Tutorial - How to build up a flag

posted by Roman, Jarhead, kong

This is for sure not the most advanced technique to build up a small flag but i want to share it anyway.
I did use Magic Sculp for this task, but really don't you think you have to exactly do the same. You can do a simple flag from metal foil or other sculpting putty. Now to pirate business...

I want to have a flag on my ape pirate mast and i went for it this way. Taking a 50/50 amount of both Magic Sculps different contents. The bright one is the soft stuff, the darker grey one the hardener. Make sure it is ~50/50 or if you are not sure and do it by eyesight than drop in a bit more of the hardener to really make it get hard in the end. I mixed up the Magic Sculp, made it ready to work and did wet my fingers with water during working it. After this i did put it on a baking paper and pressed it flat with my fingers...

To make it really flat i wrapped the baking paper around the amount of magic sculp and took a flat wooden piece to press have it flatten even more and without having my fingerprints on it everywhere. Use a little bit of water on your fingers to make the sculpey wet while doing this.

After this was done i took something sharp like a sculpting tool or a scalpell to cut out my flag form. I also removed the remains of the sculpey.

With the remains i did sculpt a little pirate hat for a little ape pirate and some other minor things where nothing can be done wrong when big Kong tries to sculpt.

After i did prepare the flag form i cut away most of the baking paper to have a better handle with my flag item. I still need the flag wrapped in baking paper - i just did forget to keep it wrapped so i again cut out a small piece of paper and brought it in place.

Now i took this piece and placed it in between different round things, for example a pencil to make sure it will be formed like a flag in the wind.

I soon realized that i need more weight and stuff to put on - so i did with things i have found around to get the right windy flag thing.

Now i have waited around 45 minutes and did - i did forget what i did in this moment, but for sure something funny. After 45 minutes passed by i removed the baking paper from one side. That is why the baking paper is involved, you can get the Sculpey really flat without touching it and after Magic Sculp is drying you can easily remove it.

In this state you can still work with this putty and add some damage or little holes in the material, for example with a needle or whatever you decide to do. Give it 2 more hours to fully dry and have your flag ready for paint. You can sand the magic sculp after it is hard like stone to a very thin material strength. The applied flag looks like this...

I already did rip this flag off the Pirate project as i decided to do it again, thiner and more dynamicly in the wind with more damage at all. This doesn't mean the article is for nothing, i just realized i can do it more detailed and i wasn't really happy with the freehand... so another go at this...

Hope this short article helps you create your own flags in all seizes you wish them to be!

Keep on happy painting!
Best Regards
Roman