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scenceable — Mini Baking Clay Tutorial
Published: 2011-07-26 08:48:53 +0000 UTC; Views: 40560; Favourites: 1104; Downloads: 462
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Description
So, I get tons of questions on this type of thing. At some point I do plan on making a new unicorn tutorial that explains things start to finish. However, for now, here's a little one on baking. I did another little tutorial a while ago on hairing sculptures. Eventually I do hope to make a big long one.Anyway, I'd like to mention that this is just how I do things. There are many ways to bake and mine is certainly not the only way. Just what I do, and what works for me currently
I also want to say that I paint my horses, so I can be a lot more flexible with baking. When making dolls or humans you have to be a lot more careful since the skin tone of the clay matters a lot. Dirt particles, cracks, dents, and discolouration can ruin dolls, but with painted sculptures they hardly matter.
As always, if you have questions please ask... I kind of threw this together randomly so I may have left things out. I have a FAQ section on my website where I talk a bit about materials and things, you might find it helpful as well! It's here: [link]
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Comments: 164
I couldn't help being immature about the "I bake my horses is 4 seperate bakes" part.
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Hahah 
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This is very helpful, thank you!
It doesn't seem like Sculpey is available in Sweden, but I am definitely considering buying some Cernit, which I know can be found. It sounds like it would suffice. ^_^
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Greetings from a Swedish modelhorse collector. A variety of sculpting material IS available in Sweden. Please contact me if you want to check it out and I'll see if I can help you get some. I use Apoxie Sculpt, Cernit, Fimo, Sculpey etc.
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Heya. Thanks for the heads up. I actually found Sculpey and Super Sculpey at my specialized art supply store. I'm over the moon with joy.
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I even managed to find Apoxie Sculpt via mailorder from a taxidermy studio in Uddevalla. Expensive but preiceless at times. Good luck with your work!
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That's cool. Is it a good offer, and can they be found on the web? In that case I'd like to keep the link for future use.
Thankies ~
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Cernit is much better quality than sculpey, but more expensive. I have some but only use it when I am not painting the sculpture
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wow thanks this is very useful 
What exactly is "curing"? does it mean you bake the whole (finished) sculpture again but on a hotter temperature?
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Thanks, glad you liked it! "Curing" for me is baking it fully. So "cured" clay would be clay that is fully, properly baked. Hope that explains it
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Ah okay
is there any way to tell whether the clay is fully baked or not? o-o
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You can tell by how it carves generally, underbaked clay will chip and crumble.
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I recently learned to make maquettes at college, but I never heard of using poly stuffing to buffer the sculpt in the oven. I may have to try that.
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It works really well!
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I see. Then Ill implement it with my current sculpt.
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I just started to seriously experiment with sculpting using Super Sculpy and so far am happy with the results. I have a quick question though: if you're looking for a smooth finish, so you get the sculpy as smooth as you can and then using fine grit sandpaper sand it once it's baked? Thanks for any help!
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You can do that, smooth with fingers and sand, that works for me most of the time. For smaller areas like the face I like to take a paint brush and dip it in some oil and smooth the clay a bit right before I put it in the oven.
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Thanks for the help! I'm going to try that.
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I was wondering about this: If I do bake the parts separately and "overbake" something, how does it affect? it doesn't burst into flames right...right?
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Overbaking shouldn't be an issue. I have accidentally overbaked during the in-between bakes and it isn't a problem because of where I leave the "fault lines". Even if the bond is weak attaching the clay under the shoulder, it's not an issue because that area doesn't get stressed like the legs or neck does. So, for example, say I bake the body and head first and accidentally overbake it. So now I have to bake it again when I attach the rest of the legs, which overbakes the head even more. Generally, this isn't an issue with sculpey, even if it gets dark it doesn't go brittle. The only issue I've had is with the "bake n bend superflex" clay, if it gets overbaked sometimes it cracks. If it ends up where I've overbaked the head, sometimes what I will do is snap the horn off and make it again before I do the last bake.
I hope that makes sense! The short answer is that it's very hard to ruin polymer clay by overbaking it
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ok, I tust this works with cernit aswell (that cheap bastard) 
ps. I actually saw a dream of your reply. It said something like "Everything should be fine but if it's in the oven more than 20 minutes, it will fail."
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Should work fine with cernit, cernit is better quality than sculpey! And that's hilarious about the dream!
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This is very VERY helpful! Some of the things you mentioned here I'd never even considered, like the polyfil pillow thing, excellent idea!
Thank you~ <3
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Thanks, glad you liked it!
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Yayy finished XD
[link]
Thanks for the awesome tutorials on baking/hair and advice
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Looks great! I left a comment!
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Thank-you
You left a comment on my deviation? I don't think I received it. It doesn't appear to be on there anyways XD
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Oh, it was under critique, sorry
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I don't think I got it o_o At least, I don't see it on there..
Unless I'm missing where the critiques are located? Aren't they under the description? (Sorry, this is my first critique request I've put on my art XD Never been a premium member before.)
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It would appear in your messages but I think you have to approve it before it comes up on the deviation. It comes up here for me: [link]
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Strange.. I don't have the message o_o Maybe DeviantArt has a bug.
But thanks for the link though XD
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Thank-you for such a helpful tutorial
But I just have one question,
This is my first model that I'm making, and was wondering if you have any good tips on making ears. The sculpey I'm using for the whole thing is just original sculpey because I actually started this model quite some time ago (just goes to show my lazyness. haha) and had done a majority of it in original sculpey.
So, I noticed that when I try to make ears, first of all, they look very unrealistic, and secondly, if I leave them for too long, they usually crack and fall off. (Not like, hardening. They're just real thin and fragile I guess)
I'm going up to the store today to pick up cotton balls, matte, and possible pastels (I'm going to try pastel shaving painting it) so perhaps I can pick up a stronger sculpey. Do you think that would help?
Thank-you so much for your help
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I really dislike original sculpey because I find it really soft and gooey. If you knead it really well and then bake it soon after you make the ears you might be ok though. The ears are always the last thing I do before I put it in the oven. However if you can find sculpey firm that might help a lot, it holds its shape much better
When I make ears I usually have a pyramid shaped blob, I score it and attach it to the head, and then I carve out the hollow part with a sharp exacto knife. Then I use whatever tools to mush it into the right shape, and if needed a brush with some oil on it to smooth. Ears are difficult to do, even now I have a lot of trouble with them.
Good luck, can't wait to see it when you're done!
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Thanks! This is really helpful, as I'm sculpting my own wedding cake toppers. I can already see where I made my mistakes with the girl I made. Thankfully, I'm willing to epoxy her to death and paint her, as you mentioned this is the best course to cover tiny flaws. Done!
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Glad you liked it! Epoxy always works wonders!
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You're welcome. Do you mind me asking what type of wire you use? I've been looking around for thick wire and have found several different opptions, including florest wire.
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I use either aluminum or galvanized steel wire, bought from the hardware store. I like 14 or 16 gauge
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Great, thank you for the quick answer!
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you're very talented. looks cool
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