I have read that you can bake and then rebake sculpey with no issues as long as you bake it at the same temp.

I have something I want to bake before I go to the next step as it will help keep the project clean.

Has anyone here done this and if so what did you find ?

Yes. I baked the sculpey and then rebaked it and it cracked. I too tried it at the same temperature but using an electrical oven (or my cheap oven) heats inconsistently.

yeas you can... when you let it cool... just turn the oven off and let it cool in the oven to avoid cracking... not sure if japanese vinyl is oven safe like western is tho

I usually bake my sculpts several times as I'm working so I don't mess anything up. I've never had any problems with cracking that I can think of...nothing a little Apoxie won't fix.
And if you didn't know already, lighter fluid and 90% alcohol are really good at smoothing unbaked sculpey.

May I ask what temps you bake at, I was planning on 200 to 225 and bake longer and slower. And then again for the additions. The sculpey is great but once you work it for a bit its gets super soft.

Also I have been using turpenoid for smoothing things out, but I will try what you mentioned.

Thanks guys for the help

Thanks D but there is no vinyl involved, I'm sculpting from scratch. And I usually let it cool down slowly in the oven, most things work best when the are cooled in a slow process.

Cliff I also wanted to ask, what do I have to do to add to make the raw clay stick to the already baked piece ? I have read a few different ideas and would like to hear any advise from you.

I'm using sculpey for my new sculpt and I'm just using a cheap harbour freight heatgun to cure it. I really hate how soft and gooey it gets after a little handling, so I'm working in stages (I use a mix of super sculpey and sculpey firm, doesn't get as gooey as quickly). Wear rubber gloves while you work, keeps the fingerprints off and seems to keep the heat down.
I sculpt something rough, hit it with the heat gun, carve back into it, sand it, add more clay, hit it with the heatgun, etc etc until you're finished. If you keep the surface a little rough you shouldn't have too much of a problem with the new sculpey sticking to the old stuff.
A disclaimer; the piece I'm working on is on the smaller side, think gargamel thrashman mini. The heat gun probably wouldn't cure all the way on anything thicker that an inch or two, but I don't think it would really matter anyway.

I usually just bake it at 275 F for 15 mins like the box says, I would assume the low heat for longer would work too.
As for adding new stuff, I rough the surface a little bit with sand paper or rough steel wool, or just carve back some of the baked sculpey. I forgot to say I use gloves to prevent some heat from my hands and a 50/50 mix of super sculpey and super sculpey firm (which is gray) and makes a really nice clay that's not too soft.
Are you sculpting your big vinyl guy?

+what Sean said jinxies!

Haha, jinx is right. Cliff is the sculpey-master at monstrehero.

Just saw the new head sculpt on your blog Rich, looking good! Can't wait to see this bad boy produced.

Thanks guys, yeah I'm working on the heads now. I want to fire up the head as it is now, clean it up a little, add the hear, fire it up clean it up, add the horns and ears , fire it up. But the ears and horns probably with a heat gun and they will be very small.

I used sculpey firm 100%, like you said its a bit stiffer so it helps. I did wear gloves but honestly I like the textures I get from rubbing with my bare hands. The clay gets some small lumps and a little finger print is cool with me. I don't want a 100% perfect look so for this it will work.

Cool I will fire it up at some point today and get back with my results

Awesome, keep us posted.

One little tip: if your sculpey gets too soft because it's warmed up from working with it, spray it with compressed air (the computer cleaner kind that comes in cans). That will cool it down really fast. Might be helpful for some of the details you're working on.

I bake my sculpts literally 10 times or more. If you're getting cracking, it may be due to handling the sculpt before it completely cools. I do intervals of 15 minutes or so knowing it will get many bakes. There's a liquid sculpey too, you can put down between layers for adhesion. There are other little tricks you can do with it to, just have to experiment.

Hey Joe when you made your splug sculpt was that one massive piece of sculpey of did you use something to bulk it out ?

So far all my sculpts are solid sculpey.

Just curious to see if a hollow sculpt vs. solid holds up.

Definitely use something (pill bottle, ball of tin foil) to reduce the amount of clay you're using - cuts down on cost, and it'll bake more evenly.

Yeah the next head will be filled with something. But its to late for this one, its a nice hunk of sculpey.

The splug is bulked up on tin foil. You should probably bulk as much as possible with the foil to keep baking time down. I also feel that using tin foil keeps cracking down. In my experience the thicker the clay gets the more problems I have.

Your getting me nervous I hope this hunk doen't cause big cracking issues. I'm actually waiting on an eye so I wont be baking until next week. Gonna do some test on an old chunk I have here.

Just make sure the sculpt is cooled completely before handling it, that was always my problem, too impatient. If you do have any cracks, hopefully not, i've never had luck filling them with sculpey, i just find it recracks again. Go to the compleat sculptor here in new york and get some magic sculp, it's a air hardening 2 part epoxy resin. that will do the trick.

Yeah huh to fill in the cracks if they happen, you can just then sand it down when it dries to make perfect.

I have used this before and may even still have some packed away.

Obviously I must have done something wrong. These are all great tips and I am going to have to take another crack at this. Thanks for sharing!

I've done 3" inch thick pieces, and as long as it cools in the oven it should be fine, but you need to increase time to cure the middle. Since then, I use tin foil as a base for large sculpts... Personally I like super sculpey as it hold shape better in the oven... heat guns just plain suck... I know several artists who sent pieces to us for shows who I know use heat guns, and they just fell apart... the heatgun can't penetrate without burning the outside

I found this tutorial by Peter Konig the other day. So many good tips! Such a cool guy!


http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18287&page=1&pp=60

Looks like there is a video as well, but the tutorial covers a lot too!

https://www.createspace.com/226183

So where do ya'll buy sculpey? Meaning more of did you find it locally or is there somewhere online that you find it "fresher"?

You can get it at any big art store like Blicks.
Sculpey firm is harder to find. I probably wouldn't recommend beginning with it, but it retains detail better, that can be bought at sculpt.com