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G'day Dakka, today I was doing some greenstuffing, this was closely followed by extreme frustration. The reason for this huge was frustration was basically just because I'm rubbish at sculpting, but aside from that, I'm also ready to blame the greenstuff for being too sticky! I seriously just couldn't get the shape I wanted because every time I'd try to scuplt it, the greenstuff would just stay stuck to the sculpting tool. So Dakkanauts, I was wondering, how sticky is your greenstuff? Is mine just really aggravating? Or, am I doing something wrong?

Lube and waiting time.
The longer you wait, the less sticky and more firm the GS will be. You'll also need some sort of lube on the tool (I know a lot of people you use a dab of spit as it doesn't stop layers adhering like vaseline does).

Keep the greenstuff and the tools wet with water. This will help stop it sticking.
Alternativily you could use something like Vasoline to stop it sticking, though this will be worse then the water as it will go all oily and slimy to touch.

I really wish that people would start acknowldging Green stuff is at best a medicore sculpting medium compared to the other options available these days.

Procreate aka 'grey stuff' is sold by a number of outlets for sculpting uses and is superior to green in every way I can think of.

My current favorite is Apoxie Sculpt, its just so much easier to work with and is very affordable considering the amount you get for the price. It start off a bit sticky, but letting it cure a bit and using a little water solves that issue.

And, the last trick for sticky sculpting mediums- Paint shapers. These are silicone tipped tools designed to work with thick artist paints. They work great for sculpting and smoothing the sculpts as the putty wont stick to them very well because of the silicone tips. Theyre a little pricey, but last a long while.

I use clay/paint shapers and I have to say they made a vast improvement to my Green stuff skills!

It really is worth grabbing a few. As for lube I just lick them a bit and it stops any issues with the medium sticking to them. Water might be a bit more sanitary thinking about it though!

Patience is also important in that you have to stop and allow layers to cure so you don't undo your previous work. I often work on a couple of models at a time so I don't waste any green stuff.

Try adding more blue into the mix as well I found this makes it harder at the outset and easier to manage. For areas such as fur and hair you may need to add more yellow though to acheive a better look as it makes it softer.
Some people also add a bit of milliput to the mix I haven't tried this yet so can't comment on it's effectiveness.

Mistress of minis wrote:I really wish that people would start acknowldging Green stuff is at best a medicore sculpting medium compared to the other options available these days.

Procreate aka 'grey stuff' is sold by a number of outlets for sculpting uses and is superior to green in every way I can think of.

Hear, Hear! Green Stuff sucks. Although I use Procreate myself, I'd like to also say that Procreate also kinda sucks (although substantially less so then kneadatite). It's astonishing to me that in 2011, we're still using the same pipe glue that they were using 30 years ago. Sure, it was the best makeshift substitute for clay then, but now? It boggles the mind that there isn't a non-sticky, bakeable sculpey-like product on the market aimed at miniature sculpters.

But, until then, as MoM said, get some Procreate - it lasts longer and isn't as tacky, and that passes quickly - and keep your tools wet. You can also mix in some brown stuff if you need it to be a little more rigid.

Too... Many... Procreation jokes...

I just keep it in cold water.

It makes it malleable like clay.

You are working with a putty. Expect it to adhere.

Alternativly, try cutting an eraser and using that as a tool.

Funny, my problem with my latest sculpting project was I often couldn't get my GS to stick to the model. I would get the shape exactly where I wanted it and almost get it into shape, and then the whole piece would just slip off and I would have to ruin the shape in order to get it back into place.

I'm a bit surprised to hear the praise for Kneadatite*. I bought some and experimented with it recently and it was a complete disaster. It was sticky just like GS, only when I used water on my tools the outer surface of Kneadatite* disintigrated and coated my whole work area with a white slime. One of the pieces used Kneadatite* on actually hardened (I used it as filler with GS over top to make the texture. See the menhir chunk in my cygor's hand.) I also made a cube and tried to play with a bit of a coil out of Kneadatite* just to get used to the material and even after a week they still hadn't cured solid. I was absolutely amazed.

*It appears I'm a doof. Replace all instances of "Kneadatite" in this post with "Milliput".

I believe kneadatite IS Greenstuff.

Just dip the tools in water, and add more of the yellow side to make it less sticky.

My mistake, I confused Kneadatite with Milliput. Come to think of it, that's how I ended up buying a box of Milliput in the first place.

Put a little bit of water on your fingers and tools, works wonders! Also, I read somewhere else that if you put a tiny bit of the other colour of puty before mixing up the GS it will make it less sticky. Hope this helps.

Doomthumbs wrote:I believe kneadatite IS Greenstuff.

Just dip the tools in water, and add more of the yellow side to make it less sticky.

It is. GW literally just buys it, cuts the strips, and repackages it for 4x as much.

On a slightly related note, I have noticed that GS looks infinitly better when painted.
so dont worry to much if the sculp dosnt look to flash.

Thats another great point in favor of GS. Once its dry, its not porous.
Other types of modeling material, especially clay based, are.

This means that once you start to paint the model, the parts that are smoothed over with clay will drink about 3X as much paint as necessary to cover the other parts. Really hard to get an even coat.

So... greenstuff. One coat covers it, good to go.

You can get almost a metre of Kneadalite/Greenstuff from here

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Creative_Kneadatite_Putties.html

For under a tenner (If I remember it cost me around £11 including p+p)

They also do magic sculp which I belive is similar to pro-create but I haven't tried it so don't quote me on it

http://www.sylmasta.com/acatalog/Magic_Sculp.html

Doomthumbs wrote:Thats another great point in favor of GS. Once its dry, its not porous.
Other types of modeling material, especially clay based, are.

This means that once you start to paint the model, the parts that are smoothed over with clay will drink about 3X as much paint as necessary to cover the other parts. Really hard to get an even coat.

So... greenstuff. One coat covers it, good to go.

If you properly prime your minis- thats not really an issue. Also- your statement is only partially correct. 'Other types of modeling material' like Procreate and Apoxie Sculpt are not pourous, nor is SuperSculpey or Fimo, which are both clays used by some sculptors-and neither of them soak up paint either. So, unless you're using playdoh or some other low end clay, the paint thing is a rather moot point- and Greenstuff still sucks in many ways.

I paint my primer on, and GS is the only one that hasn't soaked up at least a little primer paint.