Hey everyone,

today I like to talk a little bit about a relatively new sculpting putty and give you the opportunity to try out some of it for yourself... along with the chance of winning some other goodies!

Around 10 days ago I received a pretty packed parcel by Masq Minis.
 Nice! Goodies! I love to unpack stuff, it's always like christmas!

 In there I found 1 pack of grey BeeS Putty Plastic, 1 pack of black Bees Putty Plastic and some stamp form for making small parts and gaming bases (will be introduced later in this review), 1 pack of Bees Putty Plastic Firm (a lot harder than the normal BeeS Plastic), some trial packs to give away to friends and some already baked samples to get an impression of the material...
I also got one cigar smoking gorilla figure, pretty awesome! :D

The gorilla is really cool, like a boss!


Before I really start with the review I want to explain some basic properties of this putty:
- A one component, oven baked, polymer sculpting clay
- Can be baked at around 120-130°C for 30 min (depending on thickness and size of the sculpt)
- Different colors aviable
- Different firmness levels aviable (Normal and Firm)
- Comes in packs of 100g for 6 Euro (= 6 Eur / 100g)
- In a bigger pack of 360g for 18 Euro (=  5 Eur / 100g)
- Or a big pack of 1,5kg for 45 Euro (= 3 Eur / 100g)

First, let's compare that to other wide spread polymer clays.
Fimo: 56g for around 2,50 Euro (= ~4,45 Eur / 100g)
Super Sculpey Firm: 454g for around 11 Euro ( = ~2,40 Eur / 100g)

The easiest thing to compare when checking out clays is the price.
BeeS Plastic is a bit more expensive compared to other clays, but to be honest, 100g of clay is very much when sculpting miniatures or "small" busts. Especially for 28mm or 54mm figures a 100g pack of clay will last you very long!

So the price is not a real killer argument, especially when you get the 2kg pack it almost beats the very cheap Super Sculpey Firm.

But more important than the price (at least for me) are the properties, so let's check them out.

Let's start easy ... with the stamps, a good first try for the material and I found the idea of stamping gaming bases pretty interesting.
This is the stamp form made from a very flexible and robust material, I guess it's some kind of silicone rubber.
 Just took a little bit of the black putty, shaped a ball....
... and pushed the ball into the form. To bake it, just peel it out and place it on a wooden board.





After baking

I made some more test shapes from grey and black putty and baked it all at around 120°C for 25 min.
Ok, so here you see the gaming base, looks like some mayan pattern.
I also shaped two very thin "banners" and a horn.

I wanted to test the properties of the material, so I made different shapes to test out stability, flexibility, hardness and how well it can be cut and sanded.

Describing a sculpting clays properties is kind of difficult.
Comparing it to other sculpting clays is a bit easier but this stuff is pretty unique, before and after baking. When baked it is very "plastic" like (hence the name).

It's very strong and almost "impossible" to break. It's very hard, but at the same time flexible.
As you can see with the horn, cutting and sanding it is very easy and you can really polish it back up.

The rough shape of another horn was cut using a hobby knife, sanded a bit and finally gave it a quick polish up using a soft toothbrush and a veeeeeeery small amount of Vaseline.

 bend it this way...
... or bend it that way bend without braking, a very good property for a clay.
The same goes for the baked banners and they are very thin! You can see light coming through it when put against a light source, so you can imagine how thin they are.
But still you can bend it in a very strong angle without breaking and after bending it returns to it's original position.

I really like that property, it's makes the clay very good to make original miniatures or busts that will be casted as the sculpture can take quite a beating before breaking or chipping.


Before baking

Now for the properties before baking - the sculpting qualities. For sure the second most important part (at least for me, if a clay is brittle or unstable after baking I cannot use it for my sculptures as they have to be solid enough to be casted or carried around and be painted).

How to describe this clay? It's kind of soft-rubbery, a bit like fimo, but on the other hand very different - It's a lot more wax-like.
It sticks very well to itself and to wire, it can get very soft using a microwave and it's very "flexible".

You can get a very good impression in these videos:
Properties of BeeS Plastic
Sculpting a 32mm Miniature (part 1)
Sculpting a 32mm Miniature (part 2)

To test it out for myself, I started sculpting a bust.
Just took some thick wire, stuck it into a piece of cork and go!
No greenstuff or other stuff is needed to make the putty stick to the armature, really nice :)
Started with blocking in some basic volumes and shapes, the putty really feels nice and is very easy to work with. For my personal taste and first impression it works much better than my mix I use since the last sculpting workshop with Pedro Fernández ( Fimo Classic + Super Sculpey Firm - A really good mix, very stable and flexible after baking). At least for this bust.

... a bit further in the process.

At the moment I have a lot of work in progress projects going on with other sculpting clays, but I think when they are done I use BeeS Putty Plastic in more projects.

