Douglas & Sturgess

I was a little intimidated in coming here because my usual experience with specialty industrial or hardware places is that they will bet you out about how much knowledge you have to begin with. Even the door here looks like it requires a speakeasy password to enter, or at least an appointment. So my guard was up. But once I got in, it’s clear they cater to a lot of different types of sculptors, mold makers, and casting geeks. And they were super nice without hovering, answering questions with expertise rather than throwing up a don’t-you-already-know vibe. The models throughout the store run from architectural reproductions, to horror FX masks, to fantasy maquettes, so I didn’t feel like I was in the wrong place at all. The products do need a little decoding — the house brand and the market dominant Smooth-​On packaging is all pretty nondescript, but the organization makes it pretty clear what each formulation is used for. The prices, too are way better than online or through art-​specific shops like Dick Blick, too. It’s a little piece of SOMA that still makes it clear just what this neighborhood is about and why this city needs to protect what’s actually cool down here and not displace small-​industrial businesses for the sake of more overpriced residences.

The staff is incredibly helpful and amazing. Thank you!

Thank you D&S at San Francisco and Richmond! On Thursday I phoned the Richmond store to see if they had a case of Clayette in the right color and weight. My project was running through the clay faster than I expected and I needed more. Soon. The folks at the Richmond store only had half a case, so I phoned the SF store. They also had half a case which they immediately drove to the Richmond store and combined it in to one full case and shipped it out to me within hours of my call. I received it at my gate on Friday! That’s the best service ever! It would have cost me more to drive up and pick it up, plus I would have lost a day of work time. Thank you! They are always cheerful and polite too!

So many possibilities lie beyond this entrance. I was shocked to find I hadn’t reviewed «Dungeons & Sturgeons,» as it is so lovingly referred to in my house. I probably overlooked reviewing it because I’ve been going here since before Unilocal was even an idea. It’s the only place I go to get random supplies for myself, my brother’s hobby
, and latex paint for San Francisco «holidays.»

Very helpful staff who talked to us for over an hour helping solve our questions. Great place and we will be back!!!

Having shopped at D and S for 2 years, I am sad to say I will never shop at D and S again, and they have forced me to purchase my products on the internet.
1. I have been a professional puppet maker for 7 years.
2. I have worked for 2 major film companies who have spent thousands with D and S over internet companies at the artist suggestion to continue buying local.
3. I have used the smooth on product 305 for the past 8 months casting over 500 toys. Before then using smooth on 300 series products for years.
4. The staffs continued «I am better than you, and you don’t know what your doing attitude.» Has become increasingly worse and lead to my decision to spend my 100’s of dollars else where.
The problem, I bought a 305 kit, for about 90 dollars, I ran it, and i had an experience with resin I have never have, it took way longer (a full 24 hours) to harden, normally it is meant to harden in 30 minutes. When it finally did harden it fused all my molds together, and an oil rose to the top. The parts I pulled were liquid in the center and hard on the outside. I placed them in a baggie. over the next few days, a weird oil continued to seep from the parts and the final plastic becoming increasingly brittle.
I ran a second run with Douglas and Strugess brand pigments as apposed to B&J, thinking perhaps it was me, and I put too much pigment or some other such things. I had the exact same results. I called D and S asking if they had any other customers who had experienced this, to which they were very rude, and told me straight up I must not know what I’m doing and to try stirring the resin, as sometimes it sits a long time. These are small one gallon bottles with an inch round cap, I shook them for approx. 5 minutes each. I informed the gentleman on the phone. His general response was you dont know what your doing and oh well.
I run a third batch, this time shaking them for 10 minutes each until my arms are about to fall off, I weigh everything out on a scale and add no pigments, and have the exact same response! I then have my husband call, and express to them the same concerns, to which they try to convince my husband I am an idiot, and maybe I need a demonstration of how to use the product. At this point I cry, I have a toy show in 1 week, which I could not cast toys for, because d and s didn’t have the resin I needed in for weeks. I finally get said resin and it destroys my molds instead of offering any help with how to correct my problem I’m told I’m a moron multiple times.
My husband, sick of this drives to d and s, and shows them the molds, they agree they have never seen anything like it. The finally agree to replace the resin, only while one the my husband was on the 20 minute trek up there, they sold the last kit they had in stock. They will replace it with a type if resin I can’t really use, and he must buy a smaller kit, of the resin I need, He ask them for a discount after all the hassle, on the smaller 20 dollar kit, and they refuse. Instead trying to upsell him a solvent that may or may not fix my destroyed dragon skin molds. Claiming instead, 305 is a newer product and it is our fault for buying it.
FACTS:
This resin is bad, I was sold bad resin, and I will be contacting Smooth on
It will cost me over 200 + dollars in materials to replace my molds, plus hours of time to re sprue box, pour and cut my my molds.
D and S was not helpful, and willing to back up the products they distribute in anyway
I will NEVER shop from D and S again, and make sure my current and future film studios will not buy from them again as well, DO NOT SHOP HERE!!!

Small shop with sculpture supplies. Well stocked with hard to find products with the exception of the smaller tools. It was puzzling and disappointing to see that they were out of dozens of inexpensive, popular tools. Maybe it was just bad timing. If sculpture or casting is your thing don’t miss this store.

A great resource for any casting or sculpture needs.
I do a bit of hobby casting and they have always had any of the materials that I needed.
The customer service has great and the advice they gave me helped me avoid pitfalls when working with stuff new to me.

Great hole-​in-​the-​wall sculpture supply store. It was my first time there today and I was very impressed. The employee who assisted me, Palmer, was nice, helpful, and showed me samples of work done with the materials I hadn’t tried before. He seemed genuinely interested in learning about my project and shared a bit about his work in costuming.
It’s heaven for anyone doing 3D work. I will be going back!

