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I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a wonderful day with family and friends! Today I have a number of updates and a fun announcement for you. 

First off, Kickstarter progress! 

We are still producing Cx5, filming and editing the video, and getting all the extras ready. For everyone who is eagerly awaiting their rewards, again I thank you for your patience. It's coming!

And for all of you who want to buy Cx5, here's where we're at: 

The Kickstarter process has taught us a lot about manufacturing large amounts of Cx5. We have been developing new production strategies and figuring out how to manufacture enough so that no one has to wait for Cx5 when we open our doors! We've been building an online store and soon you will be able to buy Cx5 worldwide. This is taking time, and we will let you know a release date when we are sure we're ready to rock and roll. We hope it can be before the year is up, but it may take longer. 

Now for the exciting part - the celebrity project we filmed for the Kickstarter tutorial video is out!

I was commissioned by NOKIA to sculpt talk show host Conan O'Brien as his alter ego, The Golden God of Finland. Today I present to you the sculpture currently gracing Conan's office; Conan riding his mighty steed the swan, the national bird of Finland, and proudly flying a Finnish flag. Check it out in the Gallery! This is the project that I'm using in the tutorial video to show the real world applications of Cx5. NOKIA asked me to make a quick video for Conan so he could see the sculpting process, and now you too can watch it here. These are just some of the shots that you'll get to see at length in the first sculpting tutorial video. Enjoy!

As you all may know, I ran a successful Kickstarter project last year to fund my first tutorial video. In the process of producing the Kickstarter rewards, Adam Beane Industries, Inc. got its official start and is now closer than ever to releasing both the first tutorial video and Cx5 to everyone in the world. 

At the beginning of 2012 we wrote an update to the Kickstarter contributors letting them know that their samples of Cx5 and the tutorial video DVDs would be shipping on April 1st. Now, that's a long time to wait for awesome rewards. And it's a long time for us to have to wait to release them! 

Why has the Kickstarter project taken so much time, and when will Cx5 and the first tutorial video be available? Read on for an excerpt from the update to the Kickstarter backers.

Shortly into filming the video and trying to make lots of Cx5 it hit us that we weren’t just fulfilling the Kickstarter commitment, we were truly launching the startup business, Adam Beane Industries, Inc. And as a small startup we realized there wasn’t any way to just finish Kickstarter and then focus on production and marketing, etc. It all had to happen at the same time, along with regularly scheduled commissions - the current lifeblood of the business. 

These months have been spent both starting a business and producing our first products. 

I started this project believing it would be relatively straightforward to scale up production of Cx5 to get everyone samples. Until launching this project I had been producing Cx5 only for myself, in small batches, but had invested in some equipment for large scale production in the future. I hired Alexis to help with daily operations and and we began developing production strategies and sourcing large quantities of materials. We realized that we were farther from large scale production of Cx5 than I thought. In manufacturing Cx5 for all of the Kickstarter contributors we began working out real world production issues and developing the manufacturing processes that will carry us to retail sales of Cx5.

As for the video, we have come so far with it and are very proud of what we’ve shot and edited, all without the benefit of a professional crew. But again we realized that we couldn’t treat this as a one-off production for Kickstarter. This was the first in a series, and we had to make sure that it set the tone for all of them. It needed to be the most thorough introduction to Cx5, since we will be releasing many other videos that build on it. We decided we needed to bring in some professional production assistance and have hired a director and an editor to make sure we are getting it right.

What started as a project to fund my first video became the catalyst to truly begin focusing on how Adam Beane Industries will manufacture Cx5 and bring my sculpting techniques to artists and inventors, worldwide. We have more than a Kickstarter project. We have a mission for the business. And you will see the results of all our work on April 1st.

I've heard from so many of you that you're eager to get your hands on Cx5 and try it out, and I know the tutorial video is going to be the perfect guide. Both Cx5 and the tutorial video will be available publicly after the Kickstarter contributors have received their rewards. 

So stay tuned. It will all be ready this Spring. 

P.S. Check out our first newsletter of 2012 here.

Summer is almost upon us and we are at last seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (and it is coming on fast!)

Those of you who have been following this process know it hasn't been what I'd anticipated. The production goals had to shift as word of the video and the material spread. We've had amazing market research results and have had to grow, behind the scenes, to ensure that we could meet the increasing demand for Cx5 and the first tutorial video. That growing process included raising quite a bit of extra capital, outside of the Kickstarter funds for the video, building bigger machines, and working with legal, financial, and management teams. 

