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Post by sgtslag on Mar 5, 2016 4:33:38 GMT
Sculpey needs to be prepared, by kneading it repeatedly. This conditioning makes it more malleable and allows it to be worked properly. Some folks run it through a pasta machine, a few times, to condition it. Once conditioned, it can be modeled into proper shapes. Once properly shaped/sculpted, it must be baked properly, to cure it. Polyforma clays will NOT cure by air drying, nor with time. Only heat, properly applied, will fully cure them. They are a type of plastic material. Follow instructions on the Sculpey web site, for proper curing. Avoid making sculpts more than 1/2" thick, as they will require longer baking times to fully cure, and this poses a risk of burning the clay on the outside. Do NOT put Polyforma clays into a microwave to cure! It doesn't work that way... Bake only at the specified temperatures, or it will burn. There are differences between the different types of Polyforma clays. Regular Sculpey is somewhat brittle. Super Sculpey is more flexible, and forgiving -- and more expensive. Polyforma clay will not adhere to cured clay... To 'glue' two pieces together, use Liquid Sculpey -- baking to set the 'glue'. Or, use two-part epoxy to bond two pieces of cured Sculpey. It tends to absorb acrylic paint very well. No primer is needed, but it might help -- try Gesso. Cheers!
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Post by margaret on Mar 5, 2016 5:04:43 GMT
Don't refrigerate it. You don't even really have to wrap it in plastic as long as you have it covered somehow - it should be stored in the dark, that is, in a box or a non-transparent container. I always wrap mine in plastic wrap or put it in a zip-closure bag first though. I don't want it getting on anything accidently. It doesn't really air-dry, that's the whole point of it - that it can be sculpted and re-sculpted until you heat it. If you leave it sitting out, the surface will probably dry some, but you won't have a hardened item. Polymer clays can really stick to your work surface, so you should put foil over your usual surface if you don't have some kind of mat reserved for polymer clay work. I have 2 of those super-thin "cutting board" plastic sheets that I use for working with Sculpey. I get a package of 2 at the Dollar Store. They are about 13 3/4 inches by 11 inches. When they get really badly hacked up [even a blunt dinner knife can scratch them], they are easily and cheaply replaced. But they can last a long time if you don't try using them as a base for cutting cardboard with a craft knife. Do NOT do that, unless you want an Xacto knife gouge in your tabletop. A lot of the polymer clay websites are focused on jewelry, which means a lot of their tips aren't directly relevant to what you will probably be doing. And some are focused on sculpting with the other types of Sculpey. Some useful websites: www.bfranklincrafts.com/TipsTechniques/TipsTechniquesSculpey.htmlwww.crafts-for-all-seasons.com/working-with-polymer-clay.htmlwww.earthguild.com/products/riff/rpolymer.htm
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Post by margaret on Mar 5, 2016 5:22:23 GMT
Here's a website with some info on making making sculpting tools yourself from wire and polymer clay: www.elvenwork.com/tips.htmlIt also has a basic info on finishing techniques And another with a LOT of info on making wire-and-foil armatures hubpages.com/art/armatures
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Post by jennifer on Mar 5, 2016 10:11:59 GMT
Thanks Margaret for giving such a detailed pair of replies -- very nice of you. You gave me a lot to get started.
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Matt
Tool Gatherer
Posts: 76
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Post by Matt on Mar 14, 2016 1:36:30 GMT
It's a polymer that goes through some sort of reaction when exposed to heat, so it's not just drying out. It can be a bit stinky during the backing process. I know some people boil their stuff, but that works better with beads or stones or any other shape that won't be easily deformed by the movement of boiling water.
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Post by jennifer on Dec 5, 2016 13:01:46 GMT
Made a half way decent replica of the 1976 white box -- from my other thread in Dragon's Den. dmscraft.proboards.com/thread/4188/original-white-box-replica-diyMy next one I make will have dark brown (with green tint) instead of black print on the top & side of box, as well as the booklet covers. Also Gygax & Arenson on the side will be red like the top of the box, not the black it currently is. And lighter green "DUNGEONS & DRAGONS" text on the Monsters & Treasure booklet. I looked for -- at both Michael's & Joanne's -- and couldn't find a good textured cardstock with the crinkles (simulated leather) on it; would like to have some cardstock like this if anyone knows of any. But overall, I am happy with it -- closer to the original than the recent carved wood box set that's being sold for like $250-350. Total cost was under $5.
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Post by l7arkness on Dec 5, 2016 15:38:51 GMT
dont forget your basement mold and water stains
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Post by jennifer on Dec 5, 2016 15:59:09 GMT
dont forget your basement mold and water stains Giggle. No thanks! Just finished the bottom box -- covered with white. Need the reference sheets then I'm done:
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Post by margaret on Dec 5, 2016 17:42:54 GMT
Under $5 - and a lifetime of practice on pasting neatly and cleanly, not to mention the skills to get all the font and images sized correctly, placed correctly, and colored correctly! Looks really, really good!
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Post by jennifer on Dec 5, 2016 20:47:01 GMT
Under $5 - and a lifetime of practice on pasting neatly and cleanly, not to mention the skills to get all the font and images sized correctly, placed correctly, and colored correctly! Looks really, really good! I have to be honest, most of the text are from scanned images of the actual box, that I found on Google image. Save for a couple. It's close enough anyways. Thanks for the complement. Do you have a white box or brown box D&D?
