Chaotic Claws – Sculpting Tutorial

I hope everyone prepared for Christmas, not long now. This is a post I was avoiding putting up until my friend received his Christmas present.  He has promised not to look at the blog until after he opens it though, so I get to share this little teaser with you!

I have posted regular updates of my progress over on my Chaos thread on Bolter and Chainsword and while I was working on the claws growing out of the armour trim, I was asked if I could give some step by step instructions by someone who visited my thread, who wanted to also use that technique. So this is what I came up with…

The Tutorial

These are the two tools I used for this, they are the two I use the most of my metal tools.  You can use a silicone shaper too if you have one, they are really good.  For lubricating my tools use oil or I just rub them on my face because you don’t need much at all.

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1. I mixed an equal amount of yellow and blue by just smushing and rolling it between my thumb and finger.  It doesn’t very long, probably less than a minute.

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2.

Once its a uniform colour, I break of a little piece, mould it into a cone and then push it into place on the armour.

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3.

I use the tool with the flat tip to press the edges of the cone onto the surrounding plastic.  This helps adhere the Green Stuff to the plastic with its larger surface area.

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4.

Next I just lick my fingers and very gently pulled at the surface of the cone to get the desired Claw shape.  If you pulled too much, just push it back down and try to tease it back again by pulling on the surface, careful not to remove it accidentally.

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5.

Next I used the pointed too to drag some shallow grooves into the claw.  Just be sure not to press too hard, you can always do another pass on the same groove.

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6.

Finally, I very carefully used the too with the flat tip to get the curve and angle I wanted.  Then this stage is complete.

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LET THE GREEN STUFF CURE!

I can’t stress this bit enough. Green Stuff dries like plastic so if you don’t like how something looks you can cut it away. Its always a good idea to plan what you want to do and do it in passes, allowing the green stuff to cure in between. It is very tempting to do too much, maybe you’re very eager or have some green stuff left over… but it’s pretty harrowing if you have so far done a job your really happy with, only to accidentally press one of your thumbs into a bit of work that is still soft, or slip with a tool or something. I do the same with eyes as I have done here, but I just roll Green Stuff balls out of spare Green Stuff, cut them in half once cured and glue them on. sculpting eyelids around the eyes then means you wont damage the eyeball, just like sculpting the trim around these claws once they have cured.

LET THE GREEN STUFF CURE!

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7.

Next pass starts with mixing up more stuff and then I press a small triangle of it pointing away from the claw.

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8. Next, just like last time I start pressing the sides down to meet the plastic, and shape it around the claw.

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9.

Next step i refined the shape using the flat tipped tool, trying to get a small step to match where the Trim meets the armour plate and a ridge down the middle. (You can see some lines it it already because I forgot to take a photo so I had to do this bit twice)

10. Lastly to complete the claw, I added some detail to this part of the claw. pushing the tip of the flat ended tool into the Green Stuff.  Then either gently dragging grooves out with the same tool or the pointed one. I also used the pointed too to get a sharper line where the trim meets the armour. (the slight grooves in the surface are from me accidentally forgetting to take some photos and having to undo the next stage)

Then you’re done!

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If that tutorial is of use to only one person, that’s good enough for me. if you have any questions I can help with, requests for things I could try or what ever… feel free to ask! Even better, if you can sculpt, please tell me how to be better!

This is to be my very appropriate entry for Azazels Diabolical December 2018.  So stay tuned and If I dont speak to any of you before then, have a nice Christmas.

~Pandora’s Bitz Box~