The payoff for you from all these behind the scenes efforts will be having as much Cx5 available to you as you want, when you want it, and never again having to wait this long for a video or anything else that Adam Beane Industries offers. 

It's taken a long time and tremendous effort, but I am happy to say we are beginning to see things rolling off the production line! Our processes and machines are proprietary here at ABI, so we can't give you much of a sneak peek, but below are a few photos of the Cx5 bars coming off the line and the lables being printed at DES Printing. Also check out the video of those lables coming off of the press at a mind-bending speed!

 
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Video of labels being printed at DES Printing from Adam Beane on Vimeo.

At last we have sent out all the Kickstarter rewards!

The comments are flooding in and we're thrilled with what people have to say about the material and the video. 

Best of all, getting the rewards out to everyone frees us up to put all of our effort into preparing for the launch. We know everyone's really excited to get their hands on Cx5, and we're just as excited to open our doors.

For those of you asking where Cx5 will be available, you will be able to buy it on the Adam Beane website, and we will be shipping worldwide.

We'll be posting the official launch date soon.

I am incredibly happy to announce that we are now selling Cx5 and the video, Working in Cx5, in the Adam Beane Industries Store!

After years of developing Cx5 and building a company to manufacture it I am thrilled to see so many bars leaving our doors and heading into the hands of sculptors all over the world.

When I first invented Cx5 it changed my life as a sculptor. I had been yearning for a material that could achieve the level of detail, smoothness, and subtle texture that I needed in my sculptures, but was also easy to model, self supporting, and durable. What I wanted didn't exist, and I knew I wasn't the only one looking for a perfect material. Creating Cx5 was a labor of love before it was a commercial venture, and for years I sculpted the best dynamic poses, clothing folds and portraits of my career in Cx5 without having a structure in place to bring it to market. 

It has taken nearly three years of extremely hard work to establish a manufacturing company from the ground up, on US soil. All while continuing to do editorial illustration sculptures and produce the first video in the Sculpting Tutorial Series. I have so much I want to share with the sculpting community, from Cx5 and my specific techniques for taking advantage of its amazing properties, to my self-taught methods for portraiture and the human form.

The first step in sharing that knowledge has been producing the video, Working in Cx5. It is an introduction to materials, tools and techniques for everyone, both those new to Cx5 as well as those new to the ideas of iterative sculpting and hot sculpting. It is the guide to everything Cx5 can do and all of the techniques I use for each of my sculptures. 

 It has been a long journey bringing the material I love to the world and starting to share what I know, and now I'm excited to see what all of you create in Cx5. 

Happy sculpting!
-Adam

Wrapped bars of Cx5

It's been about a week since Toy Fair and we're still walking on air! Amazing things happened for Adam Beane Industries, and we met so many interesting people while we were there. For anyone who hasn't heard of it, Toy Fair is the largest toy and youth marketplace in the western hemisphere where vendors come to announce new products, and buyers decide on what toys to carry for the coming year. It's a meeting place for all of the leaders in the toy industry, as well as the creatives who design and manufacture everything from blocks and puzzles to collectible statues. Toy Fair is four days long, and sees some 80,000 people a day walk through its doors.

Sculpt here now, with Adam Beane!

I was invited by Toy Fair's Creative Factor (hosted by Brett Klisch) to do live sculpting demonstrations. The Creative Factor showcases the creative side of the toy industry with presentations and hands-on learning in a variety of creative fields, including traditional and digital sculpture, illustration, and product development. Each day I got to show new sculpting techniques in Cx5 to traditional sculptors, digital sculptors, prototypers and art directors. 

The team and I got to meet hundreds of artistic people who sculpt professionally, but what was really neat was learning how many people sculpt for themselves - including an art director who is a national snow sculpture finalist, and a booth assistant who said he just couldn't stop sculpting little faces and "has boxes of them at home."

​Showing visitors how to rough out a figure

The most rewarding part of Toy Fair was showing people the new possibilities of sculpting in Cx5, and watching their faces light up. Getting to share those moments of discovery always reminds me of what makes this material so unique, and why I love sculpting in it so much. Everyone who got their hands into Cx5 at Toy Fair loved it! It was also great to introduce professionals who weren't familiar with the sculpting process to how the original pieces are made, from start to finish. We got to talk about everything from sculpting from reference, concealing the separations in sculptures, the molding and casting process, and finish versus final materials. 

