Sculpting mediums--which one is best for actual play?

[Manda]

I've seen countless lovely custom ponies, ranging from downright silly to works of fine art. I never cease to be amazed at what people come up with, and I find the degree of creativity inspiring.

I'll admit that I'm probably not that artistic. I just want to make G4 ponies that look more like the rest of the supporting cast of the show, and mostly because my kids keep complaining about the lack of various characters, like the Cake family, or the royal guards, or Queen Chrysalis, or Sombra, or the Wonderbolts...you get the picture. So I want to do customs to make the characters I doubt Hasbro's ever going to get around to releasing.

I'm not wanting to do massive sculpting, but what I *do* needs to be durable. Anything that finishes to a hard ceramic is just asking for a drop off the table top while they're playing, and when it shatters the toy is ruined.

I've been able to find many helpful guides on prepping, painting, rehairing, color matching, and even the working properties of various modeling compounds, and I'm really grateful for that. What I haven't found is a guide to how these compounds behave once they're cured. Some have got to have a harder finish, while others are more forgiving. Is there anything that actually cures to a similar consistency to the pony bodies? Something that would survive that drop off the table onto the kitchen floor? I just *cannot* believe I'm the only person interested in customizing toys that aren't for display only. Someone's got to know.

Can anyone help me out here, please?

[PhyllieBean]

Well, I'm all for Apoxie Clay and Apoxie Scuplt, but they are definitely more "rock hard" once cured.  I haven't had durability issues (I mostly use Apoxie Clay) but I guess it really depends on the amount of play, and type of play, your kids intend to put them through.  I could almost swear there's a version of Sculpey that's supposed to be more flexible and vinyl-like once cured, but for the life of me I don't know which one it is.  There's like eleventy million Sculpeys!  I swear it exists though.  I think I read about it on a custom Munny/Dunny forum? 

[Diamond]

The new favorite of the model horse customizers is magic sculpt, it is super to work with and harden up just as hard as Ave.  It is easy to shape, holds it shape a little better then aves when at the same curing stage and is an easy sand and paint.

 

[nativecentaur]

I second the Apoxie Sculpt vote. It's super, super durable stuff. I use it for just about everything. It takes a few tries to get used to it, but its really neat stuff once you've got it figured out. =)

Super Sculptey is also a reputable polymer clay, and its great for the more robust stuff. I have dropped sculptures made entirely of SS and the thicker parts are fine, but one time a horn broke off and, last time, a bit of tail. So suitable for light play, I would say.

Hope that helps!

[Manda]

@PhyllieBean: I've looked at the Sculpey website, they've got the "bake and bend" (may have been a previous version of this called "bake and flex" that got pretty lousy reviews on Amazon, but I'm not looking for something to actually bend all that much, just absorb the shock of a fall) and "pluffy" lines, but I have *no* idea how they work up or take to various shaping, and my money's on not being able to sand it easily once it's finished, but I could be wrong. If I could find the "bake & bend" variety locally, I'd grab a batch. If I do find some, maybe I can write a post on its usefulness or lack thereof....

@nativecentaur: yeah, I'm not looking for something that won't have the more delicate/unsupported sculpted bits, like wingtips, tails, or horns break off...but if I use a bit of clay to alter the jawline and chest depth of a G4 to make it look more like the male ponies in the show, I don't want his face to fall apart if he's dropped off the table.

In general, I'm not looking for something to survive being thrown across a room or jumped on, but they *are* kids and sometimes toys get knocked over. If it fell off a table, or the arm of the sofa, I want it to survive unscathed.

I may go ahead and try to snag the apoxie sculpt off Amazon, just to try it out.

[NoDivision]

For body shaping, apoxie sculpt will be perfect. I think with ANY clay if you do small details like you mentioned (delicate wings, etc) than there's a good chance of breakage. I find sculpey to be more prone to breaking than apoxie, and I also find that it doesn't bond to the body as well. It's pretty easy to pull a bakes section of sculpey off a pony, and it's pretty hard to break off apoxie if it's not a delicate detail piece.

[Manda]

I find sculpey to be more prone to breaking than apoxie, and I also find that it doesn't bond to the body as well. It's pretty easy to pull a bakes section of sculpey off a pony, and it's pretty hard to break off apoxie if it's not a delicate detail piece.

This is very useful. Apoxie stays on better than Sculpey? Is this standard Sculpey, Premo, another variation, or *any* Sculpey product?

No delicate shaping in the works at the moment, just bulking out the chest/jawline/probably nose. I've looked into lengthening the legs (cut at knees, add height in between with compound), but I'm not sure that'd be my first try...or my second, or third!

[Colorscapesart]

Ponies are made of soft plastic poured into molds.  IMO, there isn't a way to get that close to that effect with any kind of clay.  For my kiddos, I actually try to leave things as factory as possible structurally and add paint, hair and whatnot.  If they are able to play without throwing them, I would think Apoxie Sculpt should work. 

[Aednatia]

maybe this will help you decided

http://www.garieinternational.com.sg/clay/clay_test_new.htm

I googled this site a while back when I was looking into what kind to use.
I have no idea what conditioning means, so I still have yet to work with any myself. Some people say lotion and some say oils, but no idea how to tell how much to add before it becomes to much or if you even needs any and you just constantly smash it till its workable.

[Manda]

maybe this will help you decided

http://www.garieinternational.com.sg/clay/clay_test_new.htm

I googled this site a while back when I was looking into what kind to use.
I have no idea what conditioning means, so I still have yet to work with any myself. Some people say lotion and some say oils, but no idea how to tell how much to add before it becomes to much or if you even needs any and you just constantly smash it till its workable.

This is perfect. I got a few varieties at Joann, I can do a similar stress test and see how it works out. Would anyone be interested in a post of the results?

[NoDivision]

I just know that when I've used sculpey/fimo on ponies before, the pieces would fall off or get knocked off, and I ended up having to glue them on, which kind of defeated the purpose. I've never have that issue with apoxie, it just kind of naturally sticks to the pony.

[Griffin]

I haven't had that big problems with Fimo not adhering, and to be honest I've managed to get Apoxie pop off, like when adding a very thin layer trying to repair a bite mark etc., it would come off when I tried to sand it. Basically any clay can pop off if it's not anchored to the pony since the pony is squishy and the clay is not. The harder the pony, the better the clay will stay on, though. Some G1 ponies are especially squishy, those are the worst. You shouldn't have that problem with G4.

If you're only planning to rework the body shapes, any clay should be strong enough for that purpose. But Apoxie is clearly more durable than polymer clays (besides, I've never seen Fimo take that kind of bending as shown in the test ) so it might be your best bet. In addition, it's much easier to smooth out while you're working than polymer clays and it also takes sanding a lot better, in my experience. So it's definitely my choice for reposing, bite mark fixing and similar purposes where you need to make the transition between pony and clay invisible. I've also knocked my customs off the shelf a couple of times, with Apoxie horns and other extended bits added, without any damage. Had I used Fimo, they would've been shattered, no question. However, even Apoxie can only take as much so I wouldn't recommend ponies with delicate bits like horns for play. But reworked jawlines and such, sure.

I'd love to see some of your ponies when you get to the work!