Making The Perfect Armature
Make sure you've read the 'Before you Begin' section.
Heavy duty crushed tinfoil (aluminium foil) is the PERFECT armature material to use as a base for your Pal Tiya Premium sculpture.
Crushed tinfoil provides the perfect grip for Pal Tiya Premium. Our sculpting medium has no tensile strength of its own until it begins to cure, so the grip that tinfoil provides is excellent.
It is also essential that you cover wooden or foam armatures in crushed tinfoil . This is because, as with a foam armature, Pal Tiya Premium is highly sensitive to moisture, which would make it too dry, set too fast and become weak.
With foam, the short answer is paint the foam first, dry thoroughly, then apply foil. An outdoor Acrylic-based paint can help seal it. White bead foam is the exception, hot glue sticks lightly to this surface. This would only become a problem on a very large vertical piece, such as an adult size standing human figure.
As soon as you start ripping tinfoil, you are sculpting!
We make ours into large fluffy (what we call popcorn balls) and long twisted cigar shapes, and with these two shapes you can create almost any shape of armature you like. We do this by using a hot glue gun and form our shapes. This is because, as with a foam armature, Pal Tiya Premium is highly sensitive to moisture which would make it too dry, set too fast and become weak.
Crushed tinfoil provides the perfect grip for Pal Tiya Premium. Our sculpting medium has no tensile strength of its own until it begins to cure, so the grip that tinfoil provides is excellent.
It is also essential that you cover wooden or foam armatures in crushed tinfoil . This is because, as with a foam armature, Pal Tiya Premium is highly sensitive to moisture, which would make it too dry, set too fast and become weak.
With foam, the short answer is paint the foam first, dry thoroughly, then apply foil. An outdoor Acrylic-based paint can help seal it. White bead foam is the exception, hot glue sticks lightly to this surface. This would only become a problem on a very large vertical piece, such as an adult size standing human figure.
As soon as you start ripping tinfoil, you are sculpting!
We make ours into large fluffy (what we call popcorn balls) and long twisted cigar shapes, and with these two shapes you can create almost any shape of armature you like. We do this by using a hot glue gun and form our shapes. This is because, as with a foam armature, Pal Tiya Premium is highly sensitive to moisture which would make it too dry, set too fast and become weak.
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Of course you can use whatever you like for your armature. Sometimes to save on tinfoil we use cardboard, paper mache, wood, or plastic covered in crushed tinfoil. Some smoother materials may require crushed tinfoil on top so the Pal Tiya Premium can adhere to the surface. In case of steel armatures however the Pal Tiya Premium should connect with the steel so there is no movement of the sculpture inside when cured.
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You can also use tinfoil and wire.
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Of course you don’t even need to use an armature if you want to do bas relief or delicate pieces like these:
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If you are making a more complex piece with thin legs or an appendage or you want to go BIG then there are some things to take into considerations. It can be done, visit our Planning Page Here before you begin!
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A quick video on armatures is available here: |
Or if you are planning on going larger with your sculpture work and want to know all the ins and outs of armatures for these then watch this video:
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