Clay Sculpting
There are two basic kinds of sculpting clay, Water
Based Clay and Oil Based Clay.
Water Based Clay
Water based clay is simply that, clay mixed with water. It is usually very inexpensive
but must be kept covered or it will dry out. Water based clay is easy to work
when it has just the right amount of water, which is easy to manipulate. It is
easy to remove from a mold with a water sprayer. Its disadvantages are equal to
its advantages; it is often hard to control especially if a project goes into
many days, it sags and separates easy, and it can't be used with plastics,
epoxies or polymers.
Oil Based Clay
Oil based clay is clay mixed with some kind of oil or combinations of oil.
It will not dry out, but it will oxidize over time and become difficult to
work. Sometimes you can manipulate the consistency of the clay by mixing it
with petroleum jelly, but this is hard work. Some oil based clays like plastina
contain sulfur and can't be used with silicone molding compounds. Plastina can
be sealed with a coating of sealer or shellac but any coating of this type will
take away some of the character of the clay. We recommend and use an industrial tooling clay which is easy to work and won't
react with silicones. Some oil based clays can be melted and poured into a
mold. Preheating oil based clay will soften it and make it easy to work. A
pound of Klean clay is about 3 3/4" x 7/8" x 5 3/8."
Modeling Clay
Sulfur free. Can be melted to a liquid and poured into a mold including
alginate. Unless you specify, a neutral color such as flesh, tan, grey or the
like will be shipped. Very soft.
