Assistance With Claymation Maquettes
Hi all, I currently work in a place where the climate is cold for 2/3rds of the year. Previously however I lived in the US south where it was warm enough to literally melt my clay half the year. Now that I live in a cold climate, I have been using both a toaster oven set to its lowest setting and a heatgun to try to keep my clay soft and pliable while I animate. As you can see from the photos it is sadly not working. My figures crack within a few minutes of coming out of the heat and it has literally quadrupled the amount of time it takes me to animate.
The heads are 3D printed with different face plates and the body is made from a mix of wire, epoxy clay "bones", and 3D printed rib and hip blocks. The depth between the edge of the clay and the underlying armature is on average 5 - 7mm. I have tested the clay without an armature and it behaves exactly the same way in terms of cracking as with an armature.
I am using a mix of Van Aken brand plasticine (mostly but not exclusively claytoonz) which I mix up in a hot pot to get the colors I need. Aside from adding a shit ton of mineral oil to the pot, I don't know how to manage this constant cracking and having to heat the maquettes every 3 or 4 frames (literally) is not working for me.
Any suggestions to help me figure this out are greatly appreciated!
Edit: for some reason my image didn't upload so here it is reposted to imgur: https://imgur.com/a/Al4zP2D