Help on clay

[maywong]

I need help on baking "Sculpey clay". I can make these perfect elf ears using this stuff. It's easier to work with than Apoxie. I found the a perfect color match for my Volks head, so I don't have to paint the ears. However, how do I bake it on a head that is already painted and hair on? I tried to freeze the ears. Thinking I could pull them off and bake them, but when I did that the ears fell apart. Should I wrap the head up in something like "Saranwrap" and/or Aluminum? Leaving just the ears exposed. Then try to bake it with a hair dryer? I'm open to suggestions. Thanks.

[DollyKim]

I've always used foil with polymer clay. Try putting foil on the doll's ear, leave excess to be a base, then twist a bit of the foil to make a base for the ear. Make up the ear then lift the entire foil unit off. The extra foil should work as a base to keep the ears upright while they bake and most will come/peel off when done.

When I did polymer heads I put foil over the neck and shoulders, it allowed me to lift the head and neck off and keep it upright while cooking, and it was cool enough to lift them off the pan, also foil lined, and put somewhere safe to cool off.

[TheSpyderDuster]

I sculpted Lucifer's ears onto his vinyl head using white Sculpey after the head was rooted. Then I cured it using a blow dryer, but you want to make sure the clay gets hot enough to cure, but not so hot it melts the head or hair. Doing a "touch test" is a sure fire way to either get a blister or insure that your doll doesn't melt.

Otherwise if you are a brave soul, I know of a few folks who have cured Sculpey by simmering it in water.

[Serif Balehawk]

I've never had any luck with Sculpy in any way OTHER than baking it. Here's what I'd do. Take foil, and form it one or two layers thick around the ear. Build your ear. Take the ear off the foil, and bake it. Once it's out of the oven, the small amount of shrinkage should have been taken care of by the foil spacers.

I suggest trying blobs of clay with one layer at a time to see how much foil you'll need to make the shrinkage null. After you have the ears you want, use a doll-safe paste or clay of some kind, spread it on the doll's ear, and press on the ear, and wipe the excess off. It'll squish, and hide the seam.

[PandoraDolls]

I had a similiar problem and solved it like this: take your doll head and push the original ears in a layer of sculpey and carfully pul it out so you make a negative of the ears, form watertight walls around the imprints, fill the cavities with epoxy, polyurethane resin or maybe even plaster and let it cure, seal the cured part with random paint (nothing that has oil in it) so you get a replica of your doll's ears and sculpt on those. baking is no longer a problem as your head won't get near the oven, and the ears will still fit. also, I don't want to dissapoint you, but the sculpey will become darker when baked...

[pigeonweed]

I have actually tried curing polymer clay using the "boil in the water" method and "water + microwave." I had initially tried it for making miniature food and because of the specific results it did when cured in this fashion. This does require a bit of experimentation based on the massage your clay went through and the brand name. Some brand names mixed together will produce different types of results or reinforce another.

I highly recommend reading these articles for curing clay. They also have helpful screenshots to give you the results.:

Microwave & Baking Sculpey comparison:
http://www.garieinternational.com.sg/cl ... arison.htm

Microwave test:
http://www.garieinternational.com.sg/cl ... rowave.htm

There was an old article I found where polymer clay was attached to a vinyl doll head and cooked in a pot of water. It didn't damage the doll head and it definitely cured the clay. I'll link it here when I find it again though there were some concerns about that method like you couldn't use the pot anymore for food afterward. I hope these help!