A material for the masses

So far in my time here I have come across scale material that either required tools and training that I did not have or is prohibitively expensive. Wood seemed to be my only option.

Until I was chatting with a very crafty friend of mine. He suggested that I try Sculpey. Yes that wonderful bakeable polymer modeling clay.

Tools needed:
Pasta Machine (Anything that Sculpey touches cannot be reused for food, it is non-toxic though) or Rolling pin (not a good idea, but it works)
Oven
Tin Foil/Aluminum Foil (depends on which side of the pond your on) :)
Options:
Palm Sander like a Black and Decker Mouse. (I love this thing, I may steal my father-in-law's)

Follow the package instructions and roll out to the desired thickness and bake.
Shape like wood and cuts like butter.

Comes in wonderful colors and textures.
My trial was a Sculpey type product (they are mostly the same). It was a little too flexiible so I am on the hunt for stiffer Scupley like Scupley Pro or Sculpey 3.

I'll post some pics tomorrow when I get the scales finished. I am pleased with the end result for a trial product. Next time though I will make the scales thinner, 3/32 or 1/16.

I hate my camera. I put fresh batteries in and it dies. Then my kids hide the cord.

Any way here are the pics.

Sorry for the crappy shots but like I said I hate my camera. Anyway the second is better. This stuff is great. It sands and cuts real easy. Takes a nice shine at 220 grit. Those splotches, this stuff is supposed to be translucent. You can see I failed there because I do not have a pasta machine. I am looking to get one this weekend and I have some of the same material in orange. I hope that it works out better.

I cut this with hand tools. A Coping saw and a B & D mouse palm sander. Drilled the holes with a dremel. This stuff is as flexible as a Chinese gymnast. No offense, they are just really flexible.

It is very forgiving and if you have the time try it. The cheap, kids Sculpey is $.99 and a rolling pin is a cheap as a large dowel rod. If you are working with normal Sculpey a dowel rod will work, if you are working with pearl or granite or translucent Sculpey you may want a pasta machine.

Peace and remember that Sculpey comes in different hardnesses. So if one doesn't float your boat go to the next or do an acrylic liner.

I looked at that product and saw there was one that was very strong flexible and could be made thin. Was it Sculpty Pro??? Anyways I saw that it came in over 32 colors and sounds like it would be fun to try.
What are your thoughts on the product? Did you drop it and did it break?
Seems like you could do a lot with it.

Clever idea! Thanks!

Jeff

There is Scupley Pro and then there is a harder substance that is used in movie making. The later comes in beige only and will need to be painted. I would try the pro if I could find it. My local Michaels only had Sculpey 3 and another brand. I went with the other brand because it was translucent.

My buddy turned me onto this and I would say that it is nearly indestructible. It is a polymer so it is not brittle. I suppose that if you made 1/16 thick scales it may turn brittle if you got the harder stuff, but I have not tried that.

Also, you are not limited to colors. Check this link. Cause this is what my buddy really told me about sculpey.

You want faux Abalone, you can do it. Faux Paua you can do it.

Happy times.

wow, i checked out that site and there's some amazing designs you can do with that stuff! doesn't look half bad on the difficulty either. But if it's as flexible as you say I would add an Aluminum Liner to it or acrylic of some sort. Very cool thanks for the link

Flex varies by Sculpey grade 1-3 and Pro as well as thickness.

It should be interesting.

That's great, thank you for the inspiration! It looks like great material for making razor racks, too.

Wallmart sells 12 color pack of Sculpey #3, I'll give it a try.
They do not seem to sell translucent Sculpey though.

So what is is the material similar to? I mean, does it kind of seem like celluloid or plastic? Also, why can't you just wash off the pasta machine after using it? It looks like it might be fun to mess around with, Ive been thinking about making some scales, too, but I don't like wood, so the only option I could come up with was bone.

how does It hold up to the pinning prosess with the ball ping?

I may give this a try... very interesting. I also have a stash of abalone shells I may try to inlay into it. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Pete_S

So what is is the material similar to? I mean, does it kind of seem like celluloid or plastic? Also, why can't you just wash off the pasta machine after using it? It looks like it might be fun to mess around with, Ive been thinking about making some scales, too, but I don't like wood, so the only option I could come up with was bone.