Some more impressions of my bust experiment after baking, you can also see the surface gets really matte and nice:



The putty holds detail very well and is very easy to smooth using some kind of balm (eg. Petroleum Jelly/Vaseline) or using white spirit, turpentine or orange-turpentine (just smells awesome and is less aggressive). But the properties of the putty allow it to also smooth it very easily with the normal sculpting tools.

Overall, I am really happy with this new option at my arsenal, I really like the properties it has while sculpting and even more after baking... it's really hard to break the sculpt at all! And I didn't find any negative sides about it, maybe one thing that I have found worthy of saying it here in the end: the putty get's very soft when baking it, so I advise you to watch out for "floating" parts, they need some kind of support or they will bend in the oven.

You can get your BeeS at the website of Masq Mini, they also offer a lot of great sculpting tools and other nice stuff, be sure to check it out if you are into sculpting or conversions.


Now to the part you have all been waiting for, getting free stuff!
 
You can win:
- 10 packs of BeeS Putty Plastic
- 5 funky Gorilla figures
- 3 very exclusive "early access" casts of the "Jamal" bust shown below


All the prizes are sponsored by Masq Mini! Thanks a lot Stefan!


So, how do you participate?
Very easy this time, just post a comment here with your reason why you want to have this stuff.
Try to be creative! 

The best 10 answers will be chosen, top 5 will get a gorilla figure and top 3 will get a Jamal bust additional to a pack of BeeS Putty Plastic.
The winners will be announced in 1 week from now!

Good Luck and have fun sculpting!
Raffa


PS: Find this review linked up in the review section!

Hey everyone,

the last days have been really mad with a lot of putty to push around.

I am currently working on 2 busts (with a third little sketch I work on from time to time) that I both want to finish until Wednesday.

First, you may remember the grown up goat. It transformed into a Ram and is constantly growing.
I am really happy with it so far!
I am working on the armor parts right now, but there are still some other areas left to finish... buuuut, the end is near :)

I prepared a little "step by step" about sculpting the horns:
 First step is bending wire to the shape of the horn, putting some putty on the horns, and start working on the general shape.
 I work on the "edges" of the horns to make them more interesting.
 Now I just put some random small sausages of putty on the horn.
 Smoothed them with a brush soaked in turpentine.
 Scratched some more marks into the horns with a round tip needle tool.
And smooth them again and bake.... tada, done! :)


I also worked on the cosmonaut bust, his protective suit is almost done, some more detailling work and the suit is finished. Not much missing here eiter! Yay!

I also started sculpting a mouth, I know it sounds strange but maybe there will be a bust build around it someday :)
Until that day it looks like some creepy version of PacMan.

I also got some casts of my latest figures, but you will know more about them soon!
 Lychee Priest
Breathing Difficulty Man (new superhero!) ;-)

Next week will be busy again, so stay tuned!
Have a great Sunday,
Raffa

Elo,

the last figure from my Hasslespree :)
During last week I painted many Hasslefree Miniatures with the goal of explaining some stuff in private coaching. I planned to do them quick and so I did. This one is no exeception, she was done quick in a couple of hours but hell she was a lot of fun. Kevin James White can really sculpt da booty :D




Well, together with the Milf and the Goblin ...


A shot from the table of last weeks painting spree ... that was a hell of  week I would call it ...

Keep on happy painting!
Best Wishes
Roman

Yappa, 

 it is time for some WIP-talk from my table again ...
Last one can be found here.

Well, really happy when I look in my cabinet these days as last week's private coaching left me with some finished models. Meanwhile I did finish the comissioned "Chaos Lord", a top secret project and a Ravenwing biker for an upcoming article about painting blacks (not only one guide to paint black, but good thoughts behind it) ...


You can even see a glimpse on a still WIP historical figure I am painting as well. Having my eyes on the road and enoying happy painting all around, but if I look at the Dwarf/Orc duel to the upper left I have to admit I am scared. This will be prepared to be shipped to its new owner, a collector from the US next week. I will remove the figures again from the base and pack it wisely. So far I tried to get around this task but there is no better moment coming ... it has to be done.

I found two Work in Progress photos of the latest finished Chaos Lord, but I already can tell you that he will be a part of the "black-tutorial" too:



My wolf-sculpt is growing, but last week I did not manage to sculpt on him very often. Proper Time will be taken at today's afternoon/evening after finishing a bunch of mail work from home.


Home. As good as the new studio feels it is sometimes needed to be at home. My cats - some of you might remember them from eariler posts on MV - Keiko and Momoko - are doing well ... lazy bunch.


Weather is fine. Taking the bike as often as I can and even bought myself a helmet. I always thought biking with a helmet is just for "people-who-want-to-look-stupid-while-biking", but honestly I am wearing my helmet with pride.

If I might have an accident, rather the helmet is broken than my skull, eh?

Feels good.

Home.










