 minutes. Air drying does not mean that it is fully dry, in order to completely cure the putty needs to be "cooked" in a oven or type of kiln that we sculptor's refer to as "The Cooker". This precision engineered piece of equipment is an amazing amalgam of common household parts that can easily be assembled by even the most novice modeler. Here is my cooker:

I know.. I know.. your asking yourself "how can I ever obtain the parts for, let alone construct, such a wondrous device?" Well here's how:

"The Cooker" Parts List*

1. A large empty coffee tin (don't waste the coffee! Drink it!)

2. A simple desk lamp or heat lamp (these are larger and may be necessary for larger coffee tins, you want to be able to rest the lamp on top of the tin)

3. 1 50 watt bulb (DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT, use any higher wattage, it will melt your figure!)

Once you have gathered your part simply cut open one side of the tin with tin shears or similar cutting devise (be very careful here we don't want any dismemberment) as shown.
That's it your done!

To dry putty in the cooker just place it inside for about 20 minutes and the putty should harden. Brown stuff will harden to the point where you can shave or sand it and green and procreate will fully cure so that when you touch the piece it won't warp or distort. I recommend cooking any project at each stage before going on to the next to ensure that you have a solid base to work on and you don't accidentally smudge something you just spent a half an hour sculpting (trust me I've learned this the hard way).

Hope you enjoyed the tips on putty, oh and yes the photo didn't make it past the sensor due to NDA reasons.

James

Sculpting Putty Part Three- Procreate

In this last post on putty I am going to cover one of the newer putties on the market- Procreate. Procreate is made by a company called Kraftmark, here is a link to their site http://www.kraftmark.biz/. From there you can find many suppliers. The average cost for a package is about 10.00.

The makers of procreate boast that their putty has the consistency of green stuff and will harden like Brown stuff, making it superior to both for sculpting. I have to admit that at first I had my doubts about these claims, after all how could such a miracle substance exist? After using it I can tell you that it does come close to the companies claims as possible. Since trying it I have switched to it for most of the sculpting I do. My only complaint with Procreate would be that while you can shave it slightly, it still does not compare to brown stuff when it comes to hardening. It is for this reason that I still use Brown Stuff for all my hardline sculpting which is still the best for that job.

It mixes and dries pretty much the same as the other putties. Add more hardener and it is thicker and dries faster, more softener and it takes longer to dry. I am not certain about the ability for procreate to be vulcanized as the company I work for at the moment uses RTV technology. A few years ago I did do a piece with procreate for a company and when they vulcanized it it warped and broke down from the heat however many companies seems to be using it.

My next post will cover storing, drying, and sanding all the different putties.

Sculpting Putty Part Two - Green Stuff

Today we are going to cover the most commonly used sculpting putty "green stuff". Green Stuff has been popular with miniature sculptors for many years. Also made by Polymeric, green stuff is widely available, here is a link: http://www.warehouse23.com/item.html?id=PSI000-23.

You can also find green stuff at most miniature companies however I would recommend doing some price shopping before you buy, compare the price to the length of strip you get. The product above is about a 2 foot strip (don't quote me on the length but I'm very close) for $12.00.

Green Stuff comes in a multicoloured strip (yellow and blue). The blue part is the hardener and the yellow part is the softener. When mixed in a 50% 50% ratio it will cure in about 20 minutes. Again if you use more hardener the putty will be thicker and harden faster; add more softener and it will have a thinner consistency and take longer to dry.

Green stuff has a very soft consistency to it. This characteristic makes it ideal for organic sculpting. It's great for things like faces, capes, hair, and other non technical objects. It is somewhat hard to master using green stuff (something I still haven't managed) but once you do it can hold very sharp features; just take a look at any of Tom Meier's work and you can see how truly amazing this putty can be in the hands of a master.

My only gripe about green stuff is that it can't be sanded or shaved once it dries. It is very unforgiving in this way. If you mess up a part or need to smooth something out you pretty much have to cut away the offending section and redo it.

Next up -Procreate