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Back in 2014 my kids wanted a race track. I dig a good slot car track as much as the next guy, but I really wanted to take it to the proverbial "next level." I found a race track at a local Hobby store, but the scenery included was just cheap cardboard. That sparked an idea and I figured that some styrofoam and Sculpt Nouveau metal coatings might be the best way to achieve a realistic desert landscape. Also, I took some artistic liberties with this Dukes of Hazard set and moved the Duke boys to southern California. So here's...

In this long overdue blog post, we introduce you to PlatSil Gel-25 and Deadener LV. The new Deadener LV is the more concentrated, low viscosity version of the popular Smith's Deadener. PlatSil Gel-25, Deadener LV, and PlatSil Part H were introduced as a complete silicone system that may be softened or hardened. This was a break through for silicones. This is the first system that allows one base material, PlatSil Gel-25, to be adjusted up or down the Shore A scale as needed for prosthetics, lifecasting, mold-making, or prop making. For the FX world, the immediate use for this system...

Cutting Edge tools are here! Robert Burns of Cutting Edge tools was kind enough to drop in and film some videos with us last week. In the coming weeks we will be posting several new sculpting videos featuring Robert and his Cutting Edge tools. These are well made tools designed for creating hyper-realistic sculpture. Of particular interest to many of you will be the Steve Wang tool set and the Wrinkle tool. In this video Robert explains the basic use of his tools as well as basic sculpting theory. You can find Cutting Edge Tools here in our tool section....

How long does Metal Coating last outside? We get this question a lot when shops and theme parks are considering Metal Coatings for exterior applications. The short answer is "a really long time." I recently had a chance to visit the San Diego Zoo with Sculpt Nouveau Metal Coating creator, Ron Young. Over twenty three years ago Ron was commissioned to apply an oxidized Bronze finish to part of the Pygmy Chimpanzee exhibit. In order to save on cost, Bronze B Metal Coating was chosen over "real" Bronze. Here's how they applied it: The original surface was clean, oil-free corrugated...

Casting With Water-Clear Resins This was a fun little project inspired by a Poly Optic resin piece I saw in an old Polytek mold manual. The description in the manual didn't really offer instructions, but from what I could gather, the hand print was made with PolyOptic 1411 and PlatSil 71-10 silicone. So the other night I set out to make my own version of this sculpture. To begin, I molded my hand with Accucast 590 palm down on a board. Since I really didn't need the back of the hand I just focused on getting a good palm print....