Darkwulf's Talon Halo Sculpt

[Darkwulf's Talon]

Okay here goes. I don’t mind showing people the details as this is more for practice & c+c than actually competing, though of course I hope I do well 

So concept is Materchief vs Grunt. I built the armature out of medium strength garden wire and reinforced it a little bit more as the clay is actually quite heavy.

Using Chavant NSP Hard I put it in the microwave and experimented with times, 3 minutes seems to be the best for an 800W that gives a nice smooth putty consistency.

PANIC though as Microwave died and I thought I had blown it up, it however had over heated (anyone else done this?) and cut-out for safety reasons.

First Issue: The clay cools very quickly and I can no longer work with it easily (nearly blisters on thumbs from trying to layer it on). I’ve heard of a box and a lightbulb but how can you make an effective/practical one?

Second Issue: Detailing. NSP Hard is well, duh, Hard and I feel I will be challenged to get good details out of it. However I’ve seen some of the work on this site and detail is exceptional with NSP. What hints and tips are there to achieve this?

Thank you in advance for any comments and criticism