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7/27/2019 Polymer Proof

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82 Ships in Scale July/August 2011

SHIPWRIGHTS APPRENTICE

Using polymer clay for ornamentationby Chuck Passaro

You have probablymarveled at the carvingskills of 18th century

masters when visiting a navalmuseum. I am sure you haveadmired the intricately carveddetails of a gurehead.Some ship models have anabundance of nely carvedand elegant scroll work.Sometimes these elements

are gilded or painted or leftin their natural state. Oneof the most intimidatingaspects of ship modelingis how to approach carvingthese details. The carvedelements on these contemporarymodels were most likely carvedout of English boxwood. Onealternative however, might beto sculpt these details ratherthan carve them. Sculpting agurehead from polymer clayaffords you the opportunity tocontinually tweak your work

before curing it. When carvingout of wood, a mistake can bemuch more difcult to x. Itusually requires that you startover rather than remedy thesituation. Wood can easilysplit and crack and addingadditional wood material

to correct a deep gaugeor misplaced cut wouldcertainly show up on anunpainted gurehead.

I recommendexperimenting with some

polymer clay like Sculpeyor FIMO (Photos 1 & 2).These clays come in avariety of colors that can bemixed. Sculpey also comes

in metallic colors like gold andbronze and after being baked theornamentation would not need to

be painted. The gilded effect isquite nice and the most intricate

details are not lost by paintingthem. In the case of Sculpey,there are several grades of clay

that have a different sculptingtexture and consistency. Youshould choose the right clayfor your application on theship model. I regularly useSuper Sculpey or Sculpey

III. Super Sculpey comesin a limited color palette butis great to use when veryne detailing is required.This clay is baked in theoven until it hardens. After

it cools down the clay can besanded, drilled and carved. Itcan be painted and accepts stainas well.

Sculpey IIIIt comes in dozens of colorsincluding metallic (Photo 3).It is less brittle after baking.However it captures less nedetail. It also remains somewhatexible after baking.

Super Sculpey and

Super Sculpey FirmThis is a better clay for ne

detailing, however it is morebrittle after baking. It onlycomes in esh tone, but can

be easily stained. The rmtype only comes in dark grayand is also brittle if baked tolong or very thin pieces aremade. It can be mixed withSculpey III to make it moreexible and easier to workwith. But I do prefer these

Photo 1. Super Sculpey clay is availablein Firm (shown here) and Regular.

Photo 2. FIMO modelling clay.

Photo 3. Sculpey III comes in a widevariety of colors.


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July/August 2011 Ships in Scale 83

two over all of the others. I wouldnt be frightenedaway by the brittle nature of the clay. Its not anymore fragile than a thin piece of carved boxwood.You need to just handle the work carefully andallow the pieces to cool down entirely after you

bake them. If you try and work on a piece furtherwhile it is still hot and exible, it is very much likea freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. It needsto fully harden and cool down or it will bend anddistort.

The tools needed to sculpt the ornamentation andgureheads for a model are no different than anyother sculpting tools you might ndin an art store (Photo 4).They just need to

be smaller. Somefolks will use dentaltools to good effecton small miniaturesculptures. Dental picks with

varying sized tips can be bought on EBAYvery cheaply (Photo 5). Overall the toolsare very inexpensive and manycan be home made.Wooden dowelscan be tapered andshaped to suit. Shownin the photos are sometypical tools. Those withthe different shapedopen loops are used toremove clay from your piece

rather than push it around and texture theclays surface. I personally use only three or fourhomemade tools. The work is so tiny that I preferusing a toothpick or a large sewing needle to makethe ne details. They are perfect for shaping thefacial features of a gurehead. In addition tothis I use a stiff paint brush. I use a few differentsizes depending on the area being worked on.If you thin down the clay with a softener(Photo 6), you can dip your brush in thesoftening liquid and use it to smooth out the

surface when that effect is desired. I willdiscuss that further later when I describehow I made the gurehead for my model ofthe Frigate Confederacy.

