Casey Love course: work in progress/baking question

Lisa Donohue

Hi all!

Working through the Casey love "Digital to Practical" course right now. Bottom photo below shows the Photoshop sketch & armature. Top photo is where I'm currently at. Still have to add texture, bake & paint.

Really nervous about baking this out (Super Sculpey), so any tips on how to bake without cracking it all to hell would be much appreciated! Do I put foil on the ears & mouth since they're pretty thin? Have seen some other posts on the subject but am wondering what to do with varying thicknesses in the same piece. Have worked hard on this so would hate to ruin it at this point.

Thanks for any guidance!

Lisa

Chris Ellerby

Beautiful character.  Can't wait to see what it looks like all painted!

The basic baking instructions are bake at 275 °F (130 °C) for 15 minutes per 1/4 in (6 mm) thickness.

Thinner areas will harden faster, so your note about using tinfoil to protect thin areas would probably work great.

/Chris

Lisa Donohue

Thanks so much for the kind words, Chris

I'll try the foil and see how that shakes out. Wish me luck!

Lisa

Darren Kent

Once it's done baking, shut the oven off and leave it in there to all cool naturally, overnight if possible. If it cools too fast that will cause cracks.
I also prefer to bake my stuff at a lower temperature 110°c for a longer period of time. I think jordu schell does it this way too (miniature head course).

Gregori Ferns

Anytime I followed instructions from the box it always cracked on me. A slower, lower temperature always seemed to work best in my experience with sculpey. 

Thomas van der Veer

Jordu Schell told me the best way to prevent cracks in supersculpey, is to heat it up very slowly and to cool it down very slowly.. You have to be very patient.. it can take a day.