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Here's the gazelle head. One antler was snapped off, and a piece of the ear was completely missing.
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I began by roughly molding the size and shape of my Sculpey, utilizing the remaining ear as a rough
guideline. Sculpey is an over-bakeable polymer clay. It's relatively non-toxic, but should not be used
in food-prep areas.
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Here I've molded my rough 'prosthetic' onto the broken stub of ear. Because the edge of the wood was splintered, it was a fantastic surface for the Sculpey to grip onto.
I made the ear slightly thicker at the seam so it would be more structurally sound. This was with the intent to sand down the Sculpey after baking.
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I very gently removed the prosthetic ear and placed it on a baking sheet, (I use this
sheet for Sculpey ONLY). I baked it at 250 degrees for fifteen minutes. This process hardened the Sculpey.
While the prosthetic was baking and cooling, I glued the antler back on with basic wood glue. To ensure a seamless repair, I went over the raw edges with a black marker.
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Using wood glue, I attached the cooled Sculpey to the ear.
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Using an electric rotary tool, I sanded the excess Sculpey.
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Here is the finished, sanded Sculpey.
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If I can avoid using paint on a repair job, I usually do. I'm a big fan of
using Prismacolor markers on any surface possible. It adheres and blends very
well on Sculpey. I took note of the surface of the wood, it's a mixture of reds and deep
browns.
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Once I finished coloring the prosthetic, I noticed the transition from Sculpey to wood wasn't smooth. I used wood glue (which dries clear), to smooth out the transition. I later colored over the wood glue.
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Here's the before and after on the wooden gazelle head!
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