Salt dough and Super Sculpey?

[Camilla]

Hi
I have just started experimenting with Super Sculpey, and I love the feel of this material plus the fact that you can bake it, add more material and bake it again etc.
I plan a bigger (about 30 cm.) piece and I guess that would need some armature (wood, tin foil etc.). In order to save on the rather expensive SS, I was thinking if it was possible to make coarse modelling in salt dough, bake it and make finer details in SS.

Do you think this approach will work?

P.S. I am in doubt as to the baking time of the SS. The instruction sheet says 15 min. for each quarter inch material, but my sculpture didn't seem quite finished, but since this is my first time, I have no idea what it should look like when properly baked.
Some guy on a forum baked it for much longer, until it was mahogany brown, which should make it stronger and less prone to chipping. What do you guys do?

[Elwell]

I wouldn't use salt dough, you're better off just doing as much bulking out in foil first.
Baking Sculpy until it browns has no advantage, if anything it might make it more brittle in the long run. If it feels hard, it's done. Remember that you can also bake it repeatedly, so you can sculpt, bake, add to it, rebake, etc.

[philofmars]

I wouldn't use salt dough, you're better off just doing as much bulking out in foil first.
Baking Sculpy until it browns has no advantage, if anything it might make it more brittle in the long run. If it feels hard, it's done. Remember that you can also bake it repeatedly, so you can sculpt, bake, add to it, rebake, etc.

agreed, make the armature out of whatever you can. I have used coat hanger/newspaper and duct tape before! as long as you cover it, you're good to go. Just remember, make it smaller than you want it to be, because there's nothing worse than getting half done and realizing you have to use an xacto and dikes to cut out part of your armature and build it back up.

[Camilla]

Thanks a lot!
I think armature and foil can be a bit visually confusing so to speak. It has a lot of reflections and texture and that takes my focus a bit away from the form as such. That is why I was aiming at salt dough - to get a less cluttered impression. Well, I will just have to get used to it I guess.

[philofmars]

Thanks a lot!
I think armature and foil can be a bit visually confusing so to speak. It has a lot of reflections and texture and that takes my focus a bit away from the form as such. That is why I was aiming at salt dough - to get a less cluttered impression. Well, I will just have to get used to it I guess.

you will.
honestly, these days, I just use foil and sculpy in case I need to reposition. If that happens, you just heat and cut with an xacto blade! no saw, no snips.
It has made my life a lot easier. I can't tell you how many times I needed to move something just a bit and the wire inside cracks out a 3" piece off the side... no more.
P