Wonderflex, Styrene, Friendly Plastic, and Fosshape.

Wonderflex:

I've just discovered something that seems really interesting. This is called Wonderflex. From what I've read, it's basically like fabric, the only difference is that it's made of plastic and self-adhesive to what you're creating. When it's heated up, you can mold, shape, and create fine detail the way you like.

Now, I've personally have never used this before, so I can't say from personal experience, just yet. I am however going to try this out with my future cosplay, Gun Mage Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2. I'll use this to create her special gun. Here's a basic video that would help better understand how it's used and what it does:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzugTUjmIJI


Friendly Plastic:

As I was reading what the Wonderflex does and how it acts, I found something else that caught my eye as well. This material is called Friendly Plastic. In terms of this, I think it's some sort of coating for that extra professional look to it when you use the Wonderflex. It says here that it used to come in stick, but now it comes in Pellets and it's kind of cool looking when you look at the examples.

What this person did is that they created a Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children shoulder piece just to give an example and it looks great!

All I can say for now is that here's an awesome website that tells you what Wonderflex is all about, along with other useful items.

http://www.cosplaysupplies.com/tutorials/wonderflex

Anyway, I hope this helps

Material Fact: Rit Dye Fabric Dye

Fact:

If you're a fiber artist or just a sewer, then this material is for you! The only thing you have to do is be MEGA CAREFUL because this has just as an evil side as the India Ink.

The good thing is that the Rit Dye fabric dye is great for your fabrics if you can't find the right color fabric. There are 2 types of Rit Dye fabric dye: Powder and liquid. It varies in different colors and shades of colors. For example, if you're looking for a particular color blue, you'll see Navy Blue, Royal Blue, Evening Blue and the such.

Tip:

As far as accuracy of the color is concerned, don't always trust the box. Sometime you might get a lighter color or a darker color than what the box is portraying, so be careful.

Before you have ANY dealings with Rit Dye fabric dye, please follow these instructions just to save your carpet because once the dye sets into the carpet and it's deeply imbeded, you'll have to replace the ENTIRE carpet and it's very expensive to replace carpet.


Intructions:
1. When you're going to use Rit Dye, make sure that you have a special station set OUTSIDE in the yard where grass is and AWAY from any concrete or stone-like porch. Rit Dye stains!!!!!! Be concious of that!!!!

2. Make sure that you have a special clothes hamper in your special station because it can easily get on your clothes and you can track it on the carpet without you knowing about it. So put your clothes that you wore outside in that special clothes hamper when you were dealing with the Rit Dye so you can wash it later, do this for the liquid dye as well. Just make sure that you carry the ENTIRE hamper with you so the dye will stay on your clothes and won't track on the carpet.

3. Keep ALL Rit Dye and fabric dye, in general, outside due to is staining the carpet and possibly ruining your carpet.

Tip:

On a friendly note, please make sure that you follw these instructions because when water hits the floor where there is fabric dye accidently spilled, whether you knew or not, the water activates the dye within the carpet and it dyes the carpet that color. Keep your shoes outside as well just in case there is any dye on your shoes that might be there.

You think that you can vaccuum this up and be okay, but that's NOT the case whatsoever!!! You have to be MEGA, EXTRA careful in dealing with fabric dye of any kind, not just Rit Dye in general.

So please heed this warning. If you want to fork out serious cash to replace the carpet over tiny, colored dots from fabric dye, then be my guest. I'm just giving you a friendly warning^^

Anyway, I hope this helps^^

Material Fact: Model Magic on Canvas/Canvas Fabric Material

If you're a mixed media artist that wants to try something a little unique with Model Magic, then I think I have an idea of how to use it.

I'm working on the Deadly Sin "Envy" at the moment and I wanted to sculpt out some green eyes with Model Magic. From what my tests are revealing, you might have to find a way of improvising a little. I've done 2 squares.

Tip:

I strongly suggest, as a professional artist, NOT to use Model Magic because it's another version of Play-Doh for kids. I'm using Model Magic because it's easy to use sculpt, it air dries overnight, and it has different colors.

I'm doing a 2-Day experiment with the Model Magic and the Canvas Fabric Material to see if the Model Magic will stick on the canvas perminantly.

