I worked on my sniper rifle all weekend and am currently really tired of looking at it. I think I need a break, just a short one. I’ll probably not do anything on it this week until Friday or so. It’s supposed to rain Thursday through Saturday so maybe that will drive me down to the basement for some more work. I’m almost done, too.

My new favorite props medium: PAPERCLAY:
paperclay.com

I like to use Aves Apoxie Paste (basically a kind of stiff liquid epoxy) as a coating over my large props. It comes in two parts like all epoxies, and goes on kind of goopy and viscous. After it dries, it’s a greyish color and feels like plastic. It’s very sandable and durable, and put over a base sculpture, won’t ever come off. The problem is that sometimes this stuff doesn’t work in places that aren’t flat and need to be set on their sides (like a curved sword guard or a bottle) because it runs as it dries so you’ll get drips.

Paperclay solves that.

It’s a paper-fiber based air-drying “clay” that can be shaped and sanded after drying. It sands VERY smooth. I used it over a plastic bottle as a test and it came out very smooth and durable. It also sticks really well. I’ve heard that it cracks if you put too much on, so I haven’t tried to make anything large out of it, just used it as a cover medium. The texture is a little bit wood like, so I think I’ll have to paint a coat of varnish over it to get it to look smooth.

The grey bottle-like thing on the left side of the plastic tubing is covered with Paperclay.