Some people prefer softer clay to workwith and the clay softener I mentionedis available from Sculpey. It is a liquid

petroleum solvent and is supplied in smallbottles. Just a drop or two on the clay whilekneading it with your ngers will soften it upconsiderably. Softer clay will not hold details as

well as rmer clay. But it has it advantages. Iwill soften the clay slightly before I use it. If theclay begins to get sticky and difcult to workwith simply dipping your tools into water willtake care of it. Some sculptors prefer to use cornstarch much like a baker would use to prevent theclay from sticking to your tools. But water is the

best way to go. Being an oil based clay, dippingyour tools in water keeps them free of clay whileworking on the small details. This will be

important should youdecide to create a pushmold. You can quicklyduplicate your carvedpieces using one.

Gun port wreaths andscrollwork can be precisely molded

and dozens of copies produced. This is aneasy way to start experimenting with thematerial.

If you are building akit that has some castdecorations and you arenot thrilled with the level

of detail and the shapeof each piece; Sculpeycan be a big help.

Lets say you want toimprove the appearance of the

cast gun port wreaths. You can take the kitsupplied casting and create a push mold.

To produce the push mold just prepare a piece of

Sculpey III a little larger and thicker than the pieceto be duplicated. Coat the original with corn starchor brush it down with water to prevent sticking.The same should be done with the surface of theSculpey you will be pressing the original into.Press the original into the clay rmly and thenremove it. Be careful not to distort the unbakedmold while removing the master. Bake themold to cure it. Just like anything else Sculpeycan burn if baked for too long so adjust thetemperature and time according to the directions

given by the manufacturer. The parts weusually make are much smaller than usual. Sofor really tiny pieces I will pre-heat the oven to275 degrees. I will bake the real tiny parts forjust 3- or 4-minutes. The mold will be thickerhowever so follow the directions for the timeneeded based on the thickness of the clay.With the mold completed it is a snap to create

multiple copies of your original. Coat the mold asmentioned above with corn starch or water and then

push some uncured Sculpey into it. Remove the

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Sculpey carefully and you have aperfectly formed duplicate.

But dont bake he duplicate

casting yet. You werent happywith the original master and nowyou have an uncured duplicate.You can manipulate and reshapethe clay to add extra detailsand smooth out the surfacesuntil you are happy. Since theoriginal was the correct size andthickness (hopefully), all you arereally doing is tweaking the nedetails to improve it. Trim off

any excess clay when you aresatised and bake it. Now youhave a great looking piece thatcan be painted or stained. If thewreath needs to be gilded, thenuse the gold clay available fromSculpey. If you need more thanone then thats easyjust makea push mold for your improvedversion and make as many copiesas you need.

This is the technique I used to

create the quarter badges for mymodel of the US Brig Syren1803.The model was a prototypedesign for a Model Shipways kit.The kit is now available. But Ihad to create a master that ModelShipways could use to mass

produce them for the kit. It waseasier to fabricate the originalwith mixed media. Wood, wire,clay and whatever else I could

nd lying around was used tomake the master shown in the

photo provided. It doesnt look

pretty because of the colors andtextures on the original piece.So I took that ugly master andcreated a push mold (Photo 6).

Photo 7 shows the molded badgeafter it was stained several times.I used Super Sculpey this time forits pink eshy color. It acceptsstain very well. I used the samecolor wood stain that I used

on the hull planking. You willprobably need to use many coatsof stain to get the deeper shades

you desire. The window paneswere painted black afterwards.You can see how the color of the

badge matches the surrounding

planking. The surface of thebadge would have been verydifferent had I painted it.

It would also be good to pointout that polymer clay can be

baked more than once. When

Photo 6. Push model made from Sculpey. The multi-material master is on the left and a newly cast copy is onthe right of the mold.