Big smiles when sculpting in Cx5 for the first time

Toy Fair was an amazing opportunity to connect with artists and creative professionals and invite them to try sculpting for the first time, or learn new techniques to advance their skills. Plus, it was a great kick-off to a year of appearances across the country. Next up, Monsterpalooza! I hope we see you there!

-Adam

Showing how to attach Steve Jobs' glasses

It will be nearly impossible to convey the awesomeness of Monsterpalooza in a blog post, but I'm always up for a challenge! If you haven't yet heard of Monsterpalooza, it is the biggest convention of special effects artists, followed only by Son of Monsterpalooza in October, which you can bet we'll be attending. We spent the weekend surrounded by the best talent in the special effects industry, marveling at their work, seeing original props up close, and watching set-worthy special effects makeup getting applied right before our eyes. 

Demos of sculpting without an armature!

We knew there would be tons of sculptors there, but we never could have imagined just how many. We got to hang out with Steve Wang, Brian Wade, Mike Hill, Andrew Clement, the Shiflett Brothers, Jordu Schell and many, many more. And we all got to play with Cx5! 

It's Brian Wade time!

One of the best parts of the show was doing one-on-one sculpting sessions with people who have been working in Cx5 and wanted to refine their techniques. Getting to work on hot sculpting, especially waxer techniques, in person, was fantastic. 

Mony Cazamea is going to make so many awesome things in Cx5!

And then there were the demos of what Cx5 can do. Everyone loved the cloth dipping and forming, and sculpting without an armature was an absolute favorite of sculptors, prop makers, and designers alike. Everybody who stopped by got a chance to use a waxer and other hot sculpting tools, and we demoed lots of techniques for those who were completely new to hot sculpting. By the end of the show we had a cool little pile of three-minute sculpts that visitors had made.

Jordu Schell gets his hands in Cx5, and everybody passes around the waxers.

I loved talking with people about what they've been making, and seeing how excited they were about Cx5. There was an incredible amount of talent at Monsterpalooza and I was honored to hang out with so many established and up-and-coming sculptors, and bring something new to their arsenal of materials. We'll be back in October for Son of Monsterpalooza, and this time we'll bring enough Cx5 and tutorial videos to not sell out on the second day! I hope we see you soon, and I leave you with you with my favorite sculptor of the weekend, Evan, who decided Cx5 was perfect for a pirate hook. 

-Adam

(Check out the full gallery on the Monsterpalooza event page!)

Evan and the pirate hook!

We had a great time hosting the first intensive portrait workshop this past May. We spent two days with eight participants and a live model, and everyone sculpted a portrait from the ground up - in Cx5, of course!

"This two day, intensive portrait sculpting workshop will introduce you to Adam's unique, intuitive approach to sculpting the face, and will give you the opportunity to work alongside Adam as he demonstrates the process of sculpting a 1/4 scale portrait from a live model..." -Workshop description

We had people come from California, Ohio, New York and Brazil(!). A few people had already been working in Cx5, but for many this was an introduction to the material, as well as to my methods for portraiture. 

We set up each work station so everyone got a Kerr Ultra Waxer to sculpt with, the same one that I use, as well as alcohol lamps, metal tools, and a strong down-light, which is essential for sculpting at this scale. We did most of our sculpting with the waxers and different tips, and it was great to see everyone picking up the techniques on the first day.

Tessa, our model, was amazing. She sat for us for both days, and took breaks to walk around and see how all of the miniature versions of her face were progressing. I was impressed to see everyone do so well with new methods of capturing a likeness.

The next workshop dates will be posted soon, and I'm looking forward to more one-on-one time with sculptors. It was amazing to see what came out of two days of intense instruction and sculpting. Thank you all for making it a fantastic weekend! 

-Adam

This week we're excited to announce something completely new - live broadcasts from the studio! I'll be showing you tons of different ways of working in Cx5, and you can get your questions answered live on the air. 

We're using Google+ Hangouts On Air to stream half-hour sessions about all kinds of topics, from how to start a sculpture in Cx5, to finishing techniques and how to work with a waxer. And, if you're one of the first nine people to sign up for a Hangout, you can work on your Cx5 project live on the air with me.

