10 Simple Polymer Clay Tips (that you surely knew – but maybe not?)

You’ve most likely heard most of these simple polymer clay tips and tricks before. But then again, maybe not. It’s never good to be that guy who’s standing there saying, “Whoa, I can’t believe nobody ever told me that!” It’s always better to be the guy standing there nodding his head saying, “Yup. Knew that.” So, with that in mind, here you go!

1. Hand Sanitizer cleans clay residue off your hands.

After working with polymer clay, there is usually a residue on your hands which soap and water will not remove.  Alcohol dissolves polymer clay, so it works well to rub some alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel into your hands, and then wipe them clean with a paper towel. Follow up with a soap and water wash and you’re good as new. (And rubbing alcohol is pretty great to have in the studio, too!)

10 Simple Polymer Clay Tips at The Blue Bottle Tree.com

2. Cornstarch is your