Sculpting Article Part 2

This is the second part of my series of Beginner’s guide to Sculpting By a Beginner. This article will explain the essentials of Greenstuff such as mixing and working with Greenstuff. I will also show how to make basic sandbags with a textured surface. I will also show some of my work with Greenstuff so far. I hope these articles are helpful and self explanative. As usual if you have any questions just contact me by Pm.

Mixing Greenstuff Properly

Proper mixing of Greenstuff is very important to a sculpts quality, as is using fresh Greenstuff. Putting Greenstuff in a cold place preferably like a freezer, will keep it nice and fresh and easy to work with once it has defrosted which shouldn’t take long at all. Here are the steps to a good putty mixture.

1: First off, get your Greenstuff out, and using your X-acto knife cut off the amount you wish to work with, getting the same amount of the blue and yellow strips.

2: If your strips are joined, slowly remove the piece where the two strips meet in the middle as this will of starting curing and will leave lumps in your sculpt.

3: Take the blue and yellow pieces and thoroughly knead them together until the mixture is a nice uniform of green as shown below.

Not like this

By varying the ratio of blue to yellow, the properties of Greenstuff will be modified. Using more blue (hardener) in the mixture, the putty will cure faster and harder. Using more yellow (filler) will do the opposite, it will make the putty a softer blend that will take detail better but harden slower. Most people use a blue heavy mixture for the base of the sculpt and then a yellow heavy blend for detailing. The yellow is the stickier half and will change the properties of the final working mixture. Greenstuff is extremely sticky when first mixed, most sculptors like to wait 15 minutes or so before using it, Experiment so you can see what works best for you.

Some people have sensitive skin and Greenstuff can irritate it, if you notice that you do, you should wear rubber or latex gloves. Mixing is the time your hands are most exposed to the Greenstuff, once mixed, you should be able to work using your bare hands.

Working with Greenstuff

The most important thing while working with Greenstuff is lubrication, always keep your tools and fingers lubricated to prevent the Greenstuff form sticking and ruining your fantastic sculpt. Water is good but is problematic as it needs to be reapplied constantly and can obscure details.

I personally would recommend Vaseline or some other type of Petroleum jelly. A little bits applied to your fingers and tools will make it so much easier to sculpt. The one drawback to using Vaseline is that you will need to wash what you have worked on before you can apply more Greenstuff or even paint. Use soap and water for this, but make sure the Greenstuff has cured fully first. Other sculptors sometimes use all sorts of lubricants like olive oil, saliva and others.

Smoothing Greenstuff is fairly simple but can be problematic to some learners. You can use the burnishing end of your sculpting tool or your finger when they are lubricated properly, just rub the tool or finger across the surface, not applying much pressure. This is key to a good sculpt without fingerprints or dents etc.

Always work with small amounts of Greenstuff as you can always mix more and add it to the sculpt. If you are sculpting a large area bulk it out with Greenstuff to get the rough shape. (Use a blue heavy mix for this and remember you can always add more, you’ll be surprised how far it goes). Any freestanding sections like arms or tentacles should be supported by a wire armature. (More about wire armatures in the next article). When sculpting fine details use a yellow heavy mix, only add a tiny bit at a time, as you can push the putty into place and then add more if its needed.

Once Greenstuff is cured you can easily cut it or even carve it. The “give” it has makes carving and filing hard but it is possible. If you really wish to use it like that use a blue heavy mix as this will be harder and less “springy”. If you wish to preserve or slow the curing time of mixed Greenstuff, chuck it into your freezer.

The normal working time of a normal mixture is around ninety minutes after it has been mixed but will change according to your work area’s temperature. If you wish to speed up the curing process, place the figure under a desk lamp, which most of you should have as it is a basic piece of kit for a hobbyist. Some people use putty ovens (Will be making a tutorial on how to make one soon) to speed up the process even further but be warned this can melt or warp plastic bits and yes, even the heat of a desk lamp can do this. In any case do not expect a full strength cure for at least 24 hours.

I think that’s the basics of working with Greenstuff if I have missed anything tell me.

Tutorial 1: Textured Sandbags

The reference of this tutorial is from Digits off the Ammobunker forums.

Materials and Tools needed;

Green Stuff
X-acto knife or a Craft Knife
Something to detail the bags with like car mesh or the grip of a xacto knife

1: Roll out your Greenstuff to approximately the thickness of a biro pen.

2: Flip your knife over so the blade is pointing up, section off the Greenstuff roll into suitable lengths.

3: Separate the bags by cutting where you pushed down with the back of the blade, through pushing down using the back of your blade you will see that is has created the “sandbag” look. Tidy the ends up.

4: It is best to place the bags into place first but for the sake of showing the idea off, I have just done them on my desk. Once into place, gently roll the knifes grip over the bag with your finger. Even slight pressure will flatten the bag, sometimes you want this but not often.

Easy huh? Here are some great uses for these bags you just made. Make sure the bag always “moulds” to the surface of the model or the bag underneath it. Any light underneath will kill the effect we are going for, this happens regularly with bought plastic bags.

Sandbag emplacements, Extra Armour on vehicles, hiding gaps on vehicles, joining stowage up so they look like they belong there. Covering broken pieces, fortifying buildings or terrain. Basing details and there are many more uses. Here’s an example of mine.

I want to see your sandbags so take pictures when you try this and post them up.

My Work So Far

So far, I’ve mostly mucked round with it, trying stuff out. Tried to do some gory bits on my servitors and an old chaos terminator.

I like the Chaos termie so far. Looks reasonably how I envisioned it.

And the four servitors, I’m not sure about.

Conclusion

Well, hope that helps some and you like the tutorial. If you want anything talked about or shown how to do, I will try my best to explain it. Next article will show you how to build a wire armature for an arm or tentacle, how to build a putty oven and to repose space marine legs and arms, along with another explanation of some basic techniques.

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