Quote of the Day

The idea of me is better than the reality of me. - Verity

Monday, July 20, 2015

Project of the Month July 2015: Michonne from The Walking Dead (Complete)

Finally completed the paint job on Michonne and her two pet walkers. I still need to apply sealant but I'm marking them as complete and showing the pictures now because a.) applying sealant only takes a couple of minutes or so, and b. ) I'm going to use a sealant that will give it a glossy finish, which has a tendency to make the figures look unflattering on my cheap smartphone camera:


Is Nail Polish Usable as a Sealant?

When I was just starting out with making home-made cold porcelaine figurines, I searched for information on ideal sealants (because the figures themselves will be prone to weather damage if you don't use one) on the Internet. I eventually settled on these three, but the first one I tried was nail polish.

The truth is if you're just using them for practice or you don't expect to keep the figurines around for a long time, nail polish will do. They give a glossy finish and will protect the clay and its paint from moisture damage. They're also cheaper than the other sealants and it's easy to find places where they can be bought (in fact, most homes already have one at the ready.)

However, if you really want your work to be durable (something you want if you're planning to give the figures away or sell them,) avoid nail polish.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Cold Porcelain Sculpture

back view
My sister loves Mickey Mouse so I thought of making a Mickey and Minnie Mouse set using cold porcelain for her (picture to follow). I had no problem making the first version because yeah, it's pretty simple and doesn't have much detail. All I had to do was to make two balls for the head, two oval-shaped cold porcelain for the body, two sets of thin rounded sticks for the arms and legs and two sets of small oval clay for the hands and feet - and additional smaller rounded sticks for the tail. Note that it is important to think of Mickey and Minnie's pose so that you'll be able to assemble them accordingly.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Sculpting a Tiny Baby

I've been wanting to make one of those tiny cute babies and excitedly, I started my first baby the other day. Basically, the first thing I do before creating something is research [which actually takes a long time]. I visit numerous websites, and You Tube tutorials to look at different images and techniques for inspiration.

Morezmore is just one of the websites I visited before starting my baby. Though the materials used were different - polymer clay, wire for armature, 'real' clay tools (because I only use my toddler's plastic knife for sculpting), the tutorial pretty much gave me the idea on how to do the basics.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Sealants: Which One to Use?

If you're going to create things out of cold porcelain, you have to be aware that even when fully dry, they're still not resistant to damage. They can be easily scratched and water will melt them (bear in mind that most of the ingredients used in cold porcelain are water soluble). If you want them to last, you have to use a sealant.

There are many sealants that you can use, but there are three easily accessible (they can be bought in any hardware store) products you can use, namely waterproof primer, polyurethane floor varnish, and clear gloss varnish.

All three do a good job when it comes to protecting your work from weather damage (and scratches, to some degree), but they differ in a few things, and you may want to read on if you want to know which ones will work best for your project:

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Project of the Month July 2015: The Walking Dead's Michonne and Her Bodyguards *UPDATE*

85% finished. Just need to finish painting the walkers' clothes, Michonne's katana, shoes, and headband. I also need to polish the paint a little bit as it looks splotchy and uneven in some places.


This will most likely be finished by the next update, so I need to think of the next project. I'm thinking it's either something from One Piece (because One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3 comes out for Steam next month) or Dragon Ball Z, because Dragon Ball Super just launched and it's all sorts of awesome in ways that make GT look extremely awful by comparison (I mean, even more so than usual.)

Cold Porcelain and Polymer Clay: What is the Difference?

The thing about cold porcelain and polymer clay is that it is not an "either/or" case. They have specific pros and cons and choosing which one to use will depend on your specific needs or situation.

As far as quality is concerned, take a look at Little Bane and Little Shawn Michaels below:


Can you guess which one was made with polymer clay and which one was made with cold porcelain? Exactly. After painting and sealing, you won't be able to tell the difference. They're also equally durable (my kid has thrown and dropped both figures numerous times and they're still intact.)

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Making Your Own Homemade No-Cook Cold Porcelain

Most of the mini-figs I create and feature on the site are made with cold porcelain. It is a great alternative to polymer clay because the ingredients are inexpensive, readily accessible, and require no baking/cooking. There are a number of trade-offs, but I'll get to that in a future article. For now, the affordability makes it worth trying out, especially if you're just starting out.

With that out of the way, if you want to try your hand at whipping up a batch of DIY cold porcelain, you can follow the step by step instructions below:

1. First, you need to gather the ingredients. As mentioned above, these are all inexpensive and readily accessible (in fact, there's a huge possibility that you already have them in your kitchen):

  • 130grams white glue, 2-3 cups corn starch, 
  • 5 tablespoon mineral oil/baby oil, 
  • 4 tablespoon lime, juice/white vinegar, 
  • cling film/zip lock bag
Once you've prepared the ingredients, you can start:

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