Chavant Clay

Chavant is a highly renowned French company who produce a range of oil based clays that do not dry out and last for months and even years. Originally made and patented by Claude Chavant, Professional Plasteline was a Sulphur based clay which meant that the clay had a silky feel to it and could so the artist could produce a very smooth surface finish.  Later clays were developed such as NSP and Le Beau Touche that were Sulphur free as the Sulphur can cause problems during certain mould making processes. NSP is quite hard and has a higher content of wax than the Professional Plasteline. It can be heated and melted for pouring and some artists and sculptors heat it and use it like butter, spreading it onto an armature. Le Beau Touche is one of the softer Chavant clays and feels quite sticky when working with it. It is possible however to gain a high amount of detail and finish with both clays. These clays all come in soft medium and hard and in three different colours as shown in the above picture.  The hardest of the Chavant clays is used extensively in the car design industry for carving and sculpting in to.

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