I've made a few sculpting tools for sale. If you are interested in that you'll find more infos after the break.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
Sticky: Free Ebook Download
I've merged all tutorials from this blog into an ebook that you can download for free. You'll find the download-links after the break.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
some tools ready to be shipped to a customer
Hi, I just want to share a few pictures showing the boxing of some tools for a customer from the US (greetings to Alabama). I use a DVD-sized box for packaging and small acrylic tubes with plugs for the tool tips.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
ebook updated and two miniatures
I have just updated the free downloadable ebook about making sculpting tools with all my tutorials from this blog. Here is the link.
Without any photos this post might be a little bit boring, so I post here pictures of my latest miniatures.
These are characters from the books of the German author Walter Moers.
The one that looks like a lizard man is called "Hildegunst von Mythenmetz" and the little one-eyed guy is a bookling (in German: "Buchling) and is called "Danzelot von Silbendrechsler". I hope you like them.
Without any photos this post might be a little bit boring, so I post here pictures of my latest miniatures.
These are characters from the books of the German author Walter Moers.
The one that looks like a lizard man is called "Hildegunst von Mythenmetz" and the little one-eyed guy is a bookling (in German: "Buchling) and is called "Danzelot von Silbendrechsler". I hope you like them.
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| Hildegunst von Mythenmetz |
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| Danzelot von Silbendrechsler |
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Storing solution for w.i.p. polymer clay sculptings
Welcome back for a new tutorial.
This time I'd like to present an idea about storing unfinished miniatures to keep them safe between the sculpting sessions.
This time I'd like to present an idea about storing unfinished miniatures to keep them safe between the sculpting sessions.
Usually I've done my sculpting with two part epoxy putties like greenstuff and Procreate, but lately I've tried my hands more and more on polymer clays that have to be baked in the oven to get hard.
Especially since the BeeSPutty produced by Stefan Niehues is out (see my last post) I'm doing my stuff with this polymer clay.
The biggest advantage (at least for me) of polymer clay is the fact that unlike the epoxy putties (greenstuff/Procreate) it won't get hard and stays workable until you bake it in the oven.
But this advantage is also a disadvantage or at least it could be. Because the clay stays soft, you have to be very careful not to ruin all your sculpting work by accidentally squashing the miniature.
Especially between the sculpting sessions, you have to be sure to store the work-in-progress miniatures in a save place where they won't be accidentally damaged.
But this advantage is also a disadvantage or at least it could be. Because the clay stays soft, you have to be very careful not to ruin all your sculpting work by accidentally squashing the miniature.
Especially between the sculpting sessions, you have to be sure to store the work-in-progress miniatures in a save place where they won't be accidentally damaged.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
BeeSPutty - a new sculpting putty on the rise
This post might be slightly off topic because it is not about sculpting tools but about sculpting putty.
Nevertheless I'd like to bring to your attention the arrival of a brand new sculpting material called BeeSPutty that is available since yesterday.
BeeSPutty is a one-component bake-able sculpting putty. The guy who develloped this putty is Stefan Niehues, a professional sculptor who has quite a lot experience in all kind of sculpting, especially sculpting miniatures.
I had the chance to grab a test batch of this putty and I'm very happy with it. Usually I worked with a two-part epoxy putty, like greenstuff or procreate, but I don't like the stress you have to get your sculpting done during the curing time of the putty. So lately I tried out bake-able putties like Fimo and super sculpey firm grey. The advantage is that you can works as slow or fast as you want as the putty only hardens when you put it in your oven. That's more my sculpting style because I'm quite slow (to be honest) and while having a little daughter, there are a lot of not-planed interruptions when I do my sculpting. If this occur, greenstuff is lost as it will harden while playing with my daughter but not so bake-able clay. You can just put it aside and go on with sculpting later.
Fimo and SS firm grey are not bad, but as far as I've tested it, BeeSPutty is even better. It has quite a wax-like-feeling and you can get sharp edges quite easily with this putty that also blend perfectly. I just have to go on with my testing, but it is very promising.
So if you want to know more about this putty, head over to www.masqmini.com where you will find more informations and also some videos about sculpting with BeeSPutty. There you can also order the putty.
Nevertheless I'd like to bring to your attention the arrival of a brand new sculpting material called BeeSPutty that is available since yesterday.
