plaster sculpting tools: advice needed

[ajhatt]

Hello,

I am starting to work with plaster and would like some advice about sculpting tools. From my experience with other media I've learned that I tend to use the same few tools for almost everything, whether doing oil painting or wood carving, and I'd like to minimize the upstart cost by buying only a few essential sculpting tools. Please could you tell me, what are the indispensible tools that you find yourself using frequently? Do those 5 or 10-piece plaster sculpting tool kits provide a useful set of tools?

Some details on my project: I will be making a large piece, probably starting with a chicken-wire armature and building up layers of plaster and paper and then just plaster to get the rough form. Then I plan to smooth it out and add some fine details.

Any advice from more experienced plaster sculpters will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Alison

[Landseer]

I do a fair amount of plaster carving, I've done a LOT with little more than an old butter knife, a couple of wire clay tools, and an X-acto knife.
But recently I bought a set of inexpensive stainless steel froom Dick Blick which yielded a few nice tools in the pack that I'm finding I'm using the most of the set.
These would be for fine/finishing and detailing


Wax and Plaster Carving Tools (http://www.dickblick.com/zz330/59/)
Ideal for detail work in carving, sculpture, and jewelry making, these sets provide all the shapes necessary. Stainless steel construction. Set of 6: 3 double ended picks and 3 single ended picks. Set of 12: 12 double ended picks, carvers, and...
http://www.dickblick.com/zz330/59/

[Merlion]

Many of my plaster carvings are small, so my most useful tools are a double ended penknife, and a stainless steel spoon, using both ends. They have to be suitably sharpened, the latter with my grinding wheel, and the former with the usual sharpening stone. Saws with large teeth and wood scrapers are also useful for larger plaster pieces.

When carving plaster, start when the plaster is still wet and weak, not after it becomes hard, strong and brittle. But clean and oil your steel tools after carving unless they are stainless steels.

[ajhatt]

Great. Thank you both very much for the advice and thanks in advance for any more comments people might make. Your input is vey helpful!

Alison

[Landseer]

Merlion is right- carve when it's wet/hard, but when the plaster is DRY you can sand, rasp and file, if you try scraping or carving dry plaster it chips, water clay doe the same thing.

You can wet the plaster down if it dries, but I don't know how long it can STAY wet before it starts doing something to the plaster, I would say a week or two, probably no longer than that!

[clifton]

A small rotary tool with diamond bits can be used to carve dry plaster.

It doesn't chip as easily as it does with a knife or scraper, and detail can be achieved with these bits.

Sanding smooths the finished work. Small cones made from fine sand paper and attached to the rotary tool make this process simpler as well.

The option to add more plaster and to work it wet, make for a combination of additive and subtractive carving.

Well ..., at least the above method works well with dry-wall crack filler.

Clifton
________

[PAULHT]

There are specialized tools, they look like a cheese grater, double sided, they come in 3 sizes and are extremely useful!
good on wet or dry plaster and clean well with a steel brush-invaluable!

[RCFA-Raven]

Hi Alison,

I don't have anything add to the tool discussion, but just wanted to remind you, you may wish to ware a cheap mask when you are working with the dry plaster. (It really tears me up!)

:)

[ajhatt]

Again, thanks to everyone for your responses.

So far I have built up my basic shape with plaster on top of a chickenwire frame. This weekend I think I will be ready to start carving. I think I'll buy a surform to get the lump closer to the desired form and buy a set of those little "cheese grater" like tools for working on details. I really like the suggestion of a stainless steel spoon with a sharpened edge but I don't have the resources to sharpen one. Perhaps I can find a similar tool sold as a chisel....

Thanks again,

Alison