Cx5 is a truly unique sculpting and prototyping material, and we get questions each week about what Cx5 can do, and how it can do it. We've been thrilled to show it off at events like Toy Fair and Monsterpalooza, where we really get to work one-on-one with sculptors.

The Working in Cx5 Tutorial Video has always been the go-to resource for comprehensive information about Cx5, but there's no substitute for getting a specific question answered in real time, and this is our way of bringing the studio to you!

Now that sculptors all over the world are working in Cx5, we want to invite everyone to be part of the conversation. Each Hangout will focus on a specific aspect of working in Cx5. Ask questions, get answers, and show off what you're working on, live on the air!

See you soon! 

-Adam

How do Hangouts work? 

Hangouts On Air are run on Google+, and you can see all the Hangouts currently scheduled on our Google+ page. Sign in to your Google+ account and reply to any event so we know you'll be there!

Each Hangout will be broadcast live on our website, as well as our Google+ page, YouTube channel, our company Facebook page and the Cx5 Facebook page. That's pretty much everywhere, since we want to make these as accessible as possible. 

You can tune in live at any of these locations, and watch the broadcast as its happening.

And if you want to ask questions, type us one on Google+ or Twitter using the hashtag #AskCx5. Just add that to the end of your question, and we'll be able to see all the current questions during the broadcast.

If you miss a Hangout, tune into our YouTube channel after it's over to watch the recording.

Want to participate in a Hangout?

Up to 9 people can be on a Hangout with me. You can sign up to get into the next hangout at www.adambeaneindustries.com/hangouts, and the first 9 people to sign up will be in! As long as you have a fast internet connection, a modern web browser, and a web cam, you should be all set to go. Check the official Hangout system requirements here.

To be in the Hangout you have to be on Google+, so make sure you're signed up and then add Adam Beane Industries, Inc. to one of your circles. This will let us invite you to the Hangout! 

We are so excited to announce our newest addition to the Adam Beane Industries Store - the Kerr Ultra Waxer 2! But we aren't just offering the waxer you might expect; we've put together the ideal package for hot-sculptors. 

Our Kerr Ultra Waxer 2 comes with the right tips for sculpting, and one of them is an Adam Beane Industries exclusive.

Since the unit was originally intended for the dental industry, the default tips it normally comes with are two long, thin wire-like tips with rounded ends. They don't lift material, move material, or make good details. They are just not useful for sculpting, and so until now everyone who went out to buy a Kerr waxer also had to separately buy different tips.

I will tell you, after years of experimentation, the best tips for hot-sculpting are the Small Denture tip and the Beane Detailing tip, which is a heavily modified and customized 1/2 Hollenback. These are the only two tips that I use for all of my sculpting, and these are the tips that come standard with a Kerr Ultra Waxer 2 from Adam Beane Industries.

If you already have a Kerr waxer you can also buy the tips separately right on the store, starting in February.

What makes these two tips the best?

When hot-sculpting, you have to be able to lift and move material. This allows for sculpting both subtractively and additively at the same time; lifting from one area and moving the material to build up another area. Both of these tips are perfect for this, but on different scales. The Small Denture tip is very big and great for moving large amounts of material, smoothing surfaces, and making bold changes. The Beane Detailing tip is what I use for all of my detail work, everything from eyes, lips and hair to hands, shoes, etc.

So, what makes the Beane Detailing tip better than a 1/2 Hollenback?

I've been working with a Kerr waxer since I started sculpting, and as I developed Cx5 I began working with a modified 1/2 Hollenback tip to do small, fine, detail work. It has the precise shapes and angles for great hot-sculpting. Sharing this tip with all of you means that I can show you better ways to achieve detailed, finished sculptures in Cx5. A regular 1/2 Hollenback is about halfway there to being a good sculpting tip, but when you hold it for sculpting the tip is exactly 90° from where it needs to be, which makes sculpting with it a lot like trying to play golf with a golf club that has its head twisted 90°, flat against the grass. Also, the standard 1/2 Hollenback tip is too thick to give good, clean lines, and it has too wide an angle between the tip and the barrel. The Beane Detailing tip addresses all of these problems and adds some incredible edges and angles that I'll show you next.

