Question about putty as sea material

[Gwyl Blaser]

Hello All, I am new to ship in bottles and have hit a snag with my first attempt in that I cannot locate a source for Plasticine.  Does it go by a different name?  Is there a good source for it?

 

Tom

 

Tom,

 

Check out this post in a build log concerning sea material.

http://www.bottledshipbuilder.com/index.php?/topic/133-pirate-ship-in-hot-sauce-bottle/?p=1269

Gwyl

[Tom]

Does anyone have any hints or tips for making waves?  I've been trying to make a realistic ocean out of Fimo both in a bottle and in a dish (for practice) and so far my efforts look like a pre-school craft project.

[Dave Fellingham]

I use the rounded and polished end of a 3/16" / 5 mm steel rode to tap little wavelets into the entire surface until they are all overlapping each other after sculpting the general form of the waves. Don't try to make waves like you see at the beach, those only happen at the beach in shallow water. Look at lots of photos of deep water ocean (not surf - ships and ship captains don't want to be anywhere near surf) and don't try to make your practice oceans too dramatic.

[Bernard Kelly]

Hi Tom

I soldered the handle of a spoon to a steel rod. The end makes really good waves. You can also smooth out the putty if the waves are a little high.