Making a base from Sculpey

[bishopsix]

I'm working on a custom diorama base for John Dennett's 'The Crow' and using sculpey for the first time. It's a cemetery scene where he is standing near two headstones. The stones are completed (balsa foam sealed in resin), but for the grass lawn base, I could use some advice. Any helpful tutorials on sculpting grass?

Also, he instructions mention bulking out with foil, but I'm not sure of the safest way to do this. If I want to have abase about 1 inch thick, and 8-9 inches wide, should I build up the sculpey around a foil core? It would save costs on the medium, but seems dangerous.

Thanks!

[Faust]

I'm not sure about sculpting grass, so I can't help there other than to suggest using something like static grass used in model railroads and other dioramas after the sculpted ground is complete.

As far as bulking out the sculpey with foil, that is completely safe. I've done it many times and I think most people that sculpt larger pieces in sculpey do it as well. When you bake it, the temperature in the oven is way lower than the melting point of the foil and you don't have to worry about air pockets in the sculpey like you would with some other clays. Also, a really thick chunk of sculpey is more difficult to cure completely throughout the piece - the center will remain soft while the outer part solidifies, which can cause it to crack later.

Just crumple up a bunch of foil really tight and sculpt the sculpey around it. I would keep the sculpey probably about 3/16 - 1/4in thick, that way it is pretty strong and less likely to break.

[Gazozou]

I agree with Robert, plus once the sculpey is baked, it becomes very firm and it causes no trouble at all

[kevtk135]

You could always look at the hair tutorials and instead of having the hair come down the back of the head, it's going up from the ground.
Also unless you're doing a nice lawn, most out of control grass grows in tufts.

So if it were me I would start with a cone shaped lump of clay, and split the narrow end open, then comb the individual blades into the rest of the split open cone shape. Always remembering the height of the cone is the height of the grass. If you really want an "almost" lawn looking grass, make the cones small. HTH