So, I was reading up today on silly putty (one of the kids asked something technical about it. don't ask), and I found out it comes in different stiffnesses, some of which are used for their adhesive qualities and/or for industrial purposes.  They used it on the space shuttle to hold tools, and there's an astronomical laboratory that uses it as a backing when they're grinding mirrors. I'm not sure it would be cheaper, but it got me wondering...There's gotta be a dollar store that sells the stuff around here somewhere. What do youse guys think?

I doubt they would be selling the grade suitable for using as a backing for repousse and I expect it would be far more expensive.  I have read of making your own pitch substitute using roofing tar, plaster dust and oil IIRC.  You might track down a recipe for it.  (May have been in the Best of the Hammer; but it was pre TBI and so unreliable.)

Silly putty was a serendipitous outgrowth of a material intended for other uses. I read the history of it once, I believe in general it was one of hundreds of a particular recipe for synthetic rubber IIRC. Anyway, the chemists started playing with it and as it was non-toxic, didn't stain and was fun the company marketed it instead. I liked it because you could make a human figure and it'd bounce and flop if dropped. Well, I used it to copy printing, commics, etc. and "print" them places that seemed to irritate Mother.

Anyway, using silly putty as a backing for repousse keeps triggering the mental image of what would happen using "Flubber." Fred MacMurray pressing a piece of copper sheet onto flubber on a shelf and giving it a rap with a hammer. The hammer rebounds and strikes another gob of Flubber stuck to the shelf above and the hammer is bounced back. Whacka, whacka, whacka, whacka, whacka, whacka, whacka, whacka, ! It'd just keep getting faster and harder till Fred jerked the hammer back. Flubber was anti-entropic if you recall.

Frosty The Lucky.

 

That was/is a great movie. The Absent Minded Professor. The remake Flubber didn't live up to it.

1 hour ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

The remake Flubber didn't live up to it.

There was an "Absent Minded Professor," remake. . . "Flubber?"  I missed it, who played the prof? 

You don't mean "Son of Flubber" do you? It wasn't as good as the first but it was a sequel with almost the whole original cast.

Frosty The Lucky.

The movie was Flubber,  it was Robin Williams. A remake by Disney.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flubber_(film)

Edited June 22, 20196 yr by Irondragon Forge & Clay
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He was good, I liked the Jerry Lewis version better.  Well, it should be easy and cheap enough to experiment.  If it doesn't work, can give it to the kids or try something else to stiffen it up. I dunno.  Finally about to get a place of my own up here and set up shop again, mostly propane this time, maybe dip down to Georgia to pick up the rest of my tools. No telling what the kids would get up to with four lbs of silly putty.

8 hours ago, Irondragon Forge & Clay said:

The movie was Flubber,  it was Robin Williams. A remake by Disney.

I'll keep my eye open for it. I was thinking Steve Martin or Chevy Chase were I casting.

Were I stiffening up Silly Putty experimenting for repousse. I'd roll it into a ball the roll it across dry clay, plaster of Paris, etc. Then flatten roll, flatten roll, kneed it to uniform consistency and repeat till I had the consistency I wanted.

Frosty The Lucky.

On 6/22/2019 at 10:41 AM, Frosty said:

Silly putty was a serendipitous outgrowth of a material intended for other uses

 

Frosty-I sometimes wonder how my brain comes up with stuff but...

Given the above Flubber scenario as described by you, I can somehow envision, on a much larger, heavier scale, creating a non-mechanical trip-hammer kind of thing using two quatities of Flubber and striking survaces.  All you need to do is hang onto the hammer and make the first strike.

Now, back to reality....

Moosetrot

Well Duhh! What did you think I was talking about?

How about a REALLY heavy hammer in a guide with a REALLY HEAVIER anvil and Flubber stop on or under the anvil. All you'd need is a something to lift the hammer off the anvil and drop it. It'd start cycling, when there's clearance insert your work. When you're done trip a valve and a water brake slows the hammer and eases it onto the anvil. The Flubber can't bounce it back because the water in the cylinder damps the motion.

Frosty The Lucky.

I'd use Flubber on the drive end rather than the hammer end.

But Flubber IS the drive. Putting it directly between the hammer and anvil wouldn't work. Hmmm

Frosty The Lucky.

Helve hammer or teeter totter style where the spring mounted hammer die is driven by the shaft bouncing between the flubber blocks.

Too complicated by half. Heavy post, guided hammer connected to heavy arm on pivot. Great big glob of Flubber between arm and post. Foot treadle on an escapement to start it Flubbing and a friction brake to stop it.

Visualize a popsicle stick stuck to the door jamb with Silly Putty.

Frosty The Lucky.

I won't be on here for a while.  I am working on patent drawings.

Moosetrot

Would plumbers putty work?

Depends on what exactly you are doing---thickness and type of metal, tooling, need for precision work, etc and so on.

Reviving an old thread, one interesting alternative to pitch is described in Moving Metal by Adolph Steines: a pad made of a couple of thicknesses of short-pile carpet. I haven’t yet tried it myself (although I have secured the carpet pieces), but I was quite impressed by his photos of the process and finished pieces. 

Another useful tool is a firm rubber sheet. I’ve used mine (glued up from three layers of 1/16” drawer liner) for the initial lining-in of a design; this saves the hassle of removing the lined-in workpiece from the pitch, flipping it over, and resetting it before the repoussé step. 

Do you think old rubber automobile floor mats would work?

Depends on the mat. If it has ridges or corrugations, it might not support the workpiece evenly. 

I've used shot bags from my old drafting days for small pieces like Altoid tins. It's okay but not as good as even just bees wax as a pitch substitute.

Frosty The Lucky.