Green Stuff, Friend or foe?
- Thread starter Firespin
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Chrispy
New member
The trick is to get some decent tools first. I found a good set for under $5 at a hardware store, and GW wants $7 for ONE of theirs! Next, you need to keep the GS from sticking to the tools, and that can be done by using oil or water. I perfer water, as it will dry faster, but for a long haul, a tiny drop of oil will do.. this oil can be anything from break lubricant to olive so just use what you have. Remember that GS is an Epoxy Putty, and some harsh chemicals will disentagrate it.. Last, for that \"Shiny\" finh all the sculptors get on their models, use a brush to go over the GS. You shouldn\'t need a lubricant, as thehair won\'t stick to it too much.
Hope this helps!
Hope this helps!
The single most important advice I can give is to do one bit, then put the damn thing down and go do something else until that bit is dry. It took many squashed, ruined bits for me to learn this. Maybe I\'m just clumsy and you can avoid what you\'ve already done, but I found it impossible.
I made a bunch of tools by cutting up various sized/shaped bits of plastic rod, cost me nothing. I also use scalpels, and a penknife, and the end of paint brushes.
I also use water to stop it sticking.
One tip (I think it was from Chris Fitzpatrick) is to use the oil on your nose to stop your fingers sticking. This may sound a bit gross/weird, but it really works, it adds a little oil to your fingers without flooding them and your nose is always with you, so you can do it at exactly the moment you need to without having to put down what you\'re doing.
I made a bunch of tools by cutting up various sized/shaped bits of plastic rod, cost me nothing. I also use scalpels, and a penknife, and the end of paint brushes.
I also use water to stop it sticking.
One tip (I think it was from Chris Fitzpatrick) is to use the oil on your nose to stop your fingers sticking. This may sound a bit gross/weird, but it really works, it adds a little oil to your fingers without flooding them and your nose is always with you, so you can do it at exactly the moment you need to without having to put down what you\'re doing.
wightzombie
New member
foundry has a great 5 piece tool set i think. for faces, i think it was SJB who said something about anatomy books and stuff, sorry i dont know about technique, when i was playing with supersculpy with larger statues i ended up sculpting a ruogh helmet on my barbar instead of a face. saved by asthetics!
I whent to town yeasterday to buy some green stuff and a couple other stuff. And to my great suprise I found that green stuff is illegal in france, It\'s supose to be a dangerous material that causes cancer. The store owner told me that rackham even thought they imported it, only used it with gloves and heavy hand washing after. Does sombody know how much of this is true and if green stuff is really dangerous ??? Well anyway I bought somthing called andrea sculpt instead and it looks like it\'ll work just fine since I\'m only using it to fill gaps and such.
??? The US would be the first place it would be banned if it was dangerous.
From what little experience I have using green stuff, I\'ll have two pieces of advice.
1. Lubricate your tools, work surface, and your fingers often. Don\'t let anything dry. Saliva seems to work best for me.
2. When you\'re satisfied with one part, put it aside, let it cure beore you start another part. As Trevor said, the stuff is extremely prone to being squashed. And you really don\'t want to ruin hours of work with a split second carelessness. First time I made this mistake, I just about cried.
From what little experience I have using green stuff, I\'ll have two pieces of advice.
1. Lubricate your tools, work surface, and your fingers often. Don\'t let anything dry. Saliva seems to work best for me.
2. When you\'re satisfied with one part, put it aside, let it cure beore you start another part. As Trevor said, the stuff is extremely prone to being squashed. And you really don\'t want to ruin hours of work with a split second carelessness. First time I made this mistake, I just about cried.
Cerridwyn1st
New member
Originally posted by dauber22
Supposedly this is why GW stopped selling green stuff and switched to the blue/white stuff. However, I have no idea whether or not it\'s true. Let\'s just hope that, for Lurch\'s sake, it\'s not.
Blue/white is the same crap, just doesn\'t cure as hard. The manufacturer is Polymetric, and they make several different types. Dunno, maybe the green version has a different composition from blue/white that makes it more toxic?
Green- usual stuff. Cures semi-hard. Can be bought as two separate cylinders in a tube, so no cured bit in the middle.
Brown - aluminum. Cures very hard. Holds details like and edge better than green.
