Regarding repairs

[Heather]

[Heather]

A quick question for you experienced repair people: When working with Apoxie Sculpt, is it a good idea to wear gloves? The directions on the tub seem to indicate that the stuff can be a little nasty to your skin. Also, it claims to clean up with water, but does water work well or is it more a matter of “everything scrubs off with enough water”? 😉

I’m gearing up for my first repair-and-restoration efforts. If the repairs go well, I may start asking about paint touch-up methods. 🙂 I think I’ve read that one can request little bottles of touch-up paint directly from Windstone; does anyone know who to direct that request to? I have a couple of Emeralds that could really use it!

[Shawna]

I’ve found that the consistentcy is too sticky after the initial mix up. So I’ve been letting it sit after mixing for about an hour.

If you mix it up and then wash your hands immediately, it comes off. If you try to work with it while it is still in the really tacky stage, it sticks to your hands and doesn’t really come off easily, even if a scrubber I still had some on my hands from yesterday.

So I’d wear gloves until you’re more familiar with it’s properties.

What I have been doing is filling in the areas I want the Apoxie Sculpt in, then let it set in place until the material is a bit stiffer. It helps to make a little ball from the mix and use it to test firmness over an hour or so, you have about 3-4 hour window to work, and I’ve found the best time for detailing is in the last hour. Best time to get it to adhere to the surface is about 45 mins after mixing.

Anyway, hopefully this helps.

Kyrin

[Pam]

I never wear gloves. It would make putting any details in impossible (for me anyway). After initially mixing the apoxie, there will be a thin layer of sticky apoxie on your hands. Wash this off, as it makes handling the stuff you just mixed a LOT easier. After your hands are clean, you will be able to handle the newly mixed apoxie without it sticking to your hands as bad. When working with the apoxie on your project, water does work as a smoothant. If the apoxie seems too stick/gooey to use when you first mix it, do as Kyrin says, and let it sit a while (1/2 – 1 hour). However, let it sit too long, and you will no longer be able to smooth it when you put it onto your windstone. If you need to fill a big crack or gap, fill in that space part-way with clay and let it cure. Then you can put on a top layer of fine detail, without it sinking into the cracks on the sculpture. If you need a material that isn’t as tough as apoxie clay and smooths easier, use apoxie sculpt.

[Heather]

Thanks, Kyrin and Pam! I’m glad to know about how sticky this stuff will be ahead of time, so I can have a big bucket of water nearby and avoid getting sticky all over the door handle. 😛 So the Apoxie Clay is a stiffer compound than the Sculpt. Hmm. I was imagining that the Sculpt would be sort of like clay itself, able to hold its shape without sagging, but maybe that’s not the case? 😕

One of the trickier projects will be restoring the brow ridges on a dragon that has completely lost them (she looks awful, great big bulging eyes like a cheap Halloween mask). From what I’m hearing, the Sculpt would need to sit for a bit before I tried to make it form that brow arch.

Does the Apoxie Clay stick to the gypsum as well as the Sculpt does?

[Pam]

The clay one will stick to the windstone just as well as the sculpt.

Sculpt holds its shape fine as long as you are not doing huge pieces, and especially when the apoxie sculpt has firmed up slightly. If you tried to make a big intricate piece out of freshly mixed sculpt though, it would fall apart, because it wouldn’t be capable of supporting itself. Play with it, you will learn very quickly what it will and won’t take

What would be a real good idea would be to play with both clay and sculpt before putting them to your windstone. Play with some sculpt and clay apoxie that are fresh mixed, some that has firmed a little for 1/2 hour, 1 hour, etc. and experiment with smoothing and shaping each. Knowing what you can do to the clay and when will make a big difference. For example, if you let the apoxie sculpt get too firm, it will tear apart whenever you try to smooth it any, with fingers or with water.

If you are doing an eye ridge, here is what I suggest: buid a base for the eye ridge using apoxie clay that is still fairly pliable. It will smooth very well at this stage still, so it will blend into the rest of the piece without a lot of force. Refine the shape with your fingers. It shouldn’t have any scales at this point. Make the eye ridge a little smaller than what it needs to be, as well. Now, let this sit for 3 hours (about). What you want is for the clay to be firm enough that it won’t deform when brushed against, but still able to be gouged with some force. Now you have a nice, smooth, mostly solid eye ridge that just needs the scales added over the top. Add the scales and other details on using apoxie clay, as that is stiffer, and workes better for tiny, tiny things–like scales.

[Heather]

I really appreciate the input. You’re right about it being better to fiddle around with the Apoxie a bit on its own before plopping it onto the Windstone. (There’s one potential disaster, averted. ;)) I hadn’t realized that the clay existed until recently, so it’s serendipity that other people have been using it and know how it differs from the sculpt. It sounds like it’ll all be fun to work with once I learn the ropes. 🙂

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