Photo 7. The stained quarter badge placed on the model of the brigSyren. Four coats of stain on the Super Sculpey matched the color ofthe planking well.


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creating larger or more complex pieces it is best

to complete it a portion at a time. For example, ifyou were creating a gurehead you could sculptthe torso rst and then bake it. This will preventthe torso from being damaged or altered. Then youcan add the head and arms to the piece afterwards

because the torso will now act as a strongfoundation to build upon. Then bake it again. Thenadd some more details and bake it yet again. Thisstepped approach will give you some exibility.The completed sections can still be sanded andcarved if they need to be worked on.

Figures for the US ConfederacyMy latest project for Model Shipways was to

design a POB kit of the US frigate Confederacy.This frigate is one of the few early Americanfrigates that were highly decorated with scrollworkand gures. We are fortunate to have very detaileddrawings of these decorations which makes iteasy to create an accurate representation. Whatdidnt seem to easy was the prospect of carvingso many gures from boxwood and then castingthem to create masters for the mass production of

Kit ttings. A much more acceptable approachfor me was to use Sculpey. The contemporary ascaptured draft for the Confederacywas enlarged soI could make out as much detail as possible. ThenI recreated what I thought was an appropriatelystyled rendering for the gureheads and sterncravings. With this in hand I began work on thegurehead.

The Confederacy gurehead is of a Greekwarrior holding a shield and sword. It also hasa plumed helmet. The gurehead is basically a

full sculpture in the round. Its not a relief panel

with a at backing that is more typical of the sterndecorations. For this reason, I usually create a wireskeleton. Its nothing fancy but will help supportthe clay and keep my gure posed correctly. Iused 28-gauge black wire for the simple armature(Photo 8). See the photos provided. In addition tothe wire armature, I also built another stem to scaleand mounted it on a base to make it free standing.I like to sculpt my gureheads directly on thestem. I actually added another piece of wire to thecrotch of the armature so I could insert it into a

hole drilled into the stem. This keeps the wholeskeleton and gurehead sturdy while I am workingon it. As I mentioned earlier, the clay can be bakedmany times over. With this set up, I actually bakethe gurehead while it remains on the wooden stem.I place the whole thing in the oven. The oven is setat such a low temperature (275 degrees) that there isno danger at all with the wood catching re or evenscorching. If your gurehead starts getting a crispygolden brown then you are baking it for too longor at too high a temperature. You should never seeand discoloration from the baking process.

To create a little more mass and get the generalshape and pose of the warrior, I wrap tin foil aroundthe armature (Photo 9). You can see that no armswere added to the skeleton. I am just getting thegeneral shape of the torso, and the legs are there tohelp me get the proportions correct. At this pointI can start applying the clay. In this case I decidedto use Sculpey III. It doesnt hold the details aswell, but I want to show the color palette that isachievable. By mixing different colors you canactually create a pretty close match to the wood you

Photo 8. The 28-gauge black wire armature used tosupport the creation of the figurehead placed against adrawing to make sizing and positioning easier.

Photo 9. Wire armature created for thefigurehead with the torso wrapped in foil to giveit mass.


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Photo 10. This photo shows the roughing out of theclay to get the proper shape.

Photo 11. This photo shows small amounts ofclay being added after baking to create and refinethe musculature.

Photo 12 (left). This photo shows the completedhead with a facial features and helmet; the legsremain to be added.

Photo 13 (above). The photo of the figureheadafter now that the legs have been added. A dimehas been added to show scale.


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are using. This eliminates theneed to paint the piece when itsnished. This gurehead wont

be used on the model however.I will make a resin copy formy prototype so the originalclay master can be used whenModel Shipways goes into mass

production.To begin adding clay, I dontworry about the details straightaway. You can see in the next

picture how I just applied a lumpof clay. I roughly shaped it to getthe basic shape and size. Thereare only mere suggestions of anymuscles and denition at this

point (Photo 10). In Photo 10you can also see a practicesculpture of the torso only just to

the left of the gurehead. It wasa quick study that I could use forcomparison. Any mistakes I sawin the study were remedied on thefull gurehead. When completedthe gurehead was baked for 30-or 40-minutes. This hardened the

base on top of which the detailswill be added.