Blue/white - what you get from GW. Don\'t know squat about toxicity compared to greenstuff. Is flexible when cured. Absolute B**ch to try to sculpt with.
White - only seen ads for this stuff. Suposedly cures rock hard. Cheaper than green. Sales literature suggests using it to bulk out areas on bigger models, then use green on top for details.
White stuff is crap but they finally started selling good old GS in the Canadian GW shops again. It\'s cheaper too, which is amazingly cool since I need some again
By the way check out http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sylvain.quirion/siteanglais/greens/heads.htm for a good head sculpting tutorial. The only thing I don\'t like about it is the mouth part, but this helped me get a bit better. I\'ve only done a couple and they still look like crap, but I\'m getting better a lot faster than I thought I might.
By the way, if you ever have trouble drawing anything try sculpting it. Once you get a feel for the underlying structures and shapes then it becomes so very much easier to sculpt. I read a ton of stuff about sculpting faces, then tried a few and I can draw heads way better than I could before.
By the way check out http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sylvain.quirion/siteanglais/greens/heads.htm for a good head sculpting tutorial. The only thing I don\'t like about it is the mouth part, but this helped me get a bit better. I\'ve only done a couple and they still look like crap, but I\'m getting better a lot faster than I thought I might.
By the way, if you ever have trouble drawing anything try sculpting it. Once you get a feel for the underlying structures and shapes then it becomes so very much easier to sculpt. I read a ton of stuff about sculpting faces, then tried a few and I can draw heads way better than I could before.
Plumbing
Greenstuff was originally formulated for use by plumbers ( it was simply re-packaged for a different market ) so I hardly think it is toxic. Also; I\'ve been using it for over a decade and I\'m fine, just ask my little pixie friends...they\'ll be here any minute now...they\'re just a little shy...
Greenstuff was originally formulated for use by plumbers ( it was simply re-packaged for a different market ) so I hardly think it is toxic. Also; I\'ve been using it for over a decade and I\'m fine, just ask my little pixie friends...they\'ll be here any minute now...they\'re just a little shy...
Chrispy
New member
GS is only cancerous if you stick it into your nose and up your brain, as far as I know..
I\'ve heard flecks of aluminium come off the brown stuff, but I\'ve yet to try mine..Cerridwyn1st: Is that white stuff Milliput? It\'s more like a ceramic than an epoxy putty, which is why it dries with heat and GS melts if too hot.
\"White Stuff\" is a blue/white strip that is very similar in look and feel to greenstuff (made by the same people). Except that it is white (!) when mixed and is at first a little stiffer than gs to work with but sets a little softer (or more \'rubbery\'). IMHO, it is useless (the same goes for brownstuff). None of these will melt under heat, they will all get harder in fact just like milliput (though the gs, ws and bs will soften a little while they are hot but go harder once cooled). If your gs is melting (or sagging) under heat it is because you are applying too much heat before it has had time to set.
By the way, you can happily mix milliput and gs together in varying proportions to varying effects....a great way to make your gs go further. I find a 50/50 mix very versatile (you must first mix the constituent parts of each putty before combining them).
Ovus The Peon
New member
Gosh, if the government says so, it MUST be true.
Now, when the government said radium caused cancer, I think they were onto something. After all, all those poor clock-dial painters had tongue cancer. Ever hear of anyone having tongue cancer?
BUT, if the government tells me greenstuff causes cancer, I\'d want them to show me all the sculpters with finger cancer. Let\'s have a show of stumps...how many of you sculptors have hand cancer?
lol
Now, I\'m going to relax with a radithor martini.
Cerridwyn1st
New member
You mean the white stuff mentioned in my post? No, it\'s another product from Polymetric Systems, Inc., and is another form of Kneadatite. It is advertised on the site for Jeff Valent Studios.
http://www.jeffvalentstudios.com/modelingaccessories.htm
I don\'t know any more about it than what I\'ve read on the website.
I really love the new package for the cylinders of GS. Has pictures of two of S. Garrities\' sculpts in green as examples of modling in Kneadatite, plus two other sculpts from artists I\'m not familiar with.
Cerridwyn1st
New member
He who?
He who, Chrispy. I\'m a WOMAN. Or can\'t you tell that\'s a little girl witch? lol
He who, Chrispy. I\'m a WOMAN. Or can\'t you tell that\'s a little girl witch? lol
