living doll clay keeps cracking

This section is for all our talented ladies who wish to share their OOAK gifts with others.
Post Reply
ten tiny toes babies nursery
Feedback: 0|0|0

living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by ten tiny toes babies nursery »

am new to this and trying to do a full bodied, i keep getting cracks, despite supporting arms etc and not touching till completely cooled down, is it the clay am using, is there a better option? am using living doll clay XX TIA
gabbys_babes
Feedback: 0|0|0

Re: living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by gabbys_babes »

I use super sculpey original, I rarely have any cracking.
izzy
Feedback: 0|0|0

Re: living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by izzy »

I used super sculpey before and it never cracked if I made a mini, but once I got to full size it was a disaster. Switched to living doll and it's better. Maybe try cernit? I've heard it's very strong.

If you're making this doll to mold, try Super Sculpey firm. It's grey but I love the stuff.
ten tiny toes babies nursery
Feedback: 0|0|0

Re: living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by ten tiny toes babies nursery »

thank you it seems to be the larger parts that crack its so annoying
NewbornNestLori
Feedback: 0|0|0

Re: living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by NewbornNestLori »

This is the biggest reason that us Sculptors had to stop making the life-size Ooaks. :cry:
I absolutely loved loved using Super Sculpey or Living Doll for my sculpts, but the cracking became such a problem. When we all sculpted back in the day (2004-2008) polymer clay was super dreamy to work with. It was RARE for anything to crack. Then one day, things changed overnight. Sculptor after Sculptor was suffering with "Crack Babies" & it finally came out that the Clay companies had changed the plasticizers in making the clay. Our clay was NEVER again the same. It was a sad sad day in many Artists lives.

Now, one way to "help" the cracking issue, is to mix your clays.
Its a royal PITA, but get a cheap food processor from Walmart & mix your favorite clay with Cernit. Some Artists can use straight cernit, but the majority cannot, because it becomes sort of like sculpting with a piece of chewed up bubble gum, after a while, lol. So, I use approximately a 3:1 ratio. 3 Parts Living Doll, Premo or Super Sculpey, to 1 part Cernit.
Your going to mix small batches, otherwise you will burn out the motor on your food processor, ok? Chop it up into smallish squares, pulse it in the food processor & continue mixing until all of your clay is mixed. Its going to turn into teeny tiny balls (heh heh, I said BALLS, lol :lol: ) And with mixing, they are also going to be nice & warm! While they are warm, your going to take those little balls & start mooshing them together, making sure your not getting air pockets. Then run them thru your pasta machine on a thick setting, working your way down to a thin setting. After you condition your clay completely this way, simply take your newly conditioned, flat pieces of clay & store them in gallon size baggies.

It takes some work, BUT it will help eliminate a lot of your cracking issues.
The ratio above, can be altered to fit your sculpting needs, but you need cernit in your mix. And remember, that your clay MUST be conditioned well before use. If your running it thru your pasta machine & the edges are crumbly....? Its not conditioned. You'll know what I mean, when it happens. Keep on a' mixin!! I use plastic gloves when mixing in bulk. I buy a box of them from Sally's Beauty Supply, because its cheaper this way. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me! I don't check Doll-Fan daily, so if you have an urgent question for me, feel free to email me too. Nicolls80@gmail.com :elephant:

Also, while I'm on a roll here, lol.....Some people swear by the ice cube method after baking their clay. It scares me, lol...so I haven't tried it yet. But I know many Artists have & swear by it. You simply plunge your sculpt right from your oven into a bowl of ice water. This stops the baking process immediately, lessening chances of cracking.

Happy Sculpting!!
Smiles....Lori
violet
Posts: 2874
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 12:38 pm
Location: Deerfield Michigan
Feedback: 21|0|0
Contact:

Re: living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by violet »

My living doll clay is cracking horribly! :( It leaves me in a spot where I will not sell the sculpt. I hold my breath with every baking part! I barely had this problem with it before and have used it a few years now -I keep thinking " has the formula changed? Seems this last batch of clay I bought leaves me with constant cracks.. As mush as I dread it I'm going to mix with cernit for the next doll. ( wish me luck)
I tried the ice water method after taking out of the oven but it didn't work- it Cracked! To me it seems like such a drastic change in temp will cause cracking, just like glass.. :dunno:
Image
User avatar
BeachBabiesKim
Posts: 91
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:39 pm
Feedback: 0|0|0
Contact:

Re: living doll clay keeps cracking

Post by BeachBabiesKim »

NewbornNestLori wrote: Sun May 01, 2016 12:08 am This is the biggest reason that us Sculptors had to stop making the life-size Ooaks. :cry:
I absolutely loved loved using Super Sculpey or Living Doll for my sculpts, but the cracking became such a problem. When we all sculpted back in the day (2004-2008) polymer clay was super dreamy to work with. It was RARE for anything to crack. Then one day, things changed overnight. Sculptor after Sculptor was suffering with "Crack Babies" & it finally came out that the Clay companies had changed the plasticizers in making the clay. Our clay was NEVER again the same. It was a sad sad day in many Artists lives.

Now, one way to "help" the cracking issue, is to mix your clays.
Its a royal PITA, but get a cheap food processor from Walmart & mix your favorite clay with Cernit. Some Artists can use straight cernit, but the majority cannot, because it becomes sort of like sculpting with a piece of chewed up bubble gum, after a while, lol. So, I use approximately a 3:1 ratio. 3 Parts Living Doll, Premo or Super Sculpey, to 1 part Cernit.
Your going to mix small batches, otherwise you will burn out the motor on your food processor, ok? Chop it up into smallish squares, pulse it in the food processor & continue mixing until all of your clay is mixed. Its going to turn into teeny tiny balls (heh heh, I said BALLS, lol :lol: ) And with mixing, they are also going to be nice & warm! While they are warm, your going to take those little balls & start mooshing them together, making sure your not getting air pockets. Then run them thru your pasta machine on a thick setting, working your way down to a thin setting. After you condition your clay completely this way, simply take your newly conditioned, flat pieces of clay & store them in gallon size baggies.

It takes some work, BUT it will help eliminate a lot of your cracking issues.
The ratio above, can be altered to fit your sculpting needs, but you need cernit in your mix. And remember, that your clay MUST be conditioned well before use. If your running it thru your pasta machine & the edges are crumbly....? Its not conditioned. You'll know what I mean, when it happens. Keep on a' mixin!! I use plastic gloves when mixing in bulk. I buy a box of them from Sally's Beauty Supply, because its cheaper this way. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me! I don't check Doll-Fan daily, so if you have an urgent question for me, feel free to email me too. Nicolls80@gmail.com :elephant:

Also, while I'm on a roll here, lol.....Some people swear by the ice cube method after baking their clay. It scares me, lol...so I haven't tried it yet. But I know many Artists have & swear by it. You simply plunge your sculpt right from your oven into a bowl of ice water. This stops the baking process immediately, lessening chances of cracking.

Happy Sculpting!!
Smiles....Lori
That is super interesting about the change in recipe and cracking. This makes so much sense thougj. When I sculpted large dolls and sculpts in the 80s and 90s cracking was never an issue, but now... thanks for that info.
Image
Post Reply