DAY #1

• For Square #1, I shaped a piece of Model Magic and used Liquitex Matte Medium, as glue, on the back and placed it on the canvas fabric material. This was done before the Model Magic was air dried.

• For Square #2, I took another piece of Model Magic and shaped it. That will be let out to air dry overnight and I'll then apply Liquitex Matte Medium, as glue on the back and see how it will adhere to the canvas fabric material.

DAY #2

• For Square #1, the Model Magic firmly stayed on the canvas fabric material perminantly.


• For Square #2, the Model Magic dried and I tried gluing it with the Liquitex Matte Medium and it did not stay on. It had stick to the canvas fabric material, but it did not stay on for very long.

My conclusion for this experiement is the Square #1 proved to work by shaping the Model Magic and then add Liquitex Matte Medium while the Model Magic was still soft and shapable. So, before the Model Magic air dries, make sure you apply the Liquitex Matte Medium on the Model Magic then.

Fact: Model Magic

To be honest, I prefer NOT to use this material because it's a child's toy and it's mainly used for arts and crafts. Howerver, I will say that this should be the very last resort if you plan to go into art as a career choice. If for some reason that you have to resort to this, then that's fine. The benefit of using this material is that it's not messy at all, it air dries overnight, and when you sculpt something out of it, it's very soft and squishy like a sponge. You can also add some water to it like regular sculpting clay if it's needed.

Not only that, it comes in many different colors and it's very inexpensive to work with. As a professional, I strongly stay away from something like this. The only time that this would be appropriate is if you sculpt it in a professional matter and also you have a project that is due on a specific date and need to save time.

Again, this is a personal opinion and I'm coming from a professional stand point of view. My personal reason for using Model Magic for "Envy" is save time, not have a huge mess to clean up, and minipulate what I want on my artwork.

I hope this helps^^

Material Fact: Charcoal Sticks on Canvas/Canvas Fabric Material

Fact:

If you plan to do a mixed media project with canvas material and charcoal sticks, then please read this first before continuing.

It's an awsome idea that you would consider doing a mixed media art project with canvas/canvas material and charcoal sticks, BUT ALWAYS TEST THEM OUT FIRST!!!! When I was getting ready to do my 7 deadly sins series on canvas, I knew what I wanted to use; however, without thinking, I didn't test out the actual materials that was using before starting.

So, my mom was concerned about the charcoal material smeering really bad when I would go into doing my wash. She suggested to do some research and thank the Lord that I did. When I did, mom suggested a some sort of "shelack", what she calls it, to see if the charcoal would smeer. Now, thanks to the previous class I had over at my school, the teacher there was teaching us on how to make our canvases from scratch, which leads to the canvas fabric materal.

Tip:
Keep in mind that when I say canvas fabric material, that material is specifically used for creating art canvases in terms of actual paintings and other art related projects. This fabric material is NOT for sewing whatsoever! The material is too rigid and rough to the touch and may screw up the sewing machine if you try it. So please, use the canvas fabric material for creating canvases.

Anyway, once I researched on how to handle this situation, it talked about using a matte medium type of media. So basically, I had this from my previous classes in school.


Liqutix Matte Medium:

Go to "Material Facts: Liquitex Matte Medium" blog for more detailed information about the material. Use this material for your canvas project for good protection of your project. I had a little bit of canvas fabric material left from my last class, before I left school, and I tested this theroy out myself.

I drew one eye on a piece of square of the material and I had drew another eye on a second piece of square of that same material. Here is my conclusion from this experiement is this:

• With the first eye, if you brush over the product too swiftly, fast, and press hard, the charcoal WILL smeer greatly, which will leave you with a mess.

• With the second eye, if you brush over the product very slowly at a steady pace and don't press hard at all, the charcoal WILL NOT smeer as much. Again, it will still smeer, but you will less likely have a mess to try and fix.

After I did these tests, I did one more experiment on both. Once both sets of eyes were dried from the matte medium, I tried painting over them with a white paint. They both proved to be successful regardless of the different results each of them gave from the previous experiment.

Once the matte medium dries, it will successfully not smeer when you rub your hands across the art project and you will not have any more worries about the charcoal smeering your project when you do a wash or paint.