How to do detail work with the Beane Detailing tip

There are a few specific sculpting motions I use with the Beane Detailing tip to achieve six essential things:  

1. Laying down thin lines
2. Moving and placing material
3. Stitching pieces
4. Cutting fine lines in
5. Making precise holes
6. Adding tiny droplets
7. Making crisp edges

These are the basics for doing detail work in Cx5, and what you see below is a demonstration of the motion to use with the Beane Detailing tip for each one. The tip will behave differently at different temperatures, and each of these techniques works within a low, medium or high temperature range. Experiment with temperatures, speeds, and angles to get the results you want!

1. Laying down thin lines

Use a medium temperature

2. Moving and placing material

Use a medium temperature

With Cx5 on the tool and the point facing toward you, hold the tool so that only the break makes contact with the piece. Draw it towards you to lay down a thin line.

Use the heel to move and place large amounts of material.

3. Stitching Pieces

Use a high temperature

4. Cutting fine lines in

Use a very low temperature

Press together two pieces that have been broken and use the point to melt a small hole into the seam. Let the Cx5 melt completely and draw the point out slowly, leaving the Cx5 to fill in the hole. Go around the seam "stitching" it together.

Hold the tool with the point facing towards you and draw it away from you across your sculpture. (You can also reverse this, and hold it with the point facing away from you and draw it towards you.) 

5. Making precise holes

Use a low temperature

6. Adding tiny droplets

Use a medium temperature

Hold the (clean!) point over the surface and poke it into the sculpture. Wipe excess Cx5 off of the point before making the next hole. 

With Cx5 on the tool, touch the point gently to the sculpture where you want to place the droplet. 

7. Crisp edging

Use a low temperature

Draw the side along a sculpted edge to create a crisp finish.

I hope this post has given you some great starting points for hot-sculpting with the Kerr Ultra Waxer 2, and a look into the specific techniques I use with the Beane Detailing tip. 

Happy sculpting, everyone!

-Adam

Monsterpalooza was a blast this year, and I'll be writing up a whole post about it soon! For now, take a look at the interview I was invited to do for the Stan Winston School of Character Arts Monster Show, live from Monsterpalooza! It was a lot of fun teaching the inimitable Mike Hill how to sculpt in Cx5s. (What's Cx5s, you ask? Well, watch the video to find out! You'll hear a lot more about it soon.)

Until next time, 

-Adam

This year's Monsterpalooza was a huge success, and even more exciting than last year's! We got to see a lot of great makeups and costumes and spend time with some of the best artists in the special effects industry and hang out with some of the stars of FaceOff!

New booth ready to go!

Matt Cable as The Master from Buffy the Vampire Slayer attacks Alexis!

The fantastic Wane Anderson from FaceOff Season 4, and also Adam and Jessica being dorks.

Mike Hill's amazing Frankenstein sculpt was not to be missed.

We were particularly excited to unveil the sibling product to Cx5: Cx5s! That's right, the soft version of Cx5. Everyone at Monsterpalooza got a chance to see it in action and experience some of the very new and unique properties that it brings to the Cx5 family. Monsterpaloozians got the first chance to buy Cx5s, and the official launch of Cx5s comes this May.

Lots of Cx5s waiting for new homes.

There were a lot of sculpting induced smiles at our booth.

FaceOff's Eric Zapata having fun with Cx5s.

Since our booth got a chance to grow this year we were happy to welcome the amazing and talented Jessica Dru to the team for the weekend. She sculpted some cool creature busts in Cx5 and demoed hot-sculpting with the Kerr Ultra Waxer 2. 

Double awesome!

Jessica Dru sculpts a monster bust in Cx5s with the Kerr Ultra Waxer 2.

Jessica Dru and Adam hang out with the great Steve Wang.

Another fun announcement from this year's show are brand new sculptable, poseable roughs in Cx5s. We warmed up the pre-sculpted figures in warm water and went to town repositioning them and adding all kinds of features from zombie faces to giant claw arms. Poseable roughs will be for sale soon, too!

Rod Maxwell from FaceOff Season 3 - possibly one of the nicest people ever - sculpts details on a zombie.

Erick Sosa sculpts really fast! What a great edited rough he's got there.

Adam demos sculpting one of the roughs and Emily Coleman, author of Creature Sculpt, gets her hands in Cx5s for the first time.

Other highlights of the show were meeting yet more amazing industry professionals and touring some of my all time favorite studios - Stan Winston Studios and New Deal Studios - responsible for many of the amazing effects seen in movies like Terminator, Predator, Alien, The Nightmare Before Christmas and so much more. Holding the on-screen props in real life was a rush.

