U.K. Sculpting Supplies Guide

[mykybaby]

This post will contain information on where U.K. sculptors can get scultping equipment locally or, where necessary, abroad - with a rough guide to the costs involved where relevant.

Prices shown are for ONE item only and include VAT, standard delivery postage and any import fees where applicable. (e.g. one 2lb block of chavant will cost £n after VAT and shipping when bought through [supplier]).

The intention of this list is to help U.K. sculptors find the things they are looking for easily and at the most reasonable prices. This list should not be used to drive your decision of one tool or material over another (i.e. while Chavant NSP, for example, is generally cheaper than sculpey, it does not neccessarily mean it is the medium for you and your needs - do yourself a favour with some experimentation and research ).

If you have a better outlet, price or anything else to contribute to the list please pm me with whatever information you can, or if you have a particular thing you can't find in the U.K., let me know and i'll add a 'looking for' section to the end.


THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS

Armature Construction

Wire
http://www.wires.co.uk/ - for aluminium wire of various sizes -prices vary

Stand

Epoxy
Aves apoxie 1lb natural - from here from £17.60 delivered

Other
http://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/aca ... quare.html - Square brass tubing.


Clays

Sculpey
SS pink - Craftmill (also known as ebay seller 'dougarts') - £10.11
SS pink - Amazon.co.uk - from £13.95
SS pink - delivered by Tiranti - £14
SS pink - in store at Hobbycraft - £14.95

SS Firm - Craftmill (also known as ebayer 'dougarts') - £12.94
SS Firm - in store at Hobbycraft - £14.95
SS Firm - George Weil - £15.65 - * recommended

NSP Chavant
1 2lb (906g) block of medium NSP clay £10.56 with VAT & standard delivery at dauphines

Other
Adam Beane Cx5 - when its ready
Assorted alternative clays here- prices vary

Waxes

Ready to use
TMS wax - Email ralph directly using toxicmama@aol.com. I was recently quoted $26 for 2lb of TMS with $14.95 shipping. This works out to roughly £24 (though there may be extra VAT to add at our end, i've not had chance to place my order yet so will update later)
Gary Overman Zen/Fuse/etc - coming soon

Homemade wax materials
Microcrystalline wax pellets - £9.60 per 500g delivered through ebay user the_iron_dwarf - postage costs combined for larger quantities, speedy delivery
Microcrystalline wax pellets - £8.34 per 500g delivered by Tiranti
Paraffin wax 1kg - £16.97 from Amazon - here
Paraffin wax 1kg (2x500g) - £13.13 delivered by Tiranti
Beeswax - £Comingsoon? - from hswalsh
Carnuaba Wax - £Comingsoon?- from hswalsh
Injection Wax - £Comingsoon?- from hswalsh

Hand Tools

Bought tools

Carving -
I use this set from maplin, which is pretty good for £8.29 (in-store, not delivered)
Similar sets of wax carving tools are available from ebay, for something nearer the range of £5-6 delivered.
Tiranti have a range of wax carvers and dental tools, prices with VAT are appoximately £6 per tool - shipping costs by weight are listed here.

Shaping -
clay shapers starting at £3.42 up to £10 (depending on the size and shape) can be bought here.
clay shapers can also be bought from Hobbycraft, starting at £5-6 and rising.

Loops -
loop tools of varying size and shape can be bought from Tiranti starting at £3.58 (incl VAT) for a smaller tool and going up to £4.70 for larger tools. The Tiranti website seems to have problem calculating the shipping costs so orders may need to be completed by telephone - though a list of shipping costs by weight is available here.

Rakes -
Any ideas on rakes? I don't actually own any and i'm not sure if you can even get them for small 1/7th 1/8th scale stuff?

Homemade Tool supplies

Piano wire - various guage's and priced from £1-£2.50 each at Eileen's Emporium. I bought six 2~ meter wires of different gauges for £10 delivered.

Other Tools

Wax Pens
Giles Precision Waxer 220volt (industrial or standard version) will cost ~£85 ($135) when quoting offer 'CLUBHOUSE'. Email giles.studio.inc@gmail.com to order. Expect to pay somewhere between £28-50 for US duty and shipping depending on the location, and an extra £33 VAT and handling once it reaches our side of the pond. Total ~£151-£168. There is at least one other offer code for this item out there, perhaps you should buy the excellent Pop Sculpture book to find out more

Casting

RTV silicone
TOMPS. Mainly moulding & casting
http://www.tomps.com/shop/advanced_sear ... 18&x=0&y=0
Mouldlife. Silicon and resins and acilliaries.
http://www.mouldlife.co.uk/?gclid=CO715 ... lAodAFM_Ow
CFS. Resins, silicon.
http://www.cfsnet.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Pressure pots

Compressors

General Suppliers - unsorted

This is a list of suppliers sent to me by sharry (thanks sharry!!!) - I havn't had chance to go through them to compare prices on specific products yet, but will do so eventually.

