I'd suggest it'd be easier to sculpt the pattern in to soft greenstuff than carve it in to solid greenstuff.
If it needs to be quite thin, sculpt it on to something you can remove it from later. If it needs to be flat, use something made from polypropylene or polyethylene, medicine bottles and milk bottles usually work. Greenstuff won't stick well to them so you can sculpt your design on to it then just pry it off.
My suggestion is just try it. Give it a crack, I don't think it'll be as hard as you think it'll be. Just sculpt a disk on to a flat surface, create the pattern using a sharp sculpting tool then work the scales to give you the texture you want. When you create the pattern it'll have rather soft edges to the scales, work the
GS from both sides to make a harder edge. For a nice hard edge consider using milliput instead.
The lid of a medicine bottle can be a great platform to work from because they'll typically be flat, give you something to hold it by and typically they're made from polypropylene so
GS won't stick well to it.
If you want the shield to be curved rather than flat, if you can find a spherical surface instead of a flat surface it'll save you some effort, I once used the semi-sphere surface of a deodorant bottle to sculpt something that I wanted to be curved.
I know they say mix up a little greenstuff at a time, but a design like that I think it'd be easier just to do it in one sitting (unless you need to create a base first, in which case create the base from a thin sheet of
GS, let it cure, then come back and do the scales from a 2nd thin sheet).
Automatically Appended Next Post: edwardmyst wrote:3: More yellow means softer
GS and longer working time. More blue means harder. Harder
GS is actually easier to work with if you are doing a simple shape (like each pattern in the shell).
I'd say greenstuff is easiest to work when it's roughly 3:2 yellow:blue, that is, more yellow than blue. Look at how
GW sell green stuff, they sell you more yellow than blue on a strip.
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-FI/Green-Stuff Obviously
GW just repackage kneadatite and if you buy it from elsewhere in strip form it'll also come with more yellow than blue...
http://www.polymericsystems.com/epoxies-adhesives/epoxy-putty-tapes/kneadatite-blue-yellow.htm But if you buy the bars rather than the tape it'll come 50:50 yellow and blue.... since that's the cheapest way to buy it, that's what I do, but I mix in more yellow.
I just find it easier to work that way.
EDIT: Actually on the manufacturer's website it says "Cut or twist off 1 part blue curing agent to 1.5 parts yellow base." I've always assumed I was being edgy using something other than 1:1 because everyone says to use 1:1, apparently even the manufacturer reckons use more yellow than blue
Automatically Appended Next Post: edwardmyst wrote:5: Working time for
GS is about 20-30 minutes, AFTER you let it sit for 5 once blended completely. However, mix the amount you want, place half in the freezer (this retards the hardening process, I've left it for hours and hours, just knead it and its good) and work with first half (say maybe outside ring or two) then use second half.
20-30 minutes?
GS has a work life of 1 to 2 hours unless you live in a really hot environment.
Sometimes it can be good to let it sit for a while before trying to work it, it depends what you're trying to do. Sometimes it can be good to get the basic shape straight away then wait half an hour to fine tune the surface detail because it'll be easier to manipulate the surface without messing up the overall shape once it starts to firm up a bit.
