Unorthodox tools

[Baz]

I noticed the pic of the putty drying oven made from an old coffee can in another thread and was surprised that I hadn\'t thought of anything like that. Well I thought there\'s probably loads of stuff like that I haven\'t heard of. So does anyone have any other unusual tools or home-made accessories?

To get the ball rolling I find that cheap manicure sets often have very good shaped steel tools that are great for sculpting.

And that for painting eyes the fiber tipped brushes that you get for applying eyeliner keep their points for years.

Anyone else?

 

[rosac]

my mums old surgical tools (her grandads) and a toy microscope tweezers and jabby thing. Oh, and a stitch cutter for mouldline removal. Wierd, I know, but it works!

Rosac

 

[Ogrebane]

Before I went and bought the real thing all my sculpting tools were made out of shaped spru. Also I have alot of stamps like for rivets etc made from spru.

I use a small toothed saw blade to do chain mail.

I also use a metal can as an over for GS.

Im sure I have more but cant think of anymore.
Cheers

 

[freakinacage]

i have used manicure stuff for sculpting too. also make my own sculpting tools form knitting stuff i found in my old common room in uni (actually lost one the other day and am totally gutted as it is irreplaceable!)

 

[Shawn R. L.]

For sculpting I use 1/8 inch copper rod and file, sand, polish to whatever shape I need.

I have also found making my own stamps very useful for repetitous stuff and small stuff that\'s a hassle to sculpt. Using baby poweder as a release REALLY helpes with stamps.

 

[Ogrebane]

Thats handy to know shawn. I often have problems with oils still allowing the GS to stick so I may jsut give that a go.

 

[Matt Cexwish]

I know someone who uses a part of his grlfriends bra for sculpting (he is one of the best there is, you definately know him...^_^...)...

It is the Metal part that holds the breast from underneath... it is a good metal to file a nice tool out of it......

 

[Einion]

Well they\'re not really unorthodox but in addition to the obvious stuff (needles, craft knifes, an old brush) my first generation of sculpting tools were made of shaped cocktail sticks coated in superglue, sanded smooth and polished.

These are a great budget solution for shaping putty and they\'re pretty fast to make too so if you broke one during sculpting you could make a replacement right there on the spot before the putty hardened.

I\'ve also made a few larger wooden tools from old brush handles and wooden dowel. For some of these I used shellac in place of the superglue.

Einion