Officially a bad ass with the Terminator 2 gun at Stan Winston Studios.

Chris Vaughn shows off the Terminator T-X arm at Stan Winston Studios.

The Betty from Alien Vs. Predator, made by Stan Winston Studios.

That's a Coraline mouse in Fon Davis' office at New Deal Studios!

The New Deal Studios train from Hugo! It actually got crashed through a miniature station for that effect...

It's very convincing, even a little squishy! From James and the Giant Peach at New Deal Studios.

For more photos check out the full gallery on the Appearances page, and keep watching for more news about Cx5s and poseable roughs!

-Adam

Of all the exciting things that have happened in the past few months, this one is at the top of my list! (Well actually, it's neck-and-neck with another amazingly cool thing that I haven't announced yet, but will soon...) I have always wanted to attend a Maker Faire just to see the amazing exhibits, but in past years I've just been too busy. At last, work won't be keeping me from Maker Faire, it will be taking me there!

This year we're not only going to the Bay Area Maker Faire, we've been selected as Startup Sponsors of the event, and we've been invited to give a talk on the Maker Pro stage!

Check out the Appearances page for dates and times.

Adam Beane Industries will have a booth in the Sponsor section with Cx5 and Cx5s demos, and I'm looking forward to showing all of the unique properties of these materials that take them beyond traditional sculpting media. Makers are known for their innovative uses of all kinds of materials, and I'm excited to get Cx5 into their arsenal. I think makers will be excited to discover that in addition to being sculpted, Cx5 can be machined, cast, melted, brushed onto other surfaces, and used in many ways traditional plastics and joining compounds are used.

Plus Fabrication's Valentine's Day test run of CNC milling Cx5

We're going to be demoing these uses and encouraging makers to toss Cx5 in their CNC machines and 3D printers and show us what they make with Cx5!

In addition to demoing Cx5 and Cx5s we are honored to have been selected to present on the Maker Pro stage, a venue dedicated to "fellow makers who are interested in the connections between making and entrepreneurship." This will be our first time telling the story of how Adam Beane Industries came to be, and we are thrilled to be presenting to such a like-minded group of innovators. Here's the description of our talk that you'll be able to come to at Maker Faire!

One Pound of Innovation: The journey of a startup that brought a premium low-tech product into a burgeoning high-tech marketplace, and the unexpected applications that can arise from creating something simple. Inventor, entrepreneur and renowned sculptor Adam Beane talks about being a maker in an evolving world. Alexis Ettner, VP and co-owner of ABI, joins to tell the story of building the company; how they stayed inspired, motivated, and focused to bring a unique prototyping material, Cx5, to market. Watch their live demonstration of this versatile material and get inspired to make, invent, and succeed.

Maker Faire is coming up fast, but there is still time to get tickets to "The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth." We hope we'll see you there, and in the meantime, check out some of the amazing exhibits that will be there right alongside us.

Duane Flatmo's El Pulpo Mechanico

Shawn Thorsson’s Props and Costumes

Titanoboa: A 50 ft Electro-mechanical Snake

A few months ago we began offering the Kerr Ultra Waxer 2 for sale on our store, complete with sculpting specific tips. It's a package that you can't get anywhere else, and we've been proud to be providing the best waxer for hot-sculpting. 

Recently, though, we've been out of stock, and we've been getting a lot of questions about why they aren't available for purchase on our site. The answer is that the waxers are on backorder from Kerr, and we simply can't get them in stock until more are manufactured by Kerr. The same goes for both of the tips that we offer. Kerr isn't always able to send us waxers, and as a result we may occasionally be out of stock for a time. Kerr assures us that this is a rare occurrence, so hopefully in the near future we will always have them!

We expect to have our unique waxer package back in stock within the month. The best way to be notified when the waxers are in stock is by going to the waxer page on the store and clicking "notify me when it's available." If you've done this in the past and have gotten one notification but weren't able to buy a waxer, do it again to be on the current list! 

We hope this answers a lot of questions! We're working to get them in stock as soon as possible!

This was our first Maker Faire, and it absolutely will not be our last! Maker Faire was amazing, and we met all manner makers, inventors, and startups. Some very neat collaborations started to take shape there, and we're excited to see what the future holds!

