Hi Tony that last `cut n shut`has made a drastic improvement to the head mate,its a hard choice sometimes to get the saw out or the knife and cut or carve away previous work but its all to the benefit of the work in the end result.

Have you tried applying `barrier cream` prior to sculpting? I havent tried it personally but im wondering if it will help stop the skin obsorbing the chemicals.Just a thought mate and hope you recover soon.

Steve

Hi Mark & Steve,

Thanks very much for your comments guys. The cut through the head was certainly worth it, and has made a huge difference.

Steve, I went to my doctor today and he's told me I have to stop using Magic Sculp for ever because of the intense allergic reaction I have to it. Apparently even breathing the fumes is enough to cause me to have a severe reaction, so I must now find another medium to sculpt with. I'm currently taking cortisone and antihistamines tablets and rubbing steroid creme into my skin to reduce the inflammation. What a bummer!!

Any suggestions, bearing in mind that almost all commercially availble 2 part epoxy resins will contain the same chemicals as Magic Sculp??

Thats bad news reference the magic sculpt mate but i dont think you are alone with this one,as for alternatives i am not sure what would be suitable,maybe you could stick a post up avbout it and see what others can come up with as im sure there is something else that you can use,i would be interested in some other options also as i dont fully trust the use of magic sculpt or any two part apoxy due to the health issues.

all the best mate

steve

Great work Tony on your first bust!!!!

After seeing this thing in real life today i have to say it's huge.. To be 100% honest it looks better in person and i also picked up that the hat looks a little too big for his head

Hi Daniel,

Thanks mate. It was great to meet you today and I'm glad we had time to work on your figures together.

Yes, the hat is too big for his head, but I haven't added any hair yet. Give me time mate and I'll sort it out.

G'Day Tony.
Much better , looking good.
Cheers
Alan

Hi Al,

Thanks mate, I've really appreciated your advice and your encouragement on this project.

Thanks also to Matthew and Steve for your kind words.

Great work Tony I will follow your progress. It's a pity that you have allergic reactions to magic sculpt. Good luck in finding an other medium.

Thank you Marcel,

I wont be able to sculpt for at least a week, as my hands are too sore and swollen, so I will use this time to investigate other types of sculpting mediums.

I took my half completed bust to WASMEx this weekend and I was very pleased that a number of people identified it as General Monash, without me telling them who the subject was. That was a tremendous boost to my confidence and only makes me more determined to keep going.

I realised on saturday aswell that many people where recognising who he was, I was thinking that you must hav e made him pretty accurate so far because of the feed back. As i said again, it looks better 1 on 1

Thanks Daniel,

I hope to re-start sculpting this bust once my hands have healed and I get them on some Sculpey. I hope you stick with your figures and remember those tips I gave you.

Hello Tony,

As a sculptor, I can tell you about the dreaded stage where every attempt to correct a sculpt can only make it worse .

So I'd suggest you start afresh with a new bust using the new medium. Don't discard your first sculpt. Keep it preciously as it will be the yardstick to measure your progress when you'll be sculpting your second one. Believe me, you'll be AMAZED!

HTH
Quang

G'day Quang,

Mate, you pose a very interesting and challenging question. I will give it very serious thought over the next week or so while I sort out which sculpting medium I'm going to work with and while I recover from my allergy.

I can see considerable merit in your suggestion. If I start again, I can apply everything I've learned so far and using my current bust as a guide hopefully do a better job second time around.

On the other hand, I have literally put my blood, sweat and tears into sculpting this bust already, and I'm reluctant to give up on it, particularly as I feel its now starting to come together. The changes I've made have certainly improved the bust,and correcting my early mistakes has been a very valuable learning experience for me. I've learned that mistakes can be rectified.

If I do decide to start again, I will almost certainly choose a smaller scale; probably 1/6th scale rather than 1/3rd scale. Until my hands are fully healed I can't sculpt anything anyway, so its a moot point right now.

Thanks for making this suggestion Quang. Since I started sculpting in June I've found a whole new reason to get excited and passionate about figure modelling.

I greatly appreciate your advice, and I'll let you know my decision once I'm ready to start sculpting again.