In Photo 11, I am adding smallpatches of fresh clay to the cured

base structure. To help make thenew clay stick to the baked clay,I dip a brush in Sculpey softenerand apply it generously to theentire torso. I add small lumpsof clay that represents the chestand abdomen muscles. Usinga toothpick I can blend in the

edges of the new clay into thetorso and it will stick quite well.To give the surface of the clay asmooth texture, I dip the brushinto the Sculpey thinner againand brush the uncured clay inthe general shape of the muscledenition. Brushing the clay

blends the uncured clay into thebaked clay and smooth out anybumps and rough spots. ThenI bake it again. I repeat this

process over and over again.Adding new pieces to the torsoeach time.

I created a thin rope of clay andapplied it to create the warriors

belt. Using the edge of thetoothpick I attened it out anddened the edge between it andthe body. It is smoothed and

blended by brushing some moreSculpey softener over it. The

torso was probably baked 30 to40 times before it was completed.Next I added the head. I

simply created an egg shape withuncured clay around the wirearmature. Then I baked it. This

provided a rm surface to addthe helmet and the facial features

onto. Each feature was added alittle at a time while baking andadding more detail. To sculpt thereally ne details like the eyes,nose, beard, hair, and mouth, Iuse the point of a large sewingneedle. The features are roughedin and then smoothed out by

brushing it down and blendingwith the Sculpey softener. If Iwasnt happy with how the faceturned out or a certain feature, it

was easily remedied. I just slicedit off or sanded it off and startedover again. I think you arestarting to get the picture. Clay isvery versatile and forgiving.

The legs, the cape and otherdetails were completed using thesame approach. When it cametime to add the arms, I drilled asmall hole into the stub of eachshoulder. I inserted a separate

Photo 14. Right profile of thefinished figurehead. Photo 15. Head-on profile of thefinished figurehead.Photo 16. Left profile of thefinished figurehead.


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length of wire for each arm after bending it to getthe correct pose. The length of the wire includedthe sword and the shield. The clay was roughlyadded to create a solid foundation and the generalshape. It was baked so the clay would harden.Then I actually removed the arms by pulling themout of their sockets. I was able to complete eacharm including the sword and shield while it was

off the body. Then they were baked and nallyreattached to the torso. Uncured clay was thinneddown with the Sculpey softener so I could use itlike glue. It kept the arms posed and rmly in

position. Then the entire gure was baked forone last time. Photos 10 - 13 show the warrior

progressing in stages.Even though I didnt use this clay sculpture on

my model because it became the master for massproduction, there is no reason why you couldnt.I have used the clay originals many times onmy models, and it is a great alternative to wood

carving. Photos 14 -16show the completedgurehead for the frigate Confederacyfromdifferent angles.

Stern fguresCreating the sculptures for the stern gures and

decorations was very similar but still challenging.The elements are not depicted fully in the roundlike the gurehead. I did want to give them a verydeep sculptural appearance however which wouldresemble what I admire about the contemporary

models I have seen. No wire armature was needed.To prepare, I created another wooden transom toscale that I could use to sculpt on top of. I createdit with the gentle curve port-to-starboard thatwas also present on the actual model. I will sculptand bake the pieces directly on this transom anduse it as base. You can see in the Figure 1thestern decorations are made up of seven separatesculptures Although I have seen kits developed that

provide a solid casting for the entire stern transomI decided to develop each of the seven separately. Iam not a big fan of the solid one piece transom asthey never seem to t properly.