BeeSPutty is a one-component bake-able sculpting putty. The guy who develloped this putty is Stefan Niehues, a professional sculptor who has quite a lot experience in all kind of sculpting, especially sculpting miniatures.
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| BeeSPutty |
As BeeSPutty is a a bake-able putty, it is similar to Fimo and super sculpey in some ways, but it has some unique features. Just to mention one, you don't need a greenstuff foundation on a wire armature if you want to sculpt miniatures with BeeSPutty. And you can sculpt 30mm miniatures as well as larger things like busts etc.
Fimo and SS firm grey are not bad, but as far as I've tested it, BeeSPutty is even better. It has quite a wax-like-feeling and you can get sharp edges quite easily with this putty that also blend perfectly. I just have to go on with my testing, but it is very promising.
So if you want to know more about this putty, head over to www.masqmini.com where you will find more informations and also some videos about sculpting with BeeSPutty. There you can also order the putty.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Hexagonal Aluminum Handles
Hi,
today I just want to share a little idea about tool-handles, I came across lately. In a hardware store I found hexagonal aluminum rods in the size of a classical wooden pencil and I thought, these would make some nice tool handles. The wrench size of these rods is 7.0 mm. So I cut off pieces with a length of 10-11 cm from these aluminum rods like you can see on the following picture.
Then I drilled an axial hole on each side. In fact I made three versions with holes in 1.0 mm, 2.0 mm and 3.0 mm size for holding 1mm, 2mm and 3mm tool tips like you can see on the following picture. I confess it is not easy to get the holes exactly centered. After that I drilled in small holes with a diameter of 2.5 mm in at a 90 degree angle to the first hole and about 0.5 cm from the end of the rod. In this holes I cut threads with a m3 size, so headless set screws with m3 size will fit in.
These set screws will fix the tool tips inside the handle. Of course you don't need the whole side-holes-and-set-screw thing. Instead of that you just can glue the tool tip inside the axial holes with metal glue, but I prefer the set screw solution because it gives me the option to change the tool tips and to adjust the length of the tool tips.
Finally I bevel the ends of the tool handles because I don't like these hard edges on my tools, but this is more an aesthetical aspect then a technical need. I do this by fixing the rod into an electric drill set it into rotation and carefully grind it down with an electric file or a usual metal file.
Finally the whole thing looks like that:
What you can do at last is to give the handles a nice and smooth surface by using fine grinding paper and a polishing wheel (I still have to do that).
Ah, I nearly forgot to point out a main advantage of this tool beside the fact that it feels like a pencil. It didn't accidentally roll from your desk because of the hexagonal shape and this is a big point, especially if you use small and delicate tools that could easily be damaged.
So I hope you like this idea. See you next time.
today I just want to share a little idea about tool-handles, I came across lately. In a hardware store I found hexagonal aluminum rods in the size of a classical wooden pencil and I thought, these would make some nice tool handles. The wrench size of these rods is 7.0 mm. So I cut off pieces with a length of 10-11 cm from these aluminum rods like you can see on the following picture.
Then I drilled an axial hole on each side. In fact I made three versions with holes in 1.0 mm, 2.0 mm and 3.0 mm size for holding 1mm, 2mm and 3mm tool tips like you can see on the following picture. I confess it is not easy to get the holes exactly centered. After that I drilled in small holes with a diameter of 2.5 mm in at a 90 degree angle to the first hole and about 0.5 cm from the end of the rod. In this holes I cut threads with a m3 size, so headless set screws with m3 size will fit in.
These set screws will fix the tool tips inside the handle. Of course you don't need the whole side-holes-and-set-screw thing. Instead of that you just can glue the tool tip inside the axial holes with metal glue, but I prefer the set screw solution because it gives me the option to change the tool tips and to adjust the length of the tool tips.
Finally I bevel the ends of the tool handles because I don't like these hard edges on my tools, but this is more an aesthetical aspect then a technical need. I do this by fixing the rod into an electric drill set it into rotation and carefully grind it down with an electric file or a usual metal file.
Finally the whole thing looks like that:
What you can do at last is to give the handles a nice and smooth surface by using fine grinding paper and a polishing wheel (I still have to do that).
Ah, I nearly forgot to point out a main advantage of this tool beside the fact that it feels like a pencil. It didn't accidentally roll from your desk because of the hexagonal shape and this is a big point, especially if you use small and delicate tools that could easily be damaged.
So I hope you like this idea. See you next time.
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