Hi all,
thanks to all who replied on supplier for sculptors down under.

One question;
does anyone in Aus or NZ use colour shapers for their sculpting?

Have heard they are the bees knees for achieving smooth effects.

do they live up to the hype?

What do you use for final sculpting?

Cheers

Jamie

Hey Jamie,

Forgive my ignorance, but what are "colour shapers"?

Rudi

Excellent question Rudi,
colour shapers are an artists tool, basically a silicon rod, shaped to have different end shapes on it. mounted to a wooden handle
Because it isn't a steel tool, it allows for finer control or smoothing near the end of project...or so I have been told.
Originally designed as a alternative for painting knives.....
link here

have included a link to them also.

just asking around before I lay some dollars down......returning to the hobby bench (hooray!)



and any tool that might avoid finger marks, allow for smoothing earlier, well, all for it!

Does that help answer the question?

I have no experience with the colour shapers. I bought this set:-
http://www.armsmodelit.com.au/ProductInfo.asp?intTemp=596

They are listed as wax carvers on the packet but i use them for Magic sculpt. For $40 i thought they were a bargain. They are stainless steel and so easy to keep clean. With a little water they won't stick to the magic sculpt.

Thanks Tony,
I'll be getting a set for an early Christmas present for myself......

where in Tassie are you?

I was in Burnie til about 5 months ago.

Cheers

Jamie

I'm up in the North east, near Derby. Lovely area.

Hope you find that set as useful as I do. What are you sculpting?.

Thanks for the info, Jamie. That looks interesting

Hi Guys,
thanks for checking in; wish I had been a member of kitmaker while still in Tas, would have made the time to catch up; next time I travel

Two different projects; the first is a wedding gift for my brother and his fiance; basically, sculpts of him and her riding a motorbike, with a side car attached, her son and his dog riding in the side car.

the second is a for a lovely lady I know, hails from Osaka; going to be a sculpt of her in Yukata, walking her dog, set in spring time. (Yukata is a type of informal kimono)

catch ya later

Cheers

Jamie,

If you are still looking for the colour shapers I've found a place you can get them from. I've just ordered myself a set of the size 0 extra firm. Very reasonable at $8.75 each. The place is Ashop and their freecall number is 1800 444 419. They are in Victoria.

Tony,
bless your little cotton socks, and you in 'em!!

Yep, still looking, as the local authorized agent gave me funny looks.....

Muchly appreciated!

Cheers

Jamie

Jamie, did you get yours yet?.

I must admit to finding them less useful than anticipated. And I think depending on materials you are sculpting they may be less useful. I'm currently working with Super sculpie and they tend to drag it really easily unless you are incredibly gentle with them. However that set of Metal tools I linked to in a previous post are absolutely wonderful with the sculpie and never seem to pick up material (in a negative way). Now when I was trying to use the metal tools with magic sculpt I found they really wanted to drag unless I had a bit of moisture on them. I can't imagine how much the Clay shapers would drag in Magic sculpt.
The second thing i would mention about them is their stiffness. I went for the Extra firm ones and they are VERY flexible (similar to a stiff brush). I can't imagine how soft the other 2 grades are.
Thirdly and finally they are a LOT larger than I was expecting. I went for a set of size 0 and the smallest tip types are about the same size as a size 4 (maybe 3) brush.

I will say the one which i do love is the Angle Chisel tip. If you are gentle with it it will smooth pretty well. It has a really fine tip on it which is wonderful for doing eyes.

Hi Tony,
thanks for the heads up, haven't ordered mine yet.

my metal tools seem to be rather fine; I did have to spend several hours sanding, polishing and finishing with Brasso to get a smooth finish to the working ends.

Might only get the one that seems to work for you.

The Angle chisel tip sounds a hand tool though.....size seems an issue but.

Thanks for the feedback

Cheers

Jamie

Yeah the Angle Chisel tip is well worth it. I'm also having some success with the Taper Point tip too, its great for eye sockets and nostrils. Of the 5 those 2 are definitely the most useful.