For now, we have some great pictures and videos of the weekend to share. One of the neatest things was seeing how excited the kids of Maker Faire were to get their hands in Cx5s. There's nothing like the unbridled creativity of young people, and Maker Faire had an amazing number of inquisitive minds ready to make art with us. 

Start of the day and the crowds rush in!

A very adorable trilobite ride.

El Pulpo Mechanico and the dragon up close.

Roy the Robot tells a joke.

I hope we see you in the Bay Area next year, we'll certainly be back in 2015!

Cheers,

Adam

Our newest innovation

This month kicks off with an announcement we've been excited to make for quite some time; the arrival of Cx5s! Cx5s, the softer side of Cx5, is the other member of the Cx5 family, and together they form a complete sculpting system where you can truly mix your own medium. 

The Cx5 family

I created Cx5 to be the hardest sculpting material on the market; at room temperature it is comparable in hardness to a urethane casting. Many toy sculptors and prototypers do their finish work on urethane castings because of the clean result that can be achieved in plastic, and Cx5 made intricate and highly polished finish work of that same kind possible in the original sculpting material. One of the goals in releasing Cx5 was to give the sculpting community a material that solved the problems of sculpting intricate pieces at small scales and having to use multiple materials, but there was always a plan to have two sides to the equation. Cx5s is that other side. 

What makes it different from Cx5?

The same gray color, the same sized bar, the same weight, the same melting point… Cx5 and Cx5s are matched products meant to be used side by side or mixed together to create a sculptor's ideal hardness of material. So what makes Cx5s so different from its harder sibling, Cx5?

Cx5s is an all around softer product with new properties that make hot-sculpting the best it's ever been. Like Cx5, it is solid at room temperature, but instead of behaving like a urethane plastic it allows a sculptor to press in details without added heat. It will still hold detail like Cx5, but a cold metal tool can make an impression in cold Cx5s, and the material can be pushed easily with just a little added warmth. This allows for creating unbelievable levels of detail that you don't have to worry about thumbing out, without excessive heat from a waxer. This is a boon when working in very small sizes.

Amazing things happen when working with Cx5s in its warm state. Like Cx5, Cx5s also behaves like soft clay when it is heated to 125°F, but it holds its heat incredibly well, which means it stays soft and modelable for a very long time. Hand heat alone can keep a piece of Cx5s workable like clay for virtually as long as you'd like. Another benefit of its ability to retain heat is that Cx5s will stay at a uniform temperature throughout in any heating vessel, eliminating the need to adjust temperatures on your vessel as you sculpt from it.

Although Cx5s is the soft version of Cx5, it was developed from the ground up to be the softest it can be while still remaining self-supporting at all sizes and needing no armature. It is a revolutionary formula that is ideal for any size sculpture, especially those larger than 12 inches and smaller than 12 millimeters, because of its unique ability to remain workable for long periods of time, and require very little added heat to make fine details at small scales. When you do add heat, however, it behaves beautifully - it flows smoothly under a waxer and responds easily to hot-sanding, making for an exquisite sculpting experience at any temperature.

Mix your own medium

Cx5 and Cx5s were designed to be mixed together to adapt to a sculptor's unique style, scale, and climate. Both materials come in segmented bars, and each segment is 2 ounces of material. This allows a sculptor to easily measure out a mix of the two materials and melt them together to create a Cx5 hardness level that is exactly what they want, and is always repeatable. For example, I've recently started sculpting in a 50/50 mix of Cx5 and Cx5s for small portraits. It's a great combination of the qualities of both materials. You may want a softer or a harder feel, and you can vary the mix depending on the project. When measured out this way, you can fine-tune your Cx5 experience to suit your exact sculpting needs, every time, for every project.

Get sculpting!

Cx5s has been years in the making, and I'm thrilled to be bringing it to you now! You can find Cx5s on our store, and I'm looking forward to seeing all of the amazing pieces you sculpt. 

Cheers,

Adam

Today I am inviting everyone to something very exciting - a chance to join me live, online, for a full day of sculpting a figure from life. The Stan Winston School of Character Arts is the best resource for learning the business of special effects online, and I'm proud to be joining the likes of Steve Wang, Jordu Schell, Don Lanning, Simon Lee, Casey Love and so many other fantastic artists as a sculpting instructor for SWSCA.