LOVE!!! Very very knowledgeable staff willing to troubleshoot stuff and listen to my pinky commie need to have reusable or recyclable art materials.
They turned me onto Moulage. Yeah. They’re that good.

Still have lots of love for you D & G, but I have to say, customer service is not quite so fabulous as it used to be… and lets be honest, in a day and age when you can order your sculpture supplies (often for less $) on the internet, customer service from people at an actual storefront like this is important. The guys who were there full time last year both seemed to genuinely enjoy their customers which always made for a very pleasant trip to this store, it actually made me want to stop in and shop more often. Haven’t had quite the same warm fuzzy experiences here since the staff changed within the last year… Another problem as of late is that they always seem to be out of the thing I came in for! Just be sure to call in advance of heading over to make sure what you need is in stock.

After having purchased some great products and enjoyed the wonderful assistance of their very knowledgeable staff, I’m sad to say that I won’t be shopping at Douglas & Sturgess ever again.
Why? Because of the racist images prominently displayed on the wall in the main sales area. I took photos, but they are too repugnant to post here.
Not simply political messages about policies or events or even «artistic statements», they are images which are clearly designed to offend. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to be a person of color looking up to see that sort of garbage when I’m in the middle of shopping for art supplies.
An owner has every right to display anything they choose in their store. They are also perfectly free to enjoy the consequences of those choices. I could not care less what the owner’s political views are, but racist, stereotypically bigoted imagery is not what I want to see when shopping.
I wrote a polite email to the owner over three weeks ago, respectfully requesting — as a repeat customer — that the pictures be taken down. When I visited today, they had been added to and altered. This is an obvious message that «certain people» are clearly not welcome in this establishment.
It really is sad because the employees are very helpful and this could be a great resource for artists. There are however many other places to shop for the same materials without the ugliness of purposefully racist and hateful imagery.

I’ve ordered from D&S before, but this was the first time in the store. I went in for thermal plastics and the guy I had helping me was knowledgeable of most of the products. The plastics that he was less familiar with he had a great print out of information to help out. They even had a handy bag of samples they sent me home with.
Service was fast and casual, the store isn’t full of slick displays but has a more utilitarian lay out… but really when you’re looking for clay and reisin there’s no need to have a store-​room designed for anything else.
It was fast to get in and out, there is 2 hour street parking available but you have to be careful if you park on the far side of the street from the store… there aren’t really any near-​by cross walks so you’ll need to take your chances running across the road (eep).

SO I went in today to get some plastic, resin, or a 2 part poly coating resin. Rowr, look at my language. Anyhow, this trip was going to be my research and I was expecting the sales guy to look at me helplessly like they often do at hardware stores or what the fuck. But little do they know, there’s a big geek in me. SOOOOO I went in, and I got an hour tutorial catered to what I wanted to make (hard plastic jewelry from a possible silicone mold). Mike the sales guy was REALLY helpful and told me everything that I wanted to know and how to make it. Both of the staff were extremely helpful and I left with awe inspiring knowledge on how to make a two part mold, how to cast things in resin, how to color it, put glitter it, and everything with the kitchen sink. In the sky. I LOVE THE PLACE and will go back for supplies because of the customer service was absolutely fantastic.

OK. This place just rocks… well, it is not the place itself. While they have great supplies for casting and model-​making, it is the staff that really rocks. I have been going to Douglas and Sturgess for many years now, and although some of the staff has changed, they continue to employ very knowledgeable people who actually use the products they sell. On top of being knowledgeable, they do not mind answering questions. I see this place as a valuable resource for learning as well as products.

I have a new boyfriend, and his name is Douglas Sturgess
I recently moved to this part of SOMA, and had been hoofing it down to Pearl to buy my casting supplies. Pearl is usually out of stock on rubber and the pigment selection is dismal. I’ve ordered from Douglas & Sturgess online but never realized they had a storefront. AND its around the block from my new home.
Went in yesterday and WHOA! What fun! There are TONS of inclusions, dyes, pigments, casting compounds, silicone, wax, etc… anything and everything for casting and sculpture. While I am only a novice resin caster, the store makes me WANT to do more and bigger things.
The 2 guys working were super nice too, I will probably go back this week and load up on glitter… not that I need glitter but they have so much in so many different colors that I WANT glitter!
Great store and its easy to get too,-take 30 or 45 and get off at 4^th and Bryant and walk down. Or you can take the 47 Van Ness and get off at the corner

Oooooo! I love this store! It’s like candyland for me. They sell all kinds of materials for making sculpture– latex, resin, acrylics, etc.– plus they have all these pigments and micas you can mix into acrylics to paint or color your sculpture medium. The staff is always really helpful.

I am a molding/​casting fanboy. Every time I go here I can talk jargon and encounter friendly equals. It is not like a competition of skills but a sharing of passion and knowledge.
These folks know their stuff and have it for sale. You could order it from the interweb, but the personal touch makes a difference. They really know what you are doing and can offer advice.
Craftsmen take note! Hundley is down the street. We should form a club!

rubbers, (poly)urethanes, silicones, carbamates, plastics, with plenty of dyes, coloring agents, tints, and pigments to make your molded object in any color of the rainbow.
that sales staff is super friendly and almost always helpful.

I have been looking for an inexpensive art supply for (for paints) for quite some time and I have almost found it in Douglas and Sturgess. This odd little store in SOMA has a ton of paint pigments that you can add to white paint to make any color you want. They also have all the other stuff you need to make it thick or thin or shiny or whatever you want.
The staff is also very help and friendly.
The 2 bad things are that parking during the day is very difficult and they are not open on the weekend.
Definitely give it a try if you are looking for serious art supplies.