SCULPTING 101 - #1 Creating a Custom Head with Sculpey

[RoyalBrickCustoms]

About 'SCULPTING 101'

SCULPTING 101 is a Lego® minifig customazation tutorial series for beginner-intermediate customizers looking for tips and techniques on various aspects of minifig customazation such as: custom lego heads, armor and weapons, painting, helmets, and decal creation, as well as creating a complete custom minifig This series will contain a total of 6 Lessons covering topics mentioned above.

SCULPTING 101 - Lesson #1: Creating a Custom Lego Head with Sculpey

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wanted to create a custom minifig that had a unique head, such as 'Fox' from Super Smash Bros. Brawl (SSBB). Well, now you can do that!

In this helpful sculpey tutorial, I will show you the basics of creating your own custom head for use with ANY standard LEGO® torso.

PLEASE NOTE: The sculpey used in this tutorial is oven-bake SCULPEY II, but these methods and tips can be applied to other types of modeling or sculpting clay(s) including air-dry clays.

PIECE CREATION

STEP 1: SUPPLIES

Here is the list of supplies you will need to create you custom head:

> Sculpting clay (I used SCULPEY II)

> A knife for cuttting the clay

> A LEGO® TECHNIC blue (or tan) connector peg with cross-axel

> A LEGO® TECHNIC short black connector peg

> A small strip of paper

STEP 2: PREPARING THE CLAY

It is important to work the clay (sculpey) with your hands first, in order to remove any cracks or holes in the clay you are working with before sculpting your desired piece.

If there are cracks in the clay when sculpting, your finished piece will be more prone to shearing and braking, than a piece with less or no visible cracks or holes would.

NOTE: You can use rubbing alcohol to remove undesired cracks from the clay when sculpting.

STEP 3: FORMING THE CLAY

Now that you have prepared your clay by removing all (or most) of the cracks, it is time to form or sculpt the clay into the desired head shape for your custom minifig.

Form a ball of clay with the desired amount you need to create your head.

NOTE: You may use any amount of clay needed to create your piece. Although I have found that a ball of clay about the size of a nickle will more than suffice for most pieces.

The rest of this step is all up to you! Form the clay into the desired shape or design for your head. Once you have done this move on to STEP 4.

NOTE: When forming and sculpting your piece be sure to leave the bottom of the head flat for use in STEP 4.

STEP 4: CREATING THE NECK HOLE

Once you have your sculpted piece it is time for the most important step: CREATING THE NECK HOLE!

You might be asking yourself by this point: "How are you supposed to create the neck hole if a minifig torso isn't even on the supplies list?"

Well I have discovered that if you use a LEGO® torso to create the neck hole, it does not create a very nice seal between the sculpted piece and the torso. Therefore, I have taken a new approach I call the "Double-Peg Hole Method"

In the Double-Peg Hole Method you use two different types of LEGO® TECHNIC peg pieces to create the neck hole.

For the first part need to you use the axel (cross) side of the blue connector peg with cross-axel to create a cross-shaped hole in the base (bottom) of the sculpted piece.

Next you need to use the peg connector piece and put a hole over the cross-shaped hole you just created, but first you have to push a strip of paper into the peg piece's hole so that you don't get clay in the peg.

After you have pushed the paper into the peg's hole it is time to create the second and last hole in the Double-Peg Hole Method.

For the last step push the paper-filled peg into the bottom of the piece directly over the cross-shaped hole in part one of the method.

Remove the peg, and then follow the curing instructions on the clay package.

Once the piece is cured you may paint it or add decals for further customazation.

NOTE: This tutorial did not contain pictures but I will edit it soon and post a link to the images for this tutorial.

CONCLUSION

By following this simple and easy-to-use tutorial you can create countless custom lego heads for your custom minifigures.

Questions and comments are welcome.

~RBC

Edited March 18, 2014 by RoyalBrickCustoms