New tools…

I’ve been spending this week.  Well, not much but a few new bits to add to my rather full and varied arsenal of tools.

First up – Apoxie Sculpt in Super-White:

I use Apoxie Sculpt, Apoxie Clay and FIX-IT (all made by Aves) for lots of projects in my studio; I sculpt with Apoxie Sculpt in neutral or silver, or Apoxie Clay and I repair any dings or bubbles in resins that I am going to issue with FIX-IT, and now Apoxie Sculpt in Super White.

The reason I bought the Super-White* is that, when preparing a “clean” cast of any of my models, when I fill those inevitable little bubbles and seams, I always feel I’m offering a less-than-perfect casting and feel a little pang of guilt.  Even though the finished article is the same, if not better than a cast without any issues, I’m just not happy about posting out a model with a little circle showing up in a different colour to the resin!  So, the super-white should save this by allowing me to almost-invisibly make these final fixes!

The next item I feel I MUST tell you about is this – now, I’m sure you’re all pretty familiar with these:

Apart from Bruno the dog and the random wood pieces, those are Royal Sovereign Clay Shapers (I can’t find the website for the manufacturer so have added a UK sales site link, but search on Google and you’ll find them easily enough).  As you can see in the photo, whilst Adam was doing some work on the house, I asked him to cut the handles down for me (that sounds very old-fashioned – I would happily have cut them down myself, being a modern-day-capable woman, but he had the circular saw going and I’m just not going near that thing!!).  I find them much easier to use shortened down like this as I can get them into small areas, and tend to poke myself in the eyes less while using them!

Well my point here is NOT the tools above, it’s these ones:

eBay Link to Kid’s Colour Shapers

Made by the same company and at less than a quarter of the price for the equivalent “grown up” set, these arrived this morning and they’re perfect!  I get through these tools and find I need to keep buying them, so this is a pretty monumental find for me!

These are the grey “Colour Shapers” - as far as I can tell the Kid’s tools only come in the grey “firm” grade and sizes 6 and 10 (the most commonly used, I find), but their short handles (with rounded tips in case of people like me hell bent on poking their eyes out with sculpting tools!) and colour coded-handles are absolutely great for quick tool-finding. I can thoroughly recommend these tools for any sculptor and the price can’t be argued in my opinion!