Tip:

It's always best to smudge your charcoal lines before you use the Liquitex Matte Medium. This will help you reduce the affects of smeering greatly if you do this. Again, you may have still a little smeering, but if you heed the tips above, you should have little to no problems.

Okay, that's it for now. See ya later and have a great day^_^

Material Facts: India Ink

Fact:

As everyone should know by now, India Ink can have its light side and dark side. The light side is if it's used properly, then the matieral itself creates funomenal results. How do you think some of the masters of art got noticed?

There is a good thing and bad thing about India Ink being perminate. The good thing is that once it dries, you CANNOT erase it! It won't come off! The bad thing is if you messed up or made an error, again you CANNOT erase it once it dries. Whatever mark you create is going to be there for the rest of its days.

Now, let me say this, it does have an evil side to it as well. When I say evil, I mean EVIL!!!! Okay, this evil side is when it gets on any of your good clothes, then say goodbye to them because once it dries on your clothes, they are forever ruined!!!!!!

I recently discovered that there is only ONE WAY to remove India Ink and I do mean only ONE!!!!! In order to remove at least half of it, you MUST stop what you're doing right then and there. After you get a clean peiece of clothing on, put the piece of clothing under some hot water where the spot(s) is. Then take the "Spray & Wash with Reslove Power" spray and spray some on the spot(s). Now, DO NOT RUB IT!!!!!!! If you do, IT WILL SMEAR AND MAKE IT WORSE!!!!!! Okay, once the spray is there, take your fingernails (thumbnail would be best) and go up and down hard to remove at least half of it. Once a good amount of it is off, then wash it and then dry it. After it's dry, then take a look if it worked.

Again, this is the ONLY way to remove it, if you don't have any "Spray & Wash with Resolve Power" then get some.

Tip:
Find an old peice of clothing that you're willing to sacrifice in the name of art. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Material Fact: Rubber Cement

Fact:



Okay, I've been using this rubber cement this whole entire semester and it works like wonders for me. Let me tell you why.



If you want a project that has to do with cutting paper and you want it to look professional, then just follow the three different ways on how to apply it and what the end result would be.



1. Dry Mounting

2. Wet Mounting

3. A Combination of Wet and Dry Mounting



I've tested all three. If you want a secure perminant stay, then Dry Mounting will be your best bet because you apply it both on the front and the back.

If you want a little movement and want it to dry in place where you want it to. then Wet Mounting is the way to go because it's not as perminant as Wet Mounting is. It'll eventually dry in place, but some movement can be a good thing at times if by any chance that the object is not where you want it. All you do here is apply only on one side of the object and let it dry. BE CAREFUL TO APPLY THE RUBBER CEMENT ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE OBJECT!!!!!!! Trust me, I've been down that road sometime before so I know what not to do.

The Combination of Wet And Dry Mounting has a cool effect to it. It has the bond of Wet Mounting and the allowance of some freedom of the Dry Mounting.

Tip:

Let's say your project is turning out totally awsome and you feel this weird texture from applying the rubber cement, what now? Well.... I want to introduce you to another awsome little friend called the Rubber Cement eraser. All it does is erase whatever dried rubber cement that is one your project. It makes it like the rubber cement was never even there. I use it all of the time. It'll also make your project even more professional looking.

Now, I've shared another artist little friend, or friends for that matter. I hope this helps

Material Fact: Aluminum vs. Wood

Fact:



Do you wish to use aluminum with wood? Well... that's great and all, but it's kind of not a good idea. I'll tell you why.



If you are making a project out of aluminum (I used aluminim pan), use plastic (or plastic cups) to attatch to the aluminum. Wood is not a good idea to use as far as aluminum pan or aluminum in gereral because it pops right off!



No matter how many times you glue it in order to make it stay, it just will not do it. I have even tried using plastic to see if the wood will stay better. It came out with the same result.



At first, it will trick you into thinking that it's working (either with plastic or without plastic) and then if you bent it a certain way... POP!



So, it was a great idea, but it somewhat went in the wrong direction. One more thing, if you plan on painting the aluminum, make sure that you test out the paint on a small or medium size piece of aluminum and wait for a couple of hours to see if it will chip off or not. Afterwards, glue on a piece of plastic or whatever material that you wish to work with. If the paint automatically comes off, then either try to work with it as best you know how or try a different material.

Well... I hope this helps