Help! My clay wing cracked right off the body!

[Ligress]

Ok long story....
 Ok so things were going great with my custom with giant sculpey wings until on one of the bakings went askew when one of the soft pony legs tilted. The wing that was on the right wire decided split down the chest and fell over. Too heavy, I suppose, when the pony heated up the legs got a bit weird.

Fixed it by smoothing clay on existing clay (both under and over) which worked great... counterbalanced it several times.  And it looks great, right! Its all cooled, and I was working on getting some more clay out... And then when I was moving something, I sat it down on a table. Needless to say, uhm... someone in my house bumped it, and it fell off the table and cracked! Now the HORNS are coming off too. CRUD! I have sculpey bake glue, but honestly, is it fixable to try and bond plastic to clay with this or ???...gosh....it cant really take much more bulking up or it will just be a clay lump of wings LOL  Any help?? Its sort of worrying me also to try and bake it too much more if I add too many chemicals/adhesives and I had several more layers of wing planned....
 Wondering if I am beating dead clay at this point!

[Sarahlacewing]

Multiple fires always run the risk of over baking and becoming brittle. If it seems like it is breaking easily, then a refire will only make it worse.  I'd say youd be better off to glue it if it can be or fix it with an air dry alternative.  I'm not sure if you could refire it with the existing glue/patch. Most glue will not withstand oven temps in my experience.  What kind of armature are you using? 

[Ligress]

Yeah thats what I worry about that glue wont hold up... Maybe I can make and bake peices then glue onto the existing wings. Its not a great layout I used wire cardboard and aluminum foil. Next time going to find some mesh, expensive to find or not. The cardboard and wire worked up till the first actual tip over and crack ( which was the leg overheating and falling over impact broke it not the actual structure failing). But fixing it now... Eesh.

[Sarahlacewing]

On the bright side if you are adding more layers you probably won't be able to see the damage once the custom is done.  Weight will continue to be an increasing issue, you might think about reenforcing the legs.  Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.  I have some wide mesh if you need a bit.  The slots aren't nice and small like I'd like but it was way cheaper and in the gardening section for outdoor work/screen door repair and it works better than just plain wire for heavier structures in my opinion.

Sounds like you are figuring it out.  ^^ Cant wait to see her when she is done.

[Maniah]

I don't have any advice to offer you for this current situation.. But in the future, maybe test out working with Apoxie sculpt, or some other quick drying clay when making something big and bulky? Sculpey has to bake, so the plastic pony gets soft and the weight of the sculpting can deform the body if it is too great, causing clay to crack or fall. With Apoxie, the pony body always stays firm because there is no need to bake.

Again, I know it doesn't help you out right now, but it's at least something to consider in the future perhaps?

[Katika]

Yeah... I had a similar experience the first (and only) time I attempted an adult dragon out of a G3.  Her neck ended up being too heavy and literally sank the pony apart.  I've held off on trying another massive sculpt like that until I get some Apoxie Sculpt that won't risk crushing her.

As far as baking glue goes, I do it all the time (such as if I accidentally cut a neck seam or something) and have always had good luck with it.  I don't think you'd be at risk of any fumes or anything anymore than you would be when baking a pony that you hadn't actually glued (with the amount of glue that Hasbro crams around the heads, I'm pretty sure you'd be breathing them in already, anyway).  I don't *think* paint would be harmful, but I have a sneaky suspicion that it would crack or something under heat.  I have no valid proof that this would happen, it's just what I imagine might happen (however, it is worth noting that the paint that Hasbro uses withstands baking just fine.   Hmmm...).

If it was my project, I think I'd attempt to glue her back together with super glue, which works very, very well on Sculpey.  I'd lay a base coat down to see where all of the cracks still were and slowly build them up either with more glue or something that air dried. 

Another thought I just had was that it was suggested back when G3s were the most convenient bases to bake them with their magnetic foot standing in some water so that the magnet would melt/pop out.  Is there any chance that you could try submerging the pony in water to bake, so the wings get done and perhaps the body gets spared?  I have NO IDEA IF THIS WOULD WORK but it might be worth a try?  Someone can correct me if I'm wrong   I've also heard of people boiling Sculpey to save the pony being exposed to oven temperatures, but I have never, ever had success with doing this, so am a terrible authority on it

[Sarahlacewing]

If I may add depending on what paint you use it will scorch and turn black and nasty in the oven.  My acrylic paint job was pretty much destroyed by a trip to the oven. But it coudl be a brand thing or a base problem.  But it did kind of burn off.  I'm not sure how to describe it.

As to boiling I have not has success with it.  In my experience it isn't hot enough so a cured outer shell forms but the deepest parts of the clay do not fully cure and so the pony has cracked and crumbled over time.  Again this was just my experience.  Thinner sculpting might cure more firmly.  Or maybe I am doing something wrong but I have not had success.

Another option is to bake separately and then attach to the pony.  Then you have to worry about balance more though. And you have to make sure it doesn't go flat where it sits on the sheet.  And you have to watch that the shape isn't lost.

[Ellis1342]

I have actually had a similar problem. I use a mix of milipt apoxie and fimo. Fimo is only for.top sculpt or decorative suff. Apoxie and miliput  are good for strong under  structures. I would say try to avoid further baking and reinforce with miliput or apoxie.

[Zaphy]

I'm not sure if you've been doing this, but if I fire Sculpey attached to another material, especially when I have multiple firings I'll fire it at a lower temperature (closer to and/or even under 200 degrees F rather than 275) for a longer time. That usually helps to prevent material deformation. I can't say if it really helps at all with the stability/hardness of the clay. Maybe your last firing, fire it as normal (you could probably even detach it from the pony without worrying about the clay warping or de-conforming to the pony shape, then reattach post-firing) to ensure a thorough set. I haven't tried with the G3 bodies yet, and they seem a little flimsier than G4s or the other materials I've used, but maybe it's worth a shot if you haven't tried

Oh, and I don't know when the paint thing came up but I've fired painted pieces before using the underbaking method, and the paint does crack a little- but it doesn't turn brown, and after it's cooled, the cracks are no longer visible. I wouldn't suggest it, because I'm sure the cracks are still there and would be a hazard to the paint job (e.g. would flake off with agitation), but I've done it.

[Ligress]

Thank you all, I am going to attempt a little glue I think, my confidence has went up a little since a smaller project I was working on baked well. I really like the idea of detaching it, I may have to wiggle it off and give that a try.

I might take you up on that sarahlacewing, mesh is harder for me to find here unless its like this tiny tiny amount I found at michaels but it didnt look very sturdy and wasnt nearly long enough. Should I message you?

[Sarahlacewing]

Sure! I'd be happy to send you what I have.  Just pm me your address and the dimensions you need.  Its wide mesh so like 3/4ths of a cent by 3/4th of a cent between each rod (so each square is maybe the size of the tip of my pinkie finger) . I can pm a pic if you'd like to see it before hand.