I got this stuff cheap.
Does anyone know if this is ok with the plastic from the joes?
Does it harden well in boiling water?
How does paint take to it?
Sorry for the rookie questions.

Never used Sculpey III (didn't even know there WAS a Sculpey III), but I've used plenty of Sculpey, Sculpey II, and Sculpey flex. It has pros and one big con:

Pros:

-Works just fine with joe-plastic
-Cures well in boiling water
-takes paint well

Con:
-Not at all durable. Cracks and chips very, very easily. Sometimes even cracks spontaneously after months of being fine.

Really, Sculpey is good for when you're learning to sculpt, or for practice. It's cheap, you can work with it as long as you want and cure it almost instantly. But I never use it anymore. I got tired of chunks of my carefully sculpted work crumbling away over time, or snapping off the second the figure fell over. I use Miliput now (much, much more durable) and have heard even better things about Apoxie Sculpt (no where around here sells it, though).

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where do you get milliput?

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I've used Sculpy III on Santa Balls....I think generaly Sculpy III is the colored Sculpy.


I've found my Miliput at Hobby Town USA

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That is my one big beef with it. It is super easier to work with and was a great product to learn with. However, it will never be as hard or playable as the more action figure/gaming hobby specific products are.

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Its all I use for sculpting.

My advice:
Use multiple colors when sculpting over already cured Sculpey. It helps show where your new work is.

And coat the final product with Krazy Glue. I use the brush on kind, just make sure its dry before using the glue or your brush will clump.


My procedure:

Put the Sculpey on your part. Make sure to put on extra Sculpey. Don't try to get your details done with the Sculpey soft.

Boil water and drop the part in. Fish it out with pliers anytime. It hardens very quickly in the boiling water.

Let the water evaporate until part is dry.

Start roughing details in with Xact-o knife.

Get details done using whatever tools are need, for example, dental picks, toothpicks, coarse sand paper, etc.

Give all surfaces a final sanding with fine grit paper.

Rinse with water.

I douse mine with alcohol to pull all moisture out of the Sculpey.

Coat with Krazy Glue.


This is the method I have used for all of my sculpting. I have had problems with chipping while detailing but a quick patch and I'm back to work. I have had ZERO problems with chipping after using the Krazy Glue. My biggest reason for using Sculpey is the availability since I can't find Milliput, green stuff, or any of the other stuff people use locally.

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Thanks for the info.