Sculpting Tools 101

December 30, 2007 by Blackhat · Filed Under Modeling & Scenery

Well, can’t say I’m a pro, but I’ve surprised myself recently with what I’ve been able to do without the least bit of training in sculpting. Truth is, most miniature painters have plenty of untapped artistic ability that they never even realize is there. The biggest problem facing us all is the cost of the tools involved. Sure, I could go on for hours about the myriad sculpting media out there, but all of us mini’s people have our faves, from green stuff to simple plumber’s expoxy putty, there’s a wide base of materials that we can use. My personal fave is Aves’ Epoxy sculpt: excellent work time with great capacity for holding detail. But I digress… back to the subject.

Sculpting tools are expensive, and yes, it is necessary to buy at least one set of sculpting tools in our lifetime. Several brands exist and there are some requisite tools that you just have to buy… such as wire loops. These are a pain to make, and it’s just plain easier to buy them than make them on your own. Also, you’ll want to buy your first set of spoons and burnishers, they’ll prove invaluable in your first days of sculpting. These will also highlight their own inadequacies, leading you to search for others to fill the gaps left during the purchase of your first set. To see a bare minimum of what you can purchase, see pic # 1 below. I submit to you a very economical solution… make your own. Only you know what shapes will serve you best, and this alone will guide your hand as you build your own personal set of tools. Please read this ENTIRE article before you attempt to make your own tools.

Before I begin, here are a few pics of what I’ve made, and the results I’ve had. The details of their construction and failings/successes will be included in the following paragraphs.

Now, for the instructional part of this article.
The first thing to do before you set out to create your own set of custom tools is to get in touch with your inner blacksmith. Before you panic, let me set your nerves at ease by saying that there will be no need for an anvil or a forge.

Here’s your materials list

Eight to ten lengths of copper wire, around 4″ long, 12 to 14 gauge is best
Plenty of your favorite sculpting putty (Again, I would be neglectful of my duties if I didn’t recommend Apoxie sculpt here, as it is quite inexpensive compared to some of the other brands, and you get a lot more in the containers.)
1 claw hammer (whatever size is comfortable in your hands)
1 metal freeweight 5 or 10lb will give you a good working surface (Iron or steel, all that matters is that the weight has a smooth ring, Inner or outer ring makes no difference, so long as ONE is smooth.)
1 set of metal files. ( Hobby files should be fine, but if you’re paranoid about ruining your set of mini’s files, one of the heavy-duty files will be perfect)
1 medium grit sharpening stone (for smoothing out the surface of your blades and loops)
1 fine grit sharpening stone (for honing the edges of your blades and loops)

Making the tools

Step 1.) Find a nice spot in the house where you won’t annoy too many people with the constant Plink… plink… plink… of the hammer against the weight, and put your weight down on the floor as it gives the most stable working platform, I’d recommend carpet, but we might just end up beating holes in mom’s rug, and that would get us all killed. Take a length of copper wire by one end, and flatten it with your hammer so that you have about a half inch to work with. This is to be the head of your sculpting tool. Don’t get it too thin or it will become very delicate and bend far too easily, not a good thing to have happen when you’re in the middle of pulling out an important detail of your sculpture. If you want to make a loop tool, hammer in the center of your wire so that you can bend it and shape the loop as you see fit, and still have plenty of wire left to anchor your tool into the handle.
Step 2.) Turn your wire around, and flatten out the other end just enough so that you’ll have something to anchor the wire inside the handle. Use your own judgement here and you’ll do fine. If you created a loop during step 1, then you’ll want to flatten both ends of the wire so that one end of the tool-head won’t try to slide out should the bond inside the tool itself ever fail.
Step 3.) Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have prepared all the lengths of wire you have readied.
Step 4.) Mix up some putty, put the tool head into it, and roll out the handle to whatever length and thickness is comfortable in your hands. I can’t give you anymore advice than this here, as we all have different sized hands and larger/smaller tools feel more comfortable to us. For an example of how I shaped the handles of my tools, refer to pics #2 and 3 above. Let the putty cure fully, and move on to step five.
Step 5.) After your handles have cured, take your files and shape the heads into whatever forms you feel you need most at this time. Don’t fret if you have leftover tool “blanks” as these will come in handy in the future when you find a need for yet another spoon, knife, or whatever shape you think you need. Just break out the files and shape away. IMPORTANT… make sure you sharpen the edges of your blades and loops with the stones. This will help keep the sculpting media from sticking to the tools. It might even be a good idea to smooth the surfaces of the loops BEFORE you imbed the ends into the handles, as once they are inside the cured putty, it’s gonna be very difficult to get to the underside of the loop to smooth out any rough surface that might exist there.
Step 6.) Enjoy your new tools! Congratulations!

Warnings: In the pictures above, I created the set shown using wire from heavy gauge paperclips. Notice how some of the blades have started to rust a bit. This is why I recommend copper wire. You can also see in Pic # 4 that one of my tools has broken, this happened the night before this article was written. When it happened, the cause was readily apparent, as it should be to all who view the image, I did NOT anchor the ends of the tool properly in the handle. This was my first set made, and while all of the tools except for one have served me well, the sharpened edges of the blades can also be used to scrape away portions of cured putty. This is why it is important to properly anchor the toolheads within the handle, and is also what led to the breakage of the tool in Pic #4.

Hope you enjoyed my article, and happy gaming to all!
Brandon