Sculpting and Texture work...

[Xato]

Ok, so soon i will be embarking on my mod quest for an ultimate case! But for now, i need to know a little about sculpting and texturing.
what i need to know for now, is first of all how to sculpt something which would look like this... and be sturdy enough to handle a bit of movement and poking, etc. This is what i'm after... Stalagmites which form in Ice Caves.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/Xato/icey.jpg
<3 the Paint diagram.
I want them to look roughly like those in the top right of this picture, with the texture you see at the bottom right.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y206/Xato/l45.jpg

And this means i'll need to give them a nice Bumpy texture so i can drybrush them to look like frosty blueish ice.
What i really want to know is, what would be the best thing to sculpt them in... Clay, then make a mould from that for plastic maybe? I'm open to all (reasonable :D) suggestions.

And then, what would be the best to get the texture on after i've made the main structure... i was thinking a spray on snow substance, but i've heard that it is very temporary.

[temmink]

You could make them out of a couple of layers of plexi with different finishes, even a blue tinged one, then you could use blue led's to get some cool lighting effects.

[Malatory]

Non-Resonable answer: Hot Metal / Lead, then use the spray acustic for texture..

Resonable answer: Sculpty or bondo, then use something like spray on glue and clay powder or cut/edge it into the item ahead of time.

[Frakk]

as we were discussing it back b4, sculpey or body filler would work for the shape, and I still think snow spray would give you a nice effect and you wouldnt have to paint it. if you spray a layer of clearcoat on it it will be durable and shiney. dremeling and engraving the texture would take way too long for the same effect.

[Bum]

Just a thought on how it could be done.
::Warning--Excessive Work Involved::
Make the shapes out of Plexi as previously suggested and then sand(bead)-blast it for the texture. Using different sizes of media would probably give you a nice variety of surface look. This assumes you have access to this sort of thing naturally. I suspect it would look pretty good lit up from inside/behind.

[Xato]

Just remember i need it to be fairly strong in its construction, i was thinking of making it from bondo or clay, engraving the main ridges into it, and then making a plastic mould from that. So i can test out a few methods of texture and painting too.
Then the dremel/sandblast or the snow spray technique could give it the final texture... then paint and clear coat.

[Xato]

Is bondo strong? or is it prone to cracking?

[Crimson Sky]

For the fan grills, you should start with a base of scrap aluminum or similar material--even acrylic, cut to rough shape with a dremel. after you have the basic shape you want, then use bondo or even Super Sculpey as a modeling material on top of that. Super Sculpey and bondo are not strong enough (in thin areas at least) on its own to be used for detailed structures that can take much wear and tear.

After it has amodeled texture, you can glue fake holiday snow material and a touch of glitter onto it for realism.

[Xato]

Cheers Crimson.
When i make this i'll try and get an in depth worklog going... (if it turns out good enough :D )