I've been working on a G.I. Joe project; The Oktober Guard, using 25th sculpts. I've been working on each of them a little bit at a time, so I'd get the whole set finished at the same time. I finished Stormavik last night. Daina is just a few paint apps away from being finished. Schrage's body is finished, and all I had left was the head.

I was going to use the Duke head, but since I was using the Duke body (different arms though) I felt it was uninspired and needed a little something extra. I pulled out my box of Joe parts and found a cast of a VvV Blowtorch head. I sculpted his hat (quite nicely I might say) and put it on to boil. Then I went and checked my email. Then Facebook, where my boss popped up on IM. About an hour later, I went to get a popcicle. (I love popcicles.) There was a funky superglue smell in the house. I completely forgot then discovered a nickel-sized spot on the bottom of an empty pot, that no longer looks anything like Schrage. That was my only Blowtorch head, so it looks like I'll be using that Duke head after all. Oh well, now I don't have to modify (remove) the neck for modern articulation.

been there, done that too. Stinks in so many ways

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I always use one of those mini strainers, for tea or whatnot, to put my pieces in so they are not touching the sides of the pot. I do this when dyeing too also to keep all the pieces together and not go on a hunt in the dye.

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This is exactly what I do and I've never lost a single part.

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I microwave my water and after I remove it from the microwave I drop in my part. If you drop in the part during microwaving it will screw up the part. (Done it!)

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Ahhhh I beg to differ I use a very large suop cup fill it with water cover it with a butter bowl lid then nuke it for 4 to 5 minutes and then let it sit on a cup warmer for another minute or two(depending on if I'm working on something else.). I do this for parts using sculpy and when boiling and popping. I have had quite a bit success with this meathod.

However my first atempt at boiling a head with sculpy, not good I used one of my wifes favorite pots, not good.

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I melted about 6 baby bottles doing that one time. It only took me one time to learn never to walk away from it again, hehe.

What does boiling do for your parts?

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Softens them up. You do this to remove pins from joints, pegs from sockets, and any other part where two different different pieces connect. Also, boiling is another method for curing Sculpey clay. It's safer on the plastic than baking; especially if you've done work on an entire figure.

An example of boiling to remove parts would be if you wanted to remove the feet from a 25th Joe. You'd heat some water up and dunk the legs in to soften the plastic. Then you safely remove the feet without stretching or breaking the pegs.

I was doing both, actually. I had to boil the hat I sculpted on his head to harden it. Then, while the plastic was still soft, I was going to cut off the neck stump and start carving out a socket to make this head compatible with the 25th Joe neckjoints.

I hada POTF2 Luke (Heman luke) head that was left too long and half the face was burnst off. I think I held on to the head for years thinking I could maybe use it for....a zombie? Or.... burn ward patient?

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Damn you popsicles!!

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