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Post by l7arkness on Dec 5, 2016 22:10:11 GMT
Would you mind sharing your resources jennifer i believe this would make a nice gift for a friend of mind
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Post by margaret on Dec 5, 2016 22:32:03 GMT
Under $5 - and a lifetime of practice on pasting neatly and cleanly, not to mention the skills to get all the font and images sized correctly, placed correctly, and colored correctly! Looks really, really good! I have to be honest, most of the text are from scanned images of the actual box, that I found on Google image. Save for a couple. It's close enough anyways. Thanks for the complement. Do you have a white box or brown box D&D?
Neither. I started with AD&D 1e. Although I also acquired some of the early adventure modules for Basic D&D. I do have pdfs of the original 3 booklets, but not the printed versions.
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Post by jennifer on Dec 6, 2016 15:03:07 GMT
Picked up a couple sets of polyhedral dice on ebay on the cheap. About $2 per set, including shipping, from China. Took a few weeks to arrive. Ebay link: www.ebay.com/itm/141853407752A photo I snapped of the two sets I purchased; I think they look quite gorgeous. The edges are more rounded than the set that came with the DND 5e starter set, as well as Chessex; I don't know how this affects the randomness. The paint fill job is much better on these than typical Chessex -- actually been quite unhappy with all the bogus dice Chessex is putting out.. i.e. the painted numbers. These are all perfect on all sides -- both sets. Anyways, my nephew is going to love the purple set -- I got them with him in mind. (His favorite color is purple.) I think these $2 sets are cool because you can get like four sets for the price of one Chessex. Lots spells and attacks use more than one of each die at a time, and it'd be nice to have like four sets. e.g. Fire Bolt & Eldritch Blast cantrips (4d10). Or have a bunch of Bardic Inspiration dice of hte same color -- the die type changes as you level. Seems like there is many reasons to have at least 4 sets of the same polyhedral dice when playing 5E
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Post by DnDPaladin on Dec 6, 2016 15:48:39 GMT
chessex is known for loaded dices, more then any other companies. mainly because of the rounded edges which often unbalance dices. making them odd shaped. best way to see that difference is to stack the same dices together and see how whacky the stacks difference in height is.
if you want truly balanced Dices, you need to have Precision dices. which are dices that were not edge rounded. but those cost like twice the normal prices.
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Post by sgtslag on Dec 6, 2016 16:31:53 GMT
The legend of Lou Zocchi lives on! DnDPaladin is correct: any die with rounded edges is not truly random. Take a look at d6's at a casino: all of the edges are sharp, and precise -- for very good reasons! If there is any roundness, or chips, in the edges, the die is not truly random, nor balanced. They used to sell their seconds, back in the 80's, don't know if they still do, though. Honestly, to scientifically test a single die, to see if it is weighted, requires a minimum of 10,000 rolls!... I checked into it until I found out how many times I would need to roll my dice, to know for certain if they were random, or not. It was like driving a bus, at full speed, into a bridge -- the bridge did not move. If you want the best dice, buy Gamescience, and pay dearly, for a great product. If you just want to have fun gaming, buy a Chessex, Pound-O-Dice, and have at it. That's what I did. I play 2e BattleSystem, which requires one die per figure attacking, for rolling To Hit, in combat. I need 10+ of: d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12. I'd have to get a 2nd mortgage on the house to buy the dice I needed from Gamescience! Cheers!
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Post by jennifer on Dec 6, 2016 17:41:52 GMT
With corners and edges that sharp, wouldn't they chip more easily? And if that happens, it seems as though they would be even less random than the ones I bought for $2 per set above.
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Post by margaret on Dec 6, 2016 18:28:05 GMT
Knife-edged plastic dice can survive a lot of rolling if you are careful what you roll them on. Of course, my knife-edge dice are from 30+ years ago and the quality of what's available now may be different. Had to ink the numbers yourself back then.
Since there's no betting with real money on the games I play, a little variation in precision isn't a killer. However, some of the plastic dice sold these days can be very unbalanced. I think the multi-colored ones are more likely to be so, due to the mixing of the colors. You can spin each die in a cup of water to see if it repeatedly surfaces with the same number. That should identify any seriously unbalanced ones.
Those sure are pretty dice, though.
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Post by scififan27 on Dec 6, 2016 18:34:25 GMT
My honest opinion on fairness of dice rolls is that it's rarely imbalance in the dice that is the issue in gaming. Sly players may practice rolling dice to get a given result, some even get quite good at it. Forcing them to throw dice over a certain distance, or for a minimum number of bounces is more effective at getting fair rolls than playing with knife-edged dice.
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Post by sgtslag on Dec 6, 2016 21:12:45 GMT
Casinos have padded tables for rolling their dice in. They also retire any die that gets chipped, immediately. Casinos also require dice to be thrown a minimum distance, to prevent the caster from manipulating the results. One fellow, on YouTube, talked about using dice towers to force dice to 'stop', as he puts it, which prevents them from rolling to a favored number. Didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I like dice towers, and I prefer to use them. So maybe that will ensure genuinely random rolls?... I found a discussion about the chi-square test. I looked it up, and it only requires 100 rolls, per die, not 10,000. My bad. Still, that is a lot of rolls to make, per individual die! Not worth my time, when I have a dice tower. Cheers!
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Post by Meph on Dec 6, 2016 21:45:39 GMT
Your OCD is beginning to get out of control Jen!
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