Polymer Clay Basics
Getting Your Clay Ready!
No doubt that if you’re like me and most other artists, you want to “create” something right away! The great thing about Polymer Clay is that there are very few preparations before you begin creating.
In order to get the best results with polymer clay, you must condition (knead) it or possibly leach it. By doing this, you’ll get the clay nice and soft so that it accepts whatever design or shape you want. You’ll also want to use some tools which will make your clay much easier to condition.
The amount of conditioning you’ll need to do will greatly depend on the brand of clay you use.
You don’t need to break the bank buying tools and supplies
There are so many tools and supplies for artists and crafters it’s unbelievable. Another great feature of Polymer Clay is that because it is so versatile, you can adapt most tools and supplies so that you can use them with Polymer Clay. For now, we’ll stick to the basic tools needed to get you started. many of them can be found right in your own home.
What brand of clay do I use?
When I began using polymer clay there was only one predominant brand and that was Fimo. Fortunately these days, there are several great clays. They each have their own texture, pliability, color choice and some are harder than others after baking.
I’m going to explain to you what the most common brands of clay are and the common differences between them.
Fimo Soft
Can be too soft for some people and may need to be mixed with a firmer clay like Kato. Easy to use and, brittle when baked, good variety of colors to choose from.
As with many of the clays you can leach them to remove some of the plasticizer, which will make the clay firmer and easier to work with.
Premo
This is the clay I have the most experience using. Developed by Marie Segal, a polymer clay artist, it comes in a good variety of colors, is easy to condition , and is pliable after baking. With the introduction of Premo came the metallic clays which have microscopic Micaflakes in them, these allow the clay to have a 3-d effect which many polymer clay artists have capitalized on and made some incredible pieces of art. The metallic colors are gold, copper, silver and pearl. They may be mixed with other non-metallic colors to achieve a metallic effect.
Premo may also need to be leached in order to make it firmer and easier to work with. This is especially true for clay which has been recently made and/or has been stored in warm climates.
Sculpey III
This clay is a lot like Fimo soft, but with a greater variety of colors to choose from. It tends to be soft before baking and not very pliable when baked. Some people use a firmer clay such as Kato or Premo mixed with SculpeyIII in order to make the baked piece less prone to breakage. Leaching SculpeyIII can be beneficial as well.
Super Sculpey
Available in a translucent with some pale peach color to it. It is available in a 1lb box only, mostly used for sculpting, it is fairly strong and easy to condition. It tends to darken a bit after baking and therefore some artists choose to cover it with batting and foil to prevent discoloration.
Sculpey Superflex
Great for projects that need to be super flexible, sometimes seen as Bake and Bend, this clay can also be mixed with some of the less flexible clays such as SculpeyIII, Fimo Soft to make them more flexible.
Kato Now Phthalate Free
Kato clay is the newest clay available. It was developed by the popular polymer clay artist Donna Kato. It is available in fewer colors than other clays but it lends itself well to mixing. It’s not as easy to condition as Premo, however it never needs leaching and once warmed up is quite nice to work with. The texture is very smooth less prone to bubbles than Premo as well. Kato clay is very strong after baking. The metallic colors are available in Kato clay as well; there is more mica in each block than in Premo so the metallic effect is incredible!
Please Please Please! Read the baking instructions on each brand of clay, all have different baking times and temperatures and depend on accurate baking to produce the best results.
There are more things to say about the different brands of clay but this review was intended as a primer and we will get into more specifics as later in the specific instructions and projects section of the site.
Cleaning Up
Much has been written about the potential hazards of polymer clay. Most people agree that while, the fumes are awful when the clay is burned in the oven, it is not hazardous when used for arts and crafts. For safety’s sake, please be sure to carefully clean your hands after use. I use both mineral oil and soap for cleanup. The mineral oil helps break down clay which builds up on your hands, also prevents your hands from excessive dryness after washing. As with most products with some petroleum additives (plasticizer in Polymer Clay), anything except chronic long-term use without properly cleaning up afterwards is not going to cause harm.
Polymer Clay Beads – Simple !
There are an infinite number of bead styles you can make using Polymer Clay. You’re limited only by your imagination and time. To start you out, I have included some of the easiest beads techniques for you to try.
By far the most popular technique for beads is to cover them with slices from a polymer clay cane. You can make some beautiful beads with a very simple cane design. That’s one of my favorite things about polymer clay, it’s so easy to work with and you can get such beautiful results with little effort, money and time.
This project will have you churning out beads and making jewelry in no time!
For this project you’ll need to have the following:
Follow these steps to make your bead. Choose the amount of clay you’re comfortable working with, keep in mind that we will add slices to it, so it will end up bigger than what you start with. Roll the bead around in your palm, you want the bead as round as possible. Most of the time rolling it in your palm will render a good round shape.
Once it’s round and you’re satisfied with it, you need to pierce it. Start with the bead between your thumb and forefinger and aim the needle into the center ?
When you press the needle into the bead, be gentle so you don’t distort the bead shape use a twisting motion to start the hole . Once the needle is halfway through the bead, pull it out and turn the bead over. Place the bead, with the hole, in the center of your fingertip
Applying Cane Slices to Your Bead
You’ll need a cane that has rested for about an hour after reducing, or you can put it in the refrigerator or freezer. Don’t worry you can’t ruin it by freezing it. If anything, the harder and colder, the better for slicing. Wipe off your slicing blade with a swab of rubbing alcohol so that you decrease the drag and have a nice clean blade when you slice. For slicing polymer clay canes you want to use a good sharp blade as well. Your slice should be about the thickness of a credit card, thinner if you want. The goal is to have it as thin as possible, without tearing it
Put the bead on the needle tool to begin applying the slices. Start at the top of the bead and apply the slices around the entire top
then begin filling the bead up with slices, making sure the edges butt together. For the places that are smaller than your slices, you can either cut a slice to fit, or apply the slice over the area, covering other slices
Be sure the entire bead is covered, you don’t want any gaps in this project. Once you have your bead covered, begin pressing it between your fingers, smooshing the canes into the bead but don’t distort the shape of the bead too much. You’ll definitely want to press hard enough all around the bead, you’ll see the slices become flat and disappear.
Now that all of the slices are flat, lets reshape the bead. Roll it around in your palm like you did in pic1 above. Watch that the cane slices don’t smear, go slowly. To avoid excessive sanding, smooth out your fingerprints and all bumps and creases in the bead before baking. Then pierce your bead as instructed above. ?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
where can i find instructiuons for making leaves, with variated green colors and vaines in the leaves? Are there any books with sdetained instructions in them?
Try this tutorial:
http://www.eugenascreations.com/tutorial-polymer-clay-leaf-cane.html