I wanted to show as much ne detail as my skillswould allow so I chose Super Sculpey Firm as theclay to use. Photo 17 also shows my workbenchas I was working on the two initial gures. Youcan see just how tiny these are. Each one can tcomfortably on a quarter with room to spare. I willalso point out that may have noticed the optivisor in

the background. At this size it is an absolute musthave tool. I usually spend two hours or so at eachsitting and my eyes can get tired quickly. Withoutthe magnication it would be impossible to formthe tiny details on the faces of these gures.

Just as did with the gurehead, I started sculptingby adding a rough mass of clay for the torso only.No head or legs. I was just trying to get the correctshape and size I needed. Few if any details wereadded to the torso at this point. Then I baked thetorso so I would have a solid base that I could addthe details too. Photo 18 shows the completed

Figure 1. Close-up of the stern figures and carvings on the US Confederacy.


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three central gures. To addthe ner details, my primarytools were a sewing needle,a sharpened awl and a small

paintbrush.To explain how I created the

ner details, similar techniques

were used as described earlier.They were just on a much smallerscale. For example, to makesculpt the breasts and abdomenfor the central gure of Hera,the tiniest of clay specs wereadded a little at a time. You can

see in the photo a small roundbead on my ngertip that waseventually used to form them. Iapplied a thin wash of Sculpeysoftener to the entire cured torso.This will help the uncured claystick to the hardened clay. ThenI positioned the small spec ofclay where I wanted it. I usedthe tip of a sewing needle tosquash the edges of the speckinto the surrounding cured clay.Any excess clay that squishedout in the process was scrapedaway with a sharp #11 Xacto

blade. This did not leave thedesired shape and texture I waslooking to achieve. I basicallyhad a raised pimple of roughclay with a very odd shape. To

work it further, I dipped a smallbrush in the Sculpey softenerand began smoothing out theentire area. While doing so I wasactually using the brush to pushand pull the clay around to shapeit correctly. At the same timethe gentle brush strokes were

bending the rough edges of thespec into the surrounding torso

Photo 17. My workbench with two initial figures resting on the building

transom. You can see just how tiny these are by comparing them to thequarter.

Photo 18. Close-up view of finished figures to be placed on the transom.


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Photo 19. Close-up view of finished stern with figures in place and painted.

Photo 20. Close-up view of finished bow with figurehead in place and painted.


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which was cured. Almost allof the ne details were shaped,

blended and attached to thecured base with just the needleand a brush. Once I had somesmall details completed to myliking I baked the entire piece tolock it in and harden it. Smalladditions are so tiny that I hadto make some modications tomy cooking time. I preheat theoven to 250 degrees and eachtime I rebaked the clay it was foronly 1.5 or 2 minutes. Add moredetails and then bake it again.

When each tiny sculpture wascompleted I carefully removedthem from the wood transom.The cured clay will stick to thewood but will separate with a

little coaxing. I use a singleedged razor and gently part thesculpture free. I have included acouple of photos of the sculptures

on the completed model ofthe frigate Confederacy. Theactual clay masters werentused. They would be neededto create the master molds formass production of the ModelShipways kit. So I created somecast copies of each piece in resin.Those for the kit will be suppliedas Britannia metal castings. Theresin versions on the prototypewere painted with acrylic. Ichose to paint them to simulatethe look of carved wood. Variousthin washes of yellow ochre,raw sienna, titanium white,and burnt umber were used tomatch the color of the stained

basswood as closely as possible.All of the decorations were

made this way including thetrailboards and drops. Thereis no reason why you couldntuse the clay originals on your

model since mass productionisnt a consideration. Theycan be painted or you could useScupey III to mix the perfectmatching shade of wood so theycan be applied as is.

I hope after reading thisintroduction to polymer clayyou might give it a try on yourown ship model. There are alarge number of websites andforums devoted to sculptingwith polymer clay. A simplesearch on Google for thekeywords polymer clay tipsand techniques or sculptingminiatures with polymer claywill yield hundreds of advancedtechniques. Polymer clay is avery versatile and acceptable

material for many of our shipmodeling needs.

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