Work Surface for Green Stuff

[Dan Goodchild]

As part of my 12 Days of Reaper purchases I finally took the plunge and got a pack of green stuff to try.

I've done some reading and I know to keep my tools wet, start small and/or simple etc. but there is something on which I'd like some guidance from those who use it regularly. What's your favourite work surface for GS sculpting and why?

[Inarah]

I use a small piece of plastic card. (The plastic inserts that used to come in warlord blisters between the figure and the stat card) You could use blister pack plastic, too, but it is often warped or crushed and not flat. Some sculptors use plastic from a milk jug.

 

Dried green stuff will just peel off, or can be easily pried off.

[Darsc Zacal]

A green cutting mat is what I use. I find it resistant to the greenstuff sticking to it.

[SamuraiJack]

I plan on using some plastic 'disposable' cutting boards.. you can usually get them in a 3 pack for $5 or less and the exacto wont cut through them easily

[TaleSpinner]

I use a maple cutting board, sanded smooth (400 grit) and finished by rubbing petroleum jelly into the wood. Works great. The best part is that when it gets too beat up with cut marks and the like, I can just take it to my shop, sand it smooth again, and apply more petroleum jelly.

 

Andy

[zemjw]

I use a piece of glass from a photo frame, 6" x 4". I taped the edges to avoid green stuff becoming red stuff and covered half of it with cling film.

 

The bulk of the putty sits on the cling film, and I have a flat surface on the glass to work with the piece I need. I also have a sheet of white A3 paper underneath everything, as it makes it much easier to find bits of green stuff that try to escape

[Pragma]

I use a piece of plastic card about the size of a credit card.

[MonkeySloth]

I use some glass I got at Hobby Lobby for like $2 that has no sharp edges. I use glass because thats what I learned from my Gencon Greenstuff class and the stuff really doesn't permanently stick to glass.

[Dan Goodchild]

Ok, so it seems the most desireable feature in a work surface is that it be nonporous.

Inarah and Pragma, why such small surfaces? Isn't it difficult to keep it from moving around while you're working?

[Pragma]

I've never had a problem with the surface moving around. But most often I sculpt sitting on the couch, so I just hold the piece of card with my off hand. Take my advice with the caveat that I am totally new to this, so I have only done a little bit of sculpting and I have never tried using a bigger surface.

[Goblyn]

My hand

[Corporea]

self healing rotary mat ($20 michaels/hobby lobby), or my laminated desk, whichever is closest at the time. It leaves a film on the desk, but the desk is 13 yrs old, so... The glass idea sounds good- I must try it.

[Inarah]

Dan, the plastic just happened to be at hand when I needed something, and since I usually only sculpt small bits for repairs or conversions it was a convenient size.

[evhorne969]

I use Bristol board as my regular work surface. It's fairly inexpensive, it protects my desk, and its bright white so the tiniest bit shows up nicely on it. When the Bristol gets dirty and cut up I rotate it and use the other half of it, then flip it over and repeat until the whole thing is trashed. Throw it away. Get a new sheet. Rinse. Repeat.

 

For rolling out thin sheets of putty, my FAVORITE material of all time has to be the plastic sheets that medical electrodes come on. It has some sort of coating that putty is actively repelled by! But those are difficult to procure sometimes, so I also use sheets of milkjug plastic, acrylic stamp making blocks from Michaels, and wooden blocks that I've covered in putty and wet sanded super smooth with 600 grit sandpaper. Putty won't stick to any of them with a very light coating of Vaseline. The wooden blocks are also nice to use when you want to cure your putty in a puttyoven. Plastics tend to go all melty on you when you apply heat to them... Stupid plastics! ಠ_ಠ

 

Gene

[TheAuldGrump]

I use a plastic 'For Sale' sign that I picked up for $0.50 at a hardware store.

 

I use the back - plain white plastic.

 

The Auld Grump