Touching cloth: sculpting folds of fabric in greenstuff

Hello there! I’ve been sculpting a hell of a lot of cloth for my necromunda gangs lately and received quite a few messages asking how I go about ... touching cloth.

So here we go!
Tool list:
•Two bits of clear plastic (the plastic from the clam shell packages are ideal.)
•Petrolium jelly. Any Vaseline will do. I’m using sculpting Vaseline.
•Greenstuff. You can give it a go with miliput but I’ve not tried it. And greenstuff is pliable.
•Sculpting tools.
•Razor blades.


Right let’s do this.
First you want to cut your plastic into two sheets

Rub a little Vaseline onto each to stop the greenstuff sticking

Place your green stuff between and squish and move the plastic until you have the right thickness for what your wanting. A firm even pressure for best results. It’s really easy to stick the greenstuff to the plastic. But this system is so quick if you mess up it’s easy to try again.

Now cut away the excess until you have your base cloth. Using your sculpting tools pick it up to avoid fingerprints and push it into place. Don’t rush this step. Greenstuff has a long drying time so you have lots of time to work it into the right shape.

I use a rubber sculpting tool to push it into position, I start by getting the corners and pushing them into voids in the model with a cocktail stick, under shoulder pads or hip pads are best. Then using a small rubber sculpting tool manipulate it into shape, if you don't have one of these get a cheap pencil with a rubber on the end and shave it into a chisel shape. boom cut price sculpting tool. Don't use dental tools for this step. although you may feel you have more control with them you will end up squashing it into shapes with hard edges. The rubber tools are the way to go. Now leave to dry and presto, loin cloths, cloaks, and drying human skins for days!





Greenstuff sculpting is still quite a new area for me too so this is very much my own uninformed opinion. Good luck. And happy painting.
Henry