Live, Online

June 14th, 2014 | 9am-5pm PST  

Sign Up

On June 14th I'll be teaching a live online course at SWSCA, and you can join in as a participant from anywhere in the world. For everyone who has wanted a tutorial on sculpting the figure, here it is! This will be a full day of sculpting from life in Cx5s, exploring an armature-free approach to sculpting a 1/4 scale figure. 

The course will be taught in the newly released Cx5s

A two part series

I am teaching this class as part one of a two part series for SWSCA. This first course will be all about sculpting the figure from life, and the second course will be about transforming that same sculpture into a radically different maquette, based on original concept art. Through both courses I will show you how the unique properties of Cx5s make it perfect for capturing dynamic gesture and accurate anatomy, and demonstrate how the freedom from armatures will allow us to take our sculptures and transform them into intricate poses a live model couldn't hold, while still maintaining the accurate proportion and anatomy we established by sculpting from life.

Jessica Dru in a costume she designed and created with Fortunate Nora

Meet our model - Jessica Dru

During this course I will be working with Jessica Dru, a talented 3D artist and fantastic model. Make sure to check out her art on her Facebook page to get to know her before the course!

During the course she will be explaining what it takes to be an artist's model and how to pick a pose that works for both the model and the sculptor.

Taught in Cx5s

The newly released Cx5s is the softer version of Cx5, and is ideal for sculpting from life because of its unique long working time. You can read all about Cx5s in our recent blog post, and find it for sale in the store.

Course Curriculum

You'll find a complete course description, curriculum and materials list on the SWSCA course page. I hope to see you there!

Oh boy do we have waxers! After a long absence of the Kerr Ultra Waxers on our store we are pleased to announce we don't expect to be running out of stock again. We're working closely with Kerr to ensure that we can always supply you with the perfect waxer configuration for hot-sculpting. 

As before, this is the Kerr Ultra Waxer 2 with exclusive sculpting tips, a package you can't find anywhere else. 

If you already have a Kerr Ultra Waxer (either the original or the 2) we also have the Small Denture tip and the Beane Detailing tip for sale. And don't forget to check out the mini tutorial post on hot-sculpting with a waxer!

Happy hot-sculpting!

-Adam

Our first Stan Winston School of Character Arts course was an amazing experience, and part two is happening on October 14th! Join me live for a full day of figure sculpting, this time focusing on character creation and finish work.

Live, Online

October 14th, 2014 | 9am-5pm PST  

Sign up now!

On October 14th I'll be teaching a live online course at SWSCA, and you can join in as a participant from anywhere in the world. We're taking the 1/4 scale Cx5s sculpture of Jessica that we roughed out in the first SWSCA course, and transforming it into a fully realized fantasy maquette.

You'll learn how to evaluate concept art, plan your sculpting approach and use hot-sculpting techniques to finish your character, with Jessica Dru as our live model. 

This is the perfect course for everyone who wants to learn finishing techniques and how to take a rough sculpture to a completed look. We'll spend the whole day exploring sculpting techniques that will give you all the tools you need to create a fully realized fantasy character. 

A two part series

This is the second course in a two part series, and it builds on the work we did in the SWSCA course Female Figure Sculpting in Cx5s.

Through both courses I will show you how the unique properties of Cx5s make it perfect for capturing dynamic gesture and accurate anatomy, and demonstrate how the freedom from armatures will allow us to take our sculptures and transform them into fully realized fantasy characters, while still maintaining the accurate proportions and anatomy we established by sculpting from life.

Meet our model - Jessica Dru

Jessica Dru was the star of the first video in this two part series, and will be joining us again! During this course she will be sharing her costuming and character creation expertise, as well as modeling, of course. She's a talented 3D artist and fantastic model, make sure to check out her art on her Facebook page to get to know her before the course. 

Jessica Dru modeling the chest piece she designed and sculpted. Photo by Zack Podratz Photography. 

Taught in Cx5s (and a bit of Cx5)

The newly released Cx5s is the softer version of Cx5, and is ideal for sculpting from life because of its unique long working time. You can read all about Cx5s in our recent blog post, and find it for sale in the store. We'll also be using Cx5 for different embellishments and aspects of the sculpture, and talking about the advantages of each and when to chose Cx5 or Cx5s for your project. 

Course Curriculum

You'll find a complete course description, curriculum and materials list on the SWSCA course page. I hope to see you there!