Working with sculpey

figurines are difficult to make with scupley. Expect several failures before you get ones that can last.

>>1030920

any other polymer better suited to it?

I don't know what >>1030920 is going on about. Sculpey is all about making things like figurines. The stuff you find in most stores, though, won't be super hard when cured. You probably have to order online polymer clays that cure hard. Whatever the case, you can easily apply a gloss finish to polymer clay so it at least looks the part.

Maybe the question is what kind of figurines you want to make, and the best material to use (size, shape, articulation, etc...)

>>1030942
If you are making something out of one color its not that difficult if the figurine is an inch or 2 but when you start to get more complicated, you'll need to create a frame to make i stand up on its own. It has to be a relatively high gauge wire also for it to work best.

>>1030914
just glaze the sculpey if you want it to look like porcelain

>>1031072
like traditional ceramic glaze? Or what specifically

I was thinking brushing on epoxy and sanding

File: cleargloss.jpg (38KB, 297x600px) Image search: [Google]

38KB, 297x600px

>>1030914

OP, what you want is Super Sculpey or Super Sculpey "Living Flesh". Both are a semi-translucent flesh tone color and when properly baked (I advise you to use cheap foil pans as a heat shield if you use an electric oven to avoid browning) they will be strong and quite hard. They should be fairly durable, as long as everything is firmly joined or if a wire/foil armature was used inside.
They sell silicone/rubber molds specifically for dollmaking as well, with little feet and hands and faces, but that's cheating. :^)

The surface of sculpey can be smoothed wonderfully using a bit of isopropyl alcohol (70% is fine, 91% can be a bit strong) and a soft brush, to clean up imperfections and fingerprints. This should be done as a final step before baking, as the surface will be very soft.

When it comes to the glossy, clear glaze, the easiest solution would be an acrylic-based clear gloss. Sculpey sells a clear gloss that works adequately, but anything like that will do. If you want to do a larger volume, I'd suggest "Pledge FloorCare Finish" (Aka Future floor polish), a clear acrylic floor sealer that can be bought at most major department stores in the cleaning/floorcare aisles. If you have a lot of babies to get glossy, you can pour it into a container and carefully dip them in completely, shake them dry in a large box, wait to dry, then re-coat at your discretion. Alternatively, it can also be sprayed through an airbrush.

If you have any other questions, please feel free as I will follow the thread. I have a lot of experience with polymer clay and small scale modeling in general.