Any Chavant smoothing techniques please ? :-)

Erika Vigneron

Hi everyone !

I am trying to sculp these times, and I need some advices please ! 

I am sculpting a medieval corgi, inspired from the original drawing by the artist Nikita Orlov.

I would like to know guys some techniques to smooth the clay and create an even surface, flawless and without asperity (you can check the pictures), by reading through the topics, apparently trying to heat the clay is a bad idea and I'd better cool it down.





I've tried different techniques, like rake it, with smaller and smaller tool, brush it with cheap brushes and 99° Isopropylic alcohol, but it still doesn't work, I probably don't do it the right way !

Also, I add other pics of my sculpture, I'm still a noob lol so if anyone wants to comment and give opinion and advices, you are more that welcome !












Aaaaand this long post is finally done ! I hope you will enjoy it

Thanks for readind, and please excuse my grammar I'm from France lol

Chris Ellerby

Hi Erika,

To smooth a surface like that I would start by using rake tools or a serrated kidney tool to rake the surfaces from all different directions.  This will remove high points and help fill in low points. Repeat the raking process with finer and finer rake tools.

Once that process is done you can smooth the surface further using heat or solvents.  Here are some solvents that work on Chavant.  Naptha, Lighter Fluid, Mineral Spirits, NOVOCS from Smooth-On, Turpentine, and to a lesser extent 99% isopropyl alcohol.  Other solvents will work, that's just a quick list.  When smoothing with solvents I use a chip brush and lightly brush the surface in different directions based on the features I'm trying to smooth.

Some artists also use an alcohol torch, butane torch, or heat gun to smooth the surface with heat.  This can be a bit tricky, and works better with clays like Monster Clay, but can work well on Chavant.  You just have to be super careful, as heating things up too much can cause sagging, boiling, or burning of the clay.

As a final step some artists like to use baby powder to further burnish the surface. 

I would suggest testing all of these techniques on a test sculpt before applying them to your main piece.

Best of luck!

/Chris

Erika Vigneron

Hi Chris, thanks for the answer and thank you very much for all theses advices! I can not wait for training myself  

Chris Ellerby

My pleasure!

Enigma art studios

Hey  erika what chris says works but with the way the way your clay looks its not level,so add a few pinches of clay then smooth it out with a silicone tool a rubber kidney tool is great for big areas like faces but small square silicone "wipers" work good they are sometimes in the paint area in micheals and hobby lobby,stay sculpting!

Maximilian Schmid

I like I also tried alcohol but it didn’t work for me as well, I didn’t want to use solvents  so I tried Baby oil and it reAlly worked and made the surface real smooth. The only problem is it won’t dry for a while but eventually it will dry out. That’s just observations from my monster clay sculpt not sure if it works with yours.

Erika Vigneron

Hi Enigma art studios, sorry I haven't answer, I did not log in since a long time lol
Thanks a lot for your advices, i've tried it and silicone tools seem very efficiant, I've also tried to level the clay the way you said, and it works very well too ! 

To Maximilian, I've seen in a course that, apparently, D-limonene works well, so I've basically tried to mix some drops of lemon or soft orange essential oil in isopropyl alchool, and it works like magic !
  
Also, after using it, I added a layer of pure alchool, just to dissolve the essential oil, making sure the clay does not become slimy !

So, as essential oil is safe for skin, I used it to clean my hand to with soap and nail brush, before using it I had a lot of trouble to remove Chavant out of my nails lol And I use it to clean my tools too

Anyway, thanks guy for your answers and advices !