Herbin Plastiline vs Monster Clay

In this video, I will compare two kinds of oil-based clays - Herbin Plastiline and Monster Clay. I used both materials for making these two sculptures of a mouth. How to sculpt a mouth is explained in the Life Drawing Academy personal tutoring course - https://lifedrawing.academy/correspon...
Both models are good, but the question is “Which one is better?” Let’s find out. I will start with Plasticine. It is available in five different hardness types - Very Soft, Soft, Standard, Hard and Very Hard. This is a Very Hard clay, which is marked as 70. It becomes softer at a temperature of about 58 to 60 Centegrees. I like hard clays for several reasons. First, they hold a shape very well even when the sculpture size is rather big. Also, a hard surface is more resistant to accidental deformation, which might happen when making a sculpture for a very long time. Another advantage of hard clays is that when making a silicone mold by brushing it on, the hard clay surface won’t be scratched by a brush. So, this was the reason for me to try Plastiline in the first place. I also like its color, which resembles ivory or high quality marble. As you can see, it is rather hard and it is not easy to cut out a piece. It has to be heated first. Here’s the sculpture I managed to make at the end. However, it wasn’t easy with Plastiline, and I will show you why. The sculpting process begins with making a plinth on a wooden board. First step is easy: small pieces of heated clay are placed on the board and pushed to the surface. They are supposed to stick to the wooden surface with ease; or that is what you would expect from an oil-based clay. So, let’s see how this mass of clay sticks to the wooden surface. It can be actually picked up and pulled away. This is not what I want from sculpting material. There’s something not quite right with Plastiline. Let’s play a bit with this clay to find out what is wrong. I will make several small bits, compressing clay hard in each piece. This clay is warm enough to be shaped as I want. Bits of clay are flexible and hold their shapes well. So far, so good. Now, I will stick all pieces together, pressing as hard as I can with fingers and then compress this piece of clay, forming a small cuboid. Now, let’s pull it apart. As you may see, this cuboid separates in places where small pieces of clay join each other. This is not right. Clay should stick to itself nicely. It did not happen with Plastiline. Let’s do another test. I’m trying to smooth out a piece of Plastiline with a wooden tool. It simply doesn’t work. The pieces of warmed up clay are brittle; they crumble easily. It is not pleasant and messy. This is not what you would expect from some high quality oil based clay. Let’s check out how Monster Clay performs in the same tests. This is a hard grade of clay. Like Plastiline, it is also sulfur-free and suitable for silicone mold making. I will not heat it up because it is slightly softer than Plastiline. Like previously, I will compress a small piece with fingers. It is flexible and despite being hard, forms well. I’ll do the same with Plastiline. A small piece, heated up with fingers, takes its shape gradually. It is more difficult to work with. Partly because it is harder, but mainly because it has less oil. Now, I will put apart the piece of Monster Clay. First, it becomes thinner in the middle before breaking up into two pieces. Separate bits of clay are easy to join together. They stick into one piece nicely and easily. Now, I will do another test - smooth out this clay with the wooden tool. It works as you would expect - the surface becomes smoother with ease. On another hand, the piece of Plastiline does not elongate when pulling it apart, it breaks into brittle pieces. Smoothing it up is also problematic. It does not stick to the rubber surface and the wooden tool glides across clay without any smoothing. Sculpting with this clay would be the same as sculpting with some hard smoked cheese. The difference between these two bards of hard clay is very apparent. Herbin Plastiline is not formulated well for sculpting, while Monster clay does the job perfectly well. It behaves the way you would expect from high quality clay - it sticks to the surface while not being sticky to fingers and tools; it is easy to work with; it holds its shape well, it is easy to smooth out and polish. Very Hard Plastiline is much more difficult to sculpt with even when it is heated up to be softer. When it comes to the price, Monster Clay is less expensive than Herbin Plastiline; which is another big point in favor of Monster Clay. Personally, I just do not see a reason to buy expensive clay and struggle to sculpt with it. It actually took me three times faster to make a model of a mouth in Monster Clay. It was pure joy to sculpt with. Also, it can be polished to a higher degree. To finish this story, I definitely would use Monster Clay for making sculptures in the future.