Sculpey doll, what should I put inside as the core?

Hi Manamei!

I don't know if my post will be helpfull, but just in case... :P And sorry for my bad english, I hope you'll understand!

I'm using Super Sculpey to sculpt my doll. I don't know if it's exactly the same than regular Sculpey, but I think it's a bit like Fimo and it works on it. I did use tin foil too and like you I really didn't like it!!! So now, I simply don't use anything to put inside my pieces : I scult them, and then I put them in the fridge because it make them harder! I wait some hours (1, 2, sometimes 1 day^^) When I'm ready, I put my hands under cold water and start to dig my pieces, slowly. If they become warm and soft : in the fridge again! It can take some time but doll making learn me to be patient, haha^^ The clay can deform a little but it's easy to correct (that's why I love this clay^^)

The "problem" is that I'm making a "little" doll (about 15cm tall) so I don't know if it'll work for a really big doll. Do you have an idea about the waist of yours?

I hope some people will have some better idea than mine xD But don't hesitate if you have questions

 

OK, I don't use sculpey myself so I don't know how accurate this advice is, but I've read somewhere a while back that a wax base could be used. This base simply melts out while you are baking. Supposedly it should melt at the same time as your sculpey is curing, so the sculpt won't loose it's shape. May be someone on the forum could confirm (or not :-) ) this method.
Also for my paperclay head sculpts I use tissue paper wrapped in masking tape, it could be pretty firm when squished well. It did well in the oven at 100C when I wanted a fast dry. Don't know thought at what temperature sculpey is cured. Definitely won't work if you are boiling your sculpey.

 

ive used super sculpey alot, i bought 24 pounds of it when i started making my first bjd and found out you can boil it in water and it will harden.
I do not reccomend boiling it if your sculpture is finished, this is only for starting. What you want to do is grab a piece of sculpey (they come in rectangle shapes in slices)
then you wrap it around and make a tube shape out of it, make sure to connect it and blend the clay where it meets, then boil it in water for 5 minutes, as soon as the water boils
it means its done. Let it sit for about 5 more minutes in the pot then take it out, but careful cuz its hot!!!, then let it sit until it gets cold
if you work on it while its hot it might break so let it cool down. When its cooled off then you can use that as a base to start adding more sculpey on top of it
and sculpt away c:

 

Oh and I forgot this, it was someone (maybe Twigling?) here on the forum that used a bag(?) filled with sand and then when the piece is finished you simply untie/cut the bag and let the sand run out.

 

Wow, GuroDoll, that is a really good tip. I hate pulling out cores. I am definitely going to try this.

 

Try a paper mache. You can bake the doll, then soak the baked piece in water and scoop out the paper mache once it gets gloopy.

 

I use tin foil, but after compressing the foil into the shape and hardness I want, I add a couple of more layers of foil around it and make sure they are very smooth. If the piece I'm working on allows it, I let the edges of the last layers hang out through the clay where I want the opening.
Once it is baked I pull off the ends and then use a sturdy pair of pliers to pull on the core. If the opening is big enough it usually comes out more or less in one piece and leave only the very outer layer of foil in the doll.
If you are not casting the doll and if it's not in the way you can leave it there, but otherwise you can usually peal it off relatively easy, since it is smooth.

For legs and arms I usually use a drinking straw and just bake a thin layer of clay around it and use that as a core. That way I get the holes for stringing right away and I can easily test string my doll every now and then to make sure the joints work properly.

 

How big is your doll? I ask because I make smaller ones.

I don't know if my method would be any good for a larger doll, but...

I bake a hollow cylinder out of Sculpey and then I build onto it. I use a straw to mold the Sculpey around, and then I slip it out carefully while while the baked Sculpey is still hot. You can bake Sculpey over and over again, as long as you let it cool completely through before baking again. I have not had any issue with it breaking after multiple bakes. You might be able to use a paper towel tube to form a larger cylinder to work on.

 

Plastic wrap and styrofoam can sometimes catch fire, or just offgas really unpleasant fumes when you bake it; Tinfoil or baking paper might be a better choice.

 

I usually shape the foil into whatever shape I want the hole inside the piece to have. If I have plans to cast the piece I'm going to sculpt, I take that into consideration right from the start and make the inside a shape that can be cast.

With that said, I usually make very small pieces. If I were to make something big i might make the core larger and more in the same shape that I want for the finished piece. Then later, when it is baked and the core carefully removed, I would add new clay to the inside and sculpt it into a castable shape. That way it would be less fresh clay to bake at the time.

The tinfoil does not stick to the sculpey once it is baked as long as it is reasonably smooth. If it the foil core have a very rough surface you can get parts of it caught in the clay, but otherwise it just peals of.

 

I use styrofoam, but I wrap some painter's tape around it, because I have found that polymer clays (I use fimo, but that's more or less the same) react with styrofoam and make a sticky mess. The nice thing about styrofoam is that it shrinks in the oven and is therefore easier to remove. I make sure there is a hole somewhere in the object I'm baking so the gasses that build up on the inside have a way out. Not doing this can lead to tearing, I have found.

 

During my current fiddling I tried masking tape covered foil and uncovered foil. The clay sticks to masking tape a bit, but comes off cleaner than with foil

 

Hi,
Here is my tip:

I use seal foam spray for my core's
You know, this stuff: http://img2-2.timeinc.net/toh/i/a/tools/foam-spray-00.jpg

Just spray it on top of an plastic bag or anything that it won't stick to and let it dry. then you can cut and sand the pieces as you like. It's much easier to cut than styrofoam and is very light. my ladoll clay sticks to it prety good aswell. I use long nails to put the pieces togeather.
When I take the pieces apart I can scrape and whittle the foam and removethe nails. I really like this method so I will stick with it

 

Please, please don't put styrofoam in the oven!! We use it In university (college if you are American) as a rapid prototyping method, but if exposed to heat, even that from a domestic oven, it releases poisonous gasses! It must be quite bad, as we aren't even allowed to burn it out in the kilns, which are fully ventilated

On topic, for myself I have only just starting making my first doll, 23cm, and I have been using drinking straws for the limbs and tin foil for the head and torso. It seems to be going well so far, but I will let you know! At least the drinking straws shrivel at about 140c, so they feel easier to remove

 

I make a tinfoil core to sculpt on. Then I wrap it in white floral tape. Floral tape has a waxy surface that melts when heated which is why it releases so easily from the clay. I remove it once it's cooled as the clay is very fragile when warm. I take my clay straight from the oven to the freezer to reduce the chance of moonies and cracks and it speeds the process. Once I take it from the freezer I pull the floral tape, which releases the foil quite easily. Note: be sure not to pack the foil very tight, that will make it more difficult to remove. Hope this helps a bit.

 

The way I like best ...(I hate the foil method and would never promote the toxic fumes of baking Styrofoam or plastic); I found I love making my armature cores out of air-dry clays. I tried making my actual doll parts out of air-dry clays but I'm just more partial to Super Sculpey and ProSculpt.
However, if a seamline isn't pre-cut it will be more difficult to do when the doll is cured and really thin spots chance breakage. I've done this on test pieces with Super Sculpey over Premier air-dry and over Paperclay air-dry. I like using air-dry clay cores for several reasons - it leaves the inside of my pieces smooth (unlike foil or tape) and I get a much more precise model (no guess work for weak or bulky armature areas because everything is already smooth and form-fitted), and they do not stick!!! They polymer clay does not stick to the air-dry clay armature.
I have wooden dowels I was going to use for sculpting the arm and leg pieces but I haven't tested baking on these, I don't know if they'll stick.