Have a read and find out how best to make Apoxie Sculpt work for you.
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As mixed media continues to pervade the craft arena, we see more and more products borrowed from other disciplines and industries. Such is the case withApoxie Sculpt, and 2-part epoxy clay that, when mixed in equal amounts, cures into a rock-solid foundation for sculpting, joining, and texturizing.
Here’s how it’s described on the website:
Apoxie® Sculpt offers economy as well as performance. This 2-part product has a putty-like, smooth consistency, and is easy to mix & use. It is safe and waterproof with 0% shrinkage/cracking! Working time is 2-3 hrs. Cures hard in 24 hrs., and has a semi-gloss finish. Adheres to plastic, resin kits, wood, metal, ceramic, glass, polymers, foam, fiberglass, & more! Can be seamlessly feathered before set-up, or sanded, tapped, drilled, carved, lathed, or otherwise tooled after set-up, without chipping, cracking or flaking! Save time & money on finishing jobs by using Apoxie® Sculpt colors. Simple water clean-up or use Aves® Safety Solvent. Endless uses for artists, crafters, restorers, modelers, students, and more! Great for creating 3-D graphics and outdoor projects! Available in 12 colors.
Now, I just got plain, old
white Apoxie Sculpt and to try it out, I “gloved up” and mixed some up.
It has a putty consistancy with no odor.
Use equal parts. I used a mini-scoop.
Mixing the putty-like epoxy clay was relatively easy, but I notice that it was pretty sticky and wanted to stick to my disposable gloves. I decided to try the
Apoxie Sculptin a silicone mold made from Amazing Molding Putty. It was a little challenging trying to get it to stay in the mold and not pull out by sticking to my gloves!
Now, while that was setting up, I pressed some of the
Apoxie Sculpt into a bezel and started setting in some vintage chantons:
The chantons set easily into the putty and stayed put!
I tried to mold some beads, but got really frustrated with how sticky the
Apoxie Sculpt. So I dug around on the site and found this timeline for working with the material:
Working Time Line Guide:
- 1/2 hour: Sticky & most adhesive
- 1 to 2 hours: Easy to work with
- 2 to 3 hours: Setting up, form-able detail
- 24 hours: Hard, cured & waterproof
OH! So that means that I should mix it up and let it “rest” awhile before trying to make beads or stamp into it!
Now, in the meanwhile, I had some clay on my table when I was working with my fish pond pump and a piece broke off. The threads that keep pushing the water through in one direction snapped off. So I used some of that
Apoxie Sculpt to seal the parts together!
HA! I feel pretty McGyver after that! ; )
Here is a photo of my cured jewelry piece. I used my fingers to try and work the stones loose, but they stayed put:
My son used some Apoxie Sculpt epoxy clay to make personalized game pieces for our “Earth-opoly” set:
The finished pieces are solid, but not super-heavy.
And, while I was going to take the piece of clay and stamp into it after an hour or so, my life interrupted…and when I got back to it, it was too hard to stamp into. So there you have it- the problem with a slow set-up time!
Here’s my cured molded pieces and bead that I made.
Now, I took one of those cast pieces and sprayed it with a water-based
spray ink. Surprisingly, the
Apoxie is just porous enough that the spray sunk in and stained the mold beautifully! Here it is in the finished piece.
This piece is part of my Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist review- coming soon!
Now, since I was so pleased with the
spray ink, I thought maybe I’d try painting one of the molded pieces with some acrylic paints.
First, I drilled it with my
Dremel. Very easy!
The paint adhered very well- no chance of it peeling off!
I also decided to try sanding the bead. The instructions recommend wearing a
facemask, because the dust is very fine particulate- it reminded me somewhat of chalk.
It was very easy to sand.
Here’s how it looked after I drilled the hold, painted it with Precious Metals Paint, and wired it up with some lovely
crystal beads. Next to it is the final leaf mold, too.
So, let’s get down to the nitty gritty here. It’s really an amazing product, and for mixed-media artists, it’s a win. You can mold and sculpt it, use it to create structures, and then you can sand, paint, and drill it. All good stuff. But it’s kinda pricey at around $25.00 USD (with shipping) for a 1 pound set. That will go a long way, but you might want to try the 1/4 pound size to try it before you commit to the bigger spend.
I’m glad I got to try it out- and there will be a “round two” as there is a
book to review that features Apoxie Sculpt. But in the meanwhile, feel free to leave a comment and ask any questions you might have- I’ll try to answer them the best I can!
