Last night I finished this specimen off and put it in my dedicated polymer clay toaster oven for a final baking. Unfortunately, I relied on my previous temperature readings and didn't check if there was a hot spot inside the oven. There was, and this is the result.
The translucent clay teeth actually scorched, not only disfiguring the piece but producing some nasty toxic compounds in the process. The high heat index also darkened the previously baked main body, making the join between it and the newer upper body painfully obvious.
It's not a totally disaster, but I wanted to finish this off with some color washes to bring out the details. Now it's going to need a full paint job.
Update: Thanks for the kind words. One thing I did want to mention is that the bubblegum pink "gums" would be considerably toned down once they were washed and drybrushed. Heh.
I really like the burnt teeth. I wouldn't have guessed they weren't intentional.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I kind of like the teeth like that. Makes it look like it's been eating things
ReplyDeleteYour creation still looks very impressive, good Sir, and have a pleasant Sunday...
ReplyDeleteAwww. Sorry to hear that. On the plus side, the 'scorched' teeth look cool, but not if they're producing toxic gas...
ReplyDeleteI've heard some people boil Sculpey instead of baking it. Perhaps you'd like to experiment with boiling pieces, or pouring hot water on them as a more controllable way? Or hitting them with a heat gun?
For what its worth, those teeth look awesome like that, and I wouldn't have believed it wasn't intentional!
ReplyDeleteI actually like the way the teeth look. The two tones in the body are more troublesome. I would seriously think about not painting the teeth and just hitting them with a wash to bring out detail and highlight the mouth area.
ReplyDeleteI know that the end result wasn't what you intended, but the resulting "burnt" gradient on the teeth is interesting. I noticed it first, before reading your notes.
ReplyDeleteDavid
I really wouldn´t say it´s really a problem. The teeth look just awesome with this darkened tips, what makes it much more realistical. The body colour shouldn´t really be a problem with colour anyway. What looks probably least realistical is the pinkish area where the teeth are attached.
ReplyDeleteThis actually looks really cool to me! It's hard to tell if there's any misshaping from the teeth burning, but the dark spots look like great teeth, like properly dirty gross teeth you might be worried about. You'll get an infection for sure. The different colors for the two sections also doesn't look bad at all, if anything it gives it a weird segmented look that fits with the frankly disgusting segments of the back portion. While I get that it probably doesn't look how you imagined I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteI've found wrapping stuff in foil helps to keep burning down to a minimum and I tend to wrap carefully so the foil doesn't touch the sculpey. Its tricky and probably quite hard to explain so it makes sense but I've not had any bad burns on my pieces in a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe burn effect on the teeth is actually pretty cool. Couldn't replicate that with paint!
ReplyDeleteThat burnt effect on the teeth is actually really nice. Can't do that with paint!
ReplyDeleteI actually like the teeth with the burnt tips like that. I think they look cool, and vicious. The "foreskin" area would probably look better if it matched the rest of the body in color, but it certainly looks plausible the way it is. Some washes could probably still pull it together.
ReplyDeleteTry a bit of "dry-brush" over the finished creation... alter its coloration to what looks "acceptable" to you ... (sorry about the "translucent Teeth)...
ReplyDelete