Saturday, January 3, 2015

Chatting: How to warm Cx5

It was late last night and Nate and I were passing cool sword vids to each other and Nate had a fun idea. "lets do a post where we just chat about warming Cx5."  We jumped right in and the following chat is the result.


Nate- Hello everyone, im Nate!

Aaron-I like how it feels on ma hands

Oh, sorry, I'm aaron
...

I like how it feels on ma hands

Nate-Me too!

Aaron-Were talking about Cx5

Nate-The first time you held warm cx5 in your hands tell me whats the first thing you made?

A penis!

Don't tell me. You didnt.

Aaron-I squished it through my fingers for a bit. Then made a snake

No balls

Nate-Uh.. yeah.. i mean.. i made a snake too.

Aaron-My kids were with me, they wanted to try it out

Nate-How did you warm it up the first time?

Aaron-I don't have anything fancy, just a ceramic bowl and the microwave for 45 seconds

Nate-You got yours about a month before I got mine. And when I asked you how to warm it up. You told me 45 seconds.

Aaron-Yep, I said that here too

How did you do it?

Nate-Microwave, and it worked really good! But i knew that if i was going to sculpt something anything longer than 5-8 mins.. i needed a more lasting solution. Then i tried this..  boil some water in a sauce pan, i got a extra metal plate from costa vida. Put the cx5 in the plate and put it on the boiling water.. kinda like melting chocolate.

Aaron-I did that once but I was running out so after it melted it was really thin, and I did more scraping then sculpting

Nate-Yup.. same.. melted it too much.. turned into water pretty much.

Aaron-It would work great for more then one square

Nate-Maybe.. but i found when i took the plate out of the water.. it cooled so fast that i hardly could use it.. so that was a no go.

Aaron-But that's how Adam beans does it. He melts it down to a liquid then let's it cool down.

Nate-I scraped it out.. poked a hole in the pan.. and ruined it.. i was sad..
That's funny

Nate-So i was back to the bowl.

And the microwave.

Aaron-I found my pan at work, it was used by the Latinos to warm tortillas, they threw it away, and said I could have it.

Nate-Did i tell you i tried a plastic bowl?

Oooo.. good idea!

Aaron-Plastic bowl...?

Did it work?

Nate-an extra one in the cupboard.. no.. in fact don't ever try it..

I was desperate though!

I wanted to create!

Aaron-Well. Don't leave your cx5 while its warming up on the stove...
Not for a sec

Nate-How high do you warm it up at and for how long!?

Aaron-I burned it, a whole square worth

Holding fists to the heavens crying! Nooooo!

Aaron-My son turned it to warm, and walked away with out telling me. It didn't take long to burn it. Maybe three minutes

It was a sad day.

Nate-Wow.. i didnt know it could burn?

Aaron-Like melting plastic

Nate-It smells good warmed up.. whats it smell like burned?

Aaron-Burnt lotion

I boiled some, just to see

Nate-Thats no good.

Nate-You boiled lotion?

Aaron-No, cx5. Its heavier then water

Nate-Interesting.. so it sank?

Aaron-It sinks, but if you break it up it forms into little balls that stay separated

Nate-Can you melt them back together?

Aaron-I let it cool down and I had all these little tiny misshaped balls

Yep

Nate-Heh heh.. balls

Misshapen balls

Aaron-Yea, misshapen

But mostly I use the microwave

Nate-Sorry.. thats the beavis in me.

Nate-I was determined to find a cheaper solution, than buying a electric skillet.

Aaron-I am using Cx5s its the soft version. I have about 10 min work time with it.

Nate-Do you have a crockpot at your home?

Aaron-Yes but its huge

Nate-Mine too.. but i steal it anyways.

Shhh dont tell the missus.

Aaron-I once built a Bunsen burner for my ceramic bowl. that worked OK. But I'm nervous with the open flame for to long

Nate-I ended up using regular ceramic cereal bowls, i take the ceramic crock pot bowl out. And just put my bowl in. And turn it up to high.

Then when its all melted. I turn it to med.

Perfect temperature

Aaron-And I used a candle warmer, it worked but was so freakin slow

Nate-Yeah that would be slow..

Who has time for that?!

Aaron-I found some nichrome wire for 7 bucks on Amazon. I want to make a bowl with a warming element inside of it just for cx5

Nate-So.. what i do now is.. start out in the microwave.. then put it in the crockpot. Tada!

OooOooo.. sounds like a project!

Aaron-If you heat it in the crockpot in the micro wave the crock pot will keep the heat you know

Nate-Explain yourself!

Aaron-Yes, but I'm torn, do I find a kiln and pay for the bake, or do I build my own kiln

Nate-Well.. i've been down to the thrift store looking for cheap, but good alternative methods.

Aaron-Adam beans puts his crockpot in the microwave (the bowl part) it stays warm a long time, better if you keep the lid on after.

Nate-Huh.. i did not know that.. but i don't use a dedicated ceramic crock pot insert. I just use my cx5 cereal bowl.

Aaron-Just find another hot plate, those are always at goodwill.

Nate-Yeah, i found one for three bucks!

Aaron-My bowl is a ceramic mixing bowl, it holds heat really well
Its about five 8th's thick

Nate-Mine holds heat like.. well.. poop.

So i have to keep it heated.

Aaron-I think thats the trick, a good heat retaining container.

Nate- The hot plate works well.

For me at least.

Aaron-Do you have any other heating tricks up your sleeves

Nate-Nope, i think we have covered it.

Aaron-Nope

Nate-Nope?!

Aaron-I warmed some in warm water

Nate-Oh? Do tell.

Aaron-Its water resistant, so it warmed up nice, but I needed to dry it off to add it to my sculpt

I've used a blow dryer

To heat up small bits

Nate-Oh.. and dont forget the alcohol lampy

Aaron-I only use lampy for small bits and bonding cold cx5 to each other. Ma lampy is mostly used for tooling and shaping

Nate-The trick is.. the top is playable.. while just below the surface is more melty.. thats how i like it.
In the bowl? About lampy, me too.

Aaron-But I just like the feel of it on my fingers

Nate-Cause i dip my tool in the softer stuff. And can add little details or build up with smaller amounts

Aaron-I think its my arthritis speaking

Nate-Yucky arthritis!

Aaron-Your technique reminds me of that silversmith guy

Nate-I got it from the silversmith guy!

Aaron-I've never seen anyone sculpt with wet wax before

I'll get the link

Nate-Yeah, he was inspiring.

Aaron-Well readers, we may not be pros but were not afraid to jump in

Nate-Or make mistakes

Aaron-There is so much you can do wit cx5 that the mind boggles

And its just fun to work with

Any last words nate

Nate-Even stuff that hasn't even been thought of! Its up to people like us to really push this medium to new heights.

We are the creators.. we do what we want! What are you going to do with it?

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