has anyone tried this? (I clay) Velvet Clay + Modelling Clay in general

[lorenith]

One of the makers of small cute things I watch shared the material they use to make their tiny sculptures recently, and I was wondering if anyone here has tried it?

It seems to be from Korea although the artist didn't make that very clear on their own. (probably cause they want to sell it over etsy to interested parties).

It's a kind of "velvet clay" ? I've seen several other sculptures I rather like also mention using velvet clay or velvet plastic, or just soft clay in general (that's normally air dry but not horrible like model magic) but I've never been able to find any real information on it or where to buy any kind of it. I search for it and normally get lots of things like sculpy pieces that has received a specific surface treatment which is not what I'm looking for.


I mainly work in bronze, so I'm used to working with victory brown wax myself. But I no longer have cheap easy access to a foundry, nor the space really to even do pewter castings right now. So I've been thinking for a while about other materials. I'm familiar with Sculpy, and Apoxie sculpt (from aves, super expensive).

If anyone has thoughts on materials or wants to talk about sculpting in general with clay or via casting feel free to post, I kind of want to find other people to talk to who are interested or have experience with sculpture.

[insanejoker]

Never heard or seen it before.

I think it's actually velvet plastic: http://www.orange-elephant.com/creative_stories/3
http://hontor.deviantart.com/journal...Info-225522005

I don't think this is available worldwide yet. D:

EDIT: found this explanation
"Hearty Clay and a few other ADC brands will dry with a velvet finish, so that's a possibility. However, in searching for "velvet clay" I saw "velvet clay" also referred to as "velvet plastic" and, in turn, saw that "velvet plastic" referred to "A-Clay". A-Clay is a European/Russian brand of air-dry clay primarily marketed to children. http://www.orange-elephant.nl/wat-is-a-clay.html but some artists are creating detailed figures with it...see http://orange-elephant.com/creative_stories/3"

As seen here http://newclaynews.blogspot.com/2011...explained.html

[lorenith]

Yeah, the being able to get fine details into it and stuff is the main draw for me. I make completely un-detailed things, but have wanted to experiment with adding some detail just to see where it goes (then again I had a grad student tell me not to do that cause the more crude style of them makes them more mine, I normally respected him but I think he's a little off point on that piece of advice). The orange elephant link is new, so at least I know there's a couple of different places making a "clay" like this...


This is another artist I've seen calling the clay they use "velvet clay" (it's actually the first one that got me looking a few years ago) it seems that information on the stuff is pretty sparce, I wonder if I can get my local Michaels or Hobby lobby to order some, the Korean website seems to be open to supplying some if you talk to them more directly. It doesn't bother me if it's marketed at children, almost every artist I've spotted using the stuff can get really high quality work out of what they're using both as sculptures and painters. I'd like to play with it at least and see what I can manage. (nothing amazing like the artists I watch obviously, but I do love trying new materials and processes)

[spacerogue]

I'm highly amused that again its a product for children that beats a pro and most likely pricey product. I wish I could remember his name so I could link his site ,but on the con I go to on yearly base there is a sculptor of Alien/predator and other well known characters. His work is just unfathomable good, highly detailed and painted and sells for about 1K bucks iirc. When he told me what he used I was just floored ... its a blue Crea for children clay. Not super sculpy nope, kiddy clay ! I wish I could show something but both the photos and the bucked of clay I have are packed and stored atm (moving houses)

Amusing, odd and awesome. Not to mention better for the wallet.

[lorenith]

Yeah a part of me is a little bit leery of it since it's a product for children, but people are able to get results out of it, and swear by it on top of that. (which is different than say model magic, which you can get results out of, but you're still going to hate it! It's not even good for kids)

I'm actually surprised to hear that sculpy is considered a pro product, all the sculptures I talked to had a pretty negative reaction to me thinking about playing with it for some stuff. (only explanation I could get out of them was "It's not permanent enough/breaks/breaks down?" I can't really remember). I still wonder about that.

[spacerogue]

Very understandable. Art supplies are irritating, more expensive doesn't mean 'better' but I'll admit I'd rather not buy cheap. Problem is , nine times out of then the product really is awefull and I have a hard time trowing things away since I live with a very curious hoarder that manages to dumpster-dive in my trash and put it back in my room ,I kid you not ....

Ah, could very well be. I'v always thought super sculpy as 'the pro thing to use' seeing its being used for sculpts in movies and animations. I have no idea about the how breakable it is at all. I have 1 package that took 6 months to arrive, with that and the high cost I just got way to paranoid to even use it and its been sitting in my closet for years now.

[lorenith]

I have no idea, I'm not too well learned in making of models and things for movies, just that the grad students and teachers up there universally hated sculpy. It may be one of those Fine art vs Design things, I've noticed fine artist can turn their nose up at a lot of things while not giving a very satisfactory explanation for why. (I don't think "impermanence" is really a good reason to pan the sculpy family of stuff)

I've only really played with sculpy as a child, I don't remember much about it though, I have trouble remember things within the past couple of years, much less 15-20 years ago.

You should pull it out and play with it, although it may have gone bad by now. It's not water based, but I have this feeling that it won't last forever in its uncured state at least. (I think it's some hidden memory of digging up some old stuff that had been carefully wrapped but had gone all crusty and gross)

If you do want to try other things out I can tell you apoxie sculpt is pretty nice stuff, although it too is a little on the expensive side, since the easiest way to get it is mail order. (the mailing is the expensive part not so much the sculpt) It seems to be fairly forgiving stuff, it air cures and is waterproof once dry, but before it's cured you can use water to smooth it out or create slip and stuff. (I use a lot of water when I sculpt with it cause I can't stand sticky stuff!)

Now if you do get that stuff it WILL go bad after you open it if you don't use it in a couple of months. Only open each container for as long as it takes for you to get what you're going to use also, cause leaving the container open also causes the stuff to start to harden and eventually become unusable.

[spacerogue]

Thehe ,from what I'v heard Fine Art people are rather snobbish, I just let them waste their time arguing about weather Acrills or Oils are the better medium.



Yeaaaah I might, or I might not work with it, I haven't really felt the need to sculpt for years. I tend to open up Zbrush and just do it there.
I think I'v heard about apoxie ! Being able to dry on air is a really huge plus point considering the teeny microwave I have ,ugh. I'll write it down, who knows c:

[NecrochildK]

lorenith, I've been trying to figure it out myself and I highly suspect it's the same thing as Crayola's Model Magic. Judging from the look of them unpainted and the description of the texture, lightweight and spongyness described of "velvet clay" it sounds exactly like it. So the likely answer is, yes, there is a US available brand of it found in most craft stores here.

[FranOnTheEdge]

I've used Super Sculpey for some years now and love the feel of it as I work. But I've got really fed up with the numerous recent breakages on my lovely turtle, SteamPunk and other pendants that I've made. So I've just finished an octopus made in Pardo clay. I like using Pardo but Pardo is very hard to obtain - I have to order it from the German suppliers who don't have an English translation at all so it takes forever for me to translate every word, so I know what I'm doing before I commit to paying.
So this "Velvet Clay" sounds very interesting.