Bentleys Chemicals for everything from clays to silicon and resins.
http://www.bentleychemicals.co.uk/

Jacobsons. Similar supplier to above.
http://www.jacobsonchemicals.co.uk/

Darent Wax. Wax and other sculpting supplies.
http://www.darentwax.com/products/arts- ... le-casting

Potclays LTD. Pottery stuff, materials, tools etc.
http://www.potclays.co.uk/

Maragon. All sorts of stuff
http://www.maragon.co.uk/resin.html#Init

Sells all sorts again from model making to sculpting.
http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/materials-tools.html

Great art. Has sculpting section.
http://www.greatart.co.uk/modelling-tools.html

Tools
http://www.homecrafts.co.uk/_Modelling-Tools

All sorts again
http://shop.propbuilder.co.uk/index.asp



Contributers - Many thanks to sharry, sinky, thething, manueld12, jonestation, jason hunt and of course jedideni for providing the stickyness

[thething]

Great Idea/thread.....You have mail

[gort]

i second that its a great idea

[jason hunt]

Great idea ,Tiranti is good ,based in Wales ,i bought some of their sculpting tools though expensive at £6.00 they are of superior quality.
They also sell chavant and what not.
Also Renees art shops stock sculpy.

[manueld12]

ebay is cheaper for things like wax carving tools.

[sharry]

Sent you a PM too.

[sharry]

Don't know if I sent you this one, good for things like Aves.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/jhttaxidermysupplies

[razorwyre1]

hey if you find a rakes supplier ANYWHERE, let us know.

[mykybaby]

I recently made my own rake by heating and beding a coping saw blade and filing it down a bit, then sticking it into a wooden dowel handle - works a treat for me. Coping saw blades are a couple of quid from B&Q. I'll do a little hunting for some pre-made rakes tonight and send you a pm if i update the list.

[tysiony]

Really useful-thanks, It's been a while since i've ordered some stuff and found most places I had bookmarked have gone bust

[sharry]

Yeah, I have to make my own rakes as well. The only ones I've ever seen in the UK are the larger ones that tend to be used for wet clay sculpting. Have a look for tools used in cake decoration making, sometimes they have rake type tools that might do for some cases.

This is a sister site for Darent wax, they do tools and other things that might be useful at some point.

http://www.styling-clay.co.uk/accessori ... ting-tapes

[r_crafer]

Great idea for a thread!

Flints theatrical supplies are good for bits and bobs esp armature wire.

www.flints.co.uk

Robb

[sharry]

Just found this with a list of suppliers worldwide for stuff that might be useful. Quite a few are UK based
http://barchester.webs.com/suppliersindex.htm

[sharry]

Another supplier with loads of craft stuff

http://www.squirestools.com/

[sharry]

Just found these as well, small selection of stuff that might be useful

http://www.terrascenic-online.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

[techno-shaman]

Epoxy putties and other good stuff >http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Online ... es_15.html

Also use these people for bits and bob's when I'm finishing a Kit >http://www.modelshop.co.uk/

Pressure pot for resin Here > http://www.airlesspro.co.uk/paint-press ... s-55-c.asp at the bottom. very good service with spares

also A good online scale calculator >http://www.printmini.com/calc.shtml

Castilene >>> http://www.mp-artware.de/shop/en/Modeli ... -soft.html haven't bought from here though

[techno-shaman]

I also have the current price list (from May) for Bentley Chemicals (Smooth On)
http://www.bentleychemicals.co.uk if anyone wants it PM me with an email and I'll send it to ya

[kenkaj]

I have just joined the forum and found this wonderfull thread.
I can recomend George Weil for Super Sculpey Firm. I have been burned a couple of times from other suppliers ( the sculpey being unusably rock hard ) but never had a problem with these guys.
Link : http://www.georgeweil.com/ProductDetail ... &PID=10343

[jason hunt]

I have just joined the forum and found this wonderfull thread.
I can recomend George Weil for Super Sculpey Firm. I have been burned a couple of times from other suppliers ( the sculpey being unusably rock hard ) but never had a problem with these guys.
Link : http://www.georgeweil.com/ProductDetail ... &PID=10343

I thought sculpey firm was supposed to be like that , as it is designed for carving isn't it?

[kenkaj]

I have just joined the forum and found this wonderfull thread.
I can recomend George Weil for Super Sculpey Firm. I have been burned a couple of times from other suppliers ( the sculpey being unusably rock hard ) but never had a problem with these guys.
Link : http://www.georgeweil.com/ProductDetail ... &PID=10343

I thought sculpey firm was supposed to be like that , as it is designed for carving isn't it?

Jason,
Sculpey firm should just be a firmer version of Super Sculpey. The only way i can describe it is that it has less bounce when tooling than normal Sculpey.
If you have blocks that are rock hard and described as for carving only , you have probably been sold older clay that has had all of the plasticiser evaporated because it has been stored somwhere too hot.
Hope this helps.