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I would say similar to plastic, but it has a better feel. The stuff is non toxic but since it is a polymer the manufacturer recommends that you not use it with anything that you are going to use in food prep.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wheelz74401

how does It hold up to the pinning prosess with the ball ping?

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I am setting up two or three sets today. I'll post pics. From the out set I'd say well. But I need to finish the scales first.

I was thinking that it may not even be necessary to go through the whole roll-it out process. You can prolly just make a mold and press the clay into that.

Sounds like good stuff. You could even use an old, retired straight (everyone's got some junk blades) to cut the stuff and the back side of a lapping plate (put those DMT's to good use) to flatten it out. Brilliant!

Hmmm this gives me an idea. What if you mixed some CromOx or some other fine abrasive. Pack it into a mold and cook it up. Then lap it?
Could this be like what Charlie and Randy are trying to do with making hones??????

Sorry no pics today about the pinning. I am having problems with my oven. It is new but it doesn't seem to be calibrated. The sculpy three baked ok but came out a little softer than it should. This tells me that I need to increase the time or temp. Still working on it.

I tried some marbling over the weekend. On piece came out ok the other not so much. Too much fiddling causes the colors to mud.

You can do mix ins with the sculpy. Not sure how CR02 would work.

Yes you can do push molds with scuply. Just make the mold and go.

I was @ my local Michael's and looked up a book about polymers in which sculpey III is listed as the least sturdy after baked. Premo Sculpey is liseted @ 3 (1-5 being most to least brittle).
I got some of the Premo stuff and will try it soon to see what happens compared to Sculpey III. I also found super Sculpey, it was a brick for making pottery like stuff, I am guessing it can be colored even though its not white.
I also saw their pasta machines for rolling polymers, they have adjustable thicknesses, but they can't be used for 1/8 thick sheets, the biggest thickness is 0.086".
A trick for rolling 1/8 sheets, use a rolling pin and 2 x 1/8 thick rails that will not allow to roll unevenly or to less than 1/8".

So I pinned some of this over the weekend. I think I got the pivot pin too close to the edge cause it started to crack. No big deal. I did not use washers so I think that is the fix.

Also my buddy told me that this stuff should be fairly stiff. Stiffer than a plastic pen cap's pocket clip at least. His suggestion is two fold. Check the oven that you are using to make sure it is at temp and refrigerate the scuply prior to baking. He said that sometimes when it gets over worked it needs to rest to properly harden. (Does that sound a little off color to anyone else besides me?):o

What about using a backing like a thin aluminum/steel and this on top to make it stronger? Just a thought. I think Seraphim uses this type of backing with some of his plastic scales, but I could be mistaken....

Yeah you could defiantly back the stuff. My suggestion is to have the blank already cut so that you can roll right onto it then remove the backer carefully and bake. I do not think that it shrinks much but to be sure I would make my blank about 1/8" bigger all around. I guess you could just bake it on the backer. People make models using armature wire to hold the form so I do not think that would have any impact on it.

Let me know. I was thinking of using larger that normal washers or wrapping the exterior with a thin metal.

I'm not adventurous enough to try this yet. I just wanted to add a thought.

Great Thread!

Unfortunately i found it only now.

I had the idea to use polymer clay, as a scale material too, and made some research.

The polymer "clayers" (i'm not sure this word exists... :)) say, that the clays are a bit different in stiffness. Have You tried FIMO yet?
I have some if it, and will try it soon.

About shrinking: The wiki about polimer clays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_clay) says, it doesn't shrink at curing.

About the material: It's some kind of PVC, so be careful with it! When You overheat it, the fumes can be harmful!

Has anyone else tried polymer clays yet? I am trying it for a full tang knife handle and it is good stuff to work with. Possibilities of layered patterns are endless.

I tried making some test pieces out of Fimo. They didnt seem suitable to make razor scales out of, at least without a backing. The clay wasn't rigid enough and didnt seem to retain its shape very well when torqued. I cooked it using the directions that were on the web and also the directions that came with the clay, so I don't think that it was preparation.

But the stuff does seem to be good for making wedges, and would prolly work for spacers, too.