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New polymer clay - bee's putty


Ela Kiefhaber

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Hi sculpting folks!

I'm just testing a new polymer clay from Germany named "Bee's Putty" - it seems to have some bees wax as an ingredient, hence the name. See the website for more infos: http://beesputty.com/

It was developed for sculpting prototypes for fantasy metal miniatures (Warhammer f.e.). The clay has a more waxy feel to it and is less sticky then other polymer clay. When it is baked, it gets really hard and sturdy. And fresh clay sticks to old clay like mad.
Baking is really crucial - too hot, and it burns and you get a surface with a white residue (seems to be the wax).
Sculpting with it is great fun - great for details nd structures.

Anyone else tried it as well?

 

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Hi Ela,

I'll have to look into this stuff, I have been using Kneadatite blue/yellow for years (also used for the role-playing metal miniatures and toy soldiers).  But you can only vulcanize the Kneadatite a couple of times, I wonder what the max temp is for the Bee's Putty?

The stuff sounds like it's worth a try,

Jason

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Hi Jason!

This might be really interesting for you - I really like the feel of it and it is less toxic than any of these two-part-epoxy-putties.
It bakes at 115°C (=239 F), what is really low for polymer clay. And it's easy to overbake, as I can tell from my own experience :)

Ela

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Drat... my rubber molds for the spin caster vulcanize at 350°F  But I still wouldn't mind trying this stuff in the future for one-off's.

 

Thanks Ela,


Jason

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Ela, is it possible to bring some to the US at Guild School for us to purchase from you?   Have you used it to sculpt your original for plaster molds?  How much does it shrink?  I looked at the website and only portions of the site have been translated to English, some of the English version of the website is still in German, so will try the google translator. 

Thanks for telling us about this new product.

I have been contemplating a trial run with precious metal silver clay... 

I would enjoy a forum topic about learning to create a master that can be used later as a mold.

 

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Yes, I could bring some with me - please tell me which color, as I only used "bone" so far. I use it to sculpt the heads of my movable animals - the body is constructed like a stuffed toy, the head (and sometimes the claws) are sculpted and furred.

I don't use them for making molds as I don't do molds - I sculpt direct in porcelain.
I took a class once on making molds for dolls and I truely dislike it. First I hate plaster - it eats my skin - and second I'm not fond of the whole process. I'm too spontaneous (or impatient). But I will gladly answer any questions about molds if I don't have to make them! :)

I love, love, love precious metal clay, especially the silver one. <3

 

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I think either Gray or White... would be fine.  I just want to try a small block to see how it behaves.  I do not like the stick-I-ness of two part resin clays, and I do think our skin absorbs chemicals, so I try to use tools and gloves for mixing the two part clays. 

In Regard to PMC, the Gold is little expensive to experiment with, so I will be trying to use the silver clay... however, I wonder if you could plate the metal after the silver is fired, as I would want it to be gold colored.  The gold is pretty expensive, so I will save that option for a project when I am more efficient, if I discover that I cannot plate the silver to a gold color. 

Do you sculpt in porcelain in the bisque stage?

I think there are many wonderful items to sculpt, I wonder if we could 3d print with precious metal clay... as the only reason that I want to make a mold is so I can duplicate the part, so with my current level of inexperience, I think a mold would give me the best results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I'll get some for you.
It is less sticky than the 2-epoxy-stuff (more like wax), and I react to the epoxy stuff, so I avoid it.
 

Yes, the gold one is pretty expensive - but there are some cheaper ways:
1. Paint it with gold paint (or even real shell gold)
2. Gild the pieces with gold leaf
3. Use the liquid gold clay to "paint" on gold accents to the silver clay (haven't tried yet, but seen the results. Looked amazing)
4. Oxidise the silver in a sulfur solution - turns golden :) that's my favourite way. It turns into a wonderful, old gold tone

I sculpt the porcelain direct- first I dehydrate the slip and turn it into clay and then I sculpt with the porcelain as you would sculpt with fimo or regular clay.

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I am looking forward to Guild School, and counting the days for departure.... I hope you are participating in Minis, Munchies & More?

Thank you for these tips regarding PMC - I was organizing my book shelves this weekend and I know I have 1 book on PMC, and I think I purchased another one, so it will be fun to try these mediums.  As I do not have a kiln, I will use the makerspace's kiln or a torch to fire my PMC - but the sculpt will probably be the most important part of this first.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Ela, thank you for bringing me the beesputty to GS.  I am looking forward to seeing what I can model with it... There are so many mediums to try for scale modeling.  I hope you will update this topic on modeling with clay.

I do need to make some Chinese mud figures for my Guild Study Program class overmantle - but other then teapots I'm not very experienced in using clay for modeling.

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 years later...

I have worked with PMC silver and find it very clay like as in pottery clay.  I bought bronze and i have a larger beehive kiln to try it out as you have to cook it in charcoal.  Has anyone tried this? My goal is to turn a piece and decorate with silver metal clay and see how it goes! Love sculpting and mold making/casting.

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I was checking our Kerri Pajutee's facebook page and noticed that she also uses Bees Putty for her critter sculpts.

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