Nonetheless, the lamps in the studio are buring often these days ...




Keep on happy painting!
Leave a comment if you want to leave a comment :) - I am heading out for some Mailwork!
Best Wishes
Roman

Hello Painters,

MV's year of the painter brings you another round of article voting.
Voting lasts until next week Monday. You vote via comment, I write and prepare the articles to come :)

 #01
A Painting step by step through the Tales of War's Slot Gunner Pirate bust, the one from the recent Miniatures Unpacked.

For this article vote "Pirate" in your comment.


#02
This article is about sculpting. Follow me on my journey through the Advanced Sculpting class from Pedro Fernandez. Read about my plans before and after, get the insight on how a sculpt grows and what I learned so far. This tutorial brings you part A of my attempts in sculpting my lil' Werewolve.

For this article vote "Wolf" in the comments

Now it is your choice which article will be next in your jungle!
Can't wait to see your choices!
Kick it!

Hey guys,

At the moment I feel like a happy litttle child during Christmas. Yesterday a long-waited packet arrived. Inside I found this:



For those of you, who don´t know what it is, have a look at the following video:


After a long time I recieved my book "Modeling. Stories in Miniature" from our Spanish monkey-brothers Cursed Monkeys. Some months ago they started a campaign on Indigogo and it was sure I would support it. The members of the Cursed Monkeys are one of the most inspiring guys you can find on the internet. The gang consists of:

• Arsies
• Antonio Fdez.
• Cris
• Fstar
• Iguazzu
• Piqui
• Luisete

Well... I think now you know why I´m so crazy about this book. I was sure I would get a huge load of inspiration and new ideas. I would learn a lot new stuff and this is something every hobbist should want to :)


So, what did I get?


Because the campaign was very successful I recieved a lot of stuff:

• the expected book "Modeling. Stories in Miniature"
• an artbook "Monkeys Gallery"
• two artworks
• a DVD with tutorials
• a anatomy mannequin (sculpted by Piqui)
• stickers
• a nice letter

Let´s have look!

1. Modeling. Stories in Miniature


Let me be frank: it´s awesome! 156 pages full of pictures and tutorials. I got the English version (there was a Spanish, too) and it was translated from Spanish by a professional. There are 11 different chapters which include a huge amount of knowledge. The book mainly focuses on sculpting. But even as I´m as skillful in sculpting as a rhinotaur, every page gives me a lot of inspiration. Why? Because there are so many pictures of finished and painted miniatures. And beside this you´ll find two chapters about bases and scenery composition. There is even one about painting. So I can recommend this book to everybody.

If you are interested in sculpting, this book will be a even larger pleasure. Antonio (Piqui) has written a lot about every important thing the sculpter needs. Which tools and materials are there? How do I convert figures? What is important if I want to sculpt faces or busts? There are so many ideas and hints that it´s impossible to list them all.

As I told you I´m no sculptor. But when I read through the book I feel like if I could start being one the next miniute. It covers every important step. Surely it´s not possible to cover every aspect of sculpting in a single book, but I gives you a nice start and helps to drop the fear of doing something wrong. 

Here some impressions:







2. Monkeys Gallery

This is the second book. I was one of the available strech goals the campaign offered. The book consists of 60 pages full of pictures. Every member of the Cursed Monkeys has his own chapter and there are some miniatures I have never seen on the internet. So inspiration struck me often while I had this book in my hands.

Beside the gallery you´ll find some nice photos of the crew and every member tells something about himself and how he got into the hobby.







Here some impressions:





3. The DVD

The DVD was another strechgoal. On it you´ll find seven tutorial. Two sculpting tutorials and five painting tutorials. All of them have English and Spanish subtitles and it´s very intersting to see (just for example) two different approaches on painting a face. One is done by Iguazzu with the brush, the other done by Arises and his legendary use of the arirbrush.












4. The Anatomy Mannequin


Another strechgoal. The mannequin was sculpted by Antonio himself and shall help you to understand the human proportions. Funny detail: there are two heads, some weapons and even a shield inside... I think I´ll have some fun with it :-)









5. Artworks

This was something I was really happy about. Two nice artworks. I think I will place them at the wall above my painitng table. I like the colors and the style a lot!




Conclusion

Well... do I really have to write a conclusion? It´s really one of the best investments I have done in the last year. For a small amout of money I got a huge load of stuff and even more offers of knowledge. It will surely take some time for me to read everything but the first hours have been very impressive.

But some of you will be sad about having missed the campaign. But I have good news for you. If you are quick, you´ll have the chance to get the Second Edition of the main book. The Cursed Monkeys will print a new stock of books. After this, there will be no other copies. So, hurry!

Follow the following link and you´ll be happy soon: CLICK ME I´M A LINK!!!


Tell me what you think about the book. Did I miss to tell you something? Feel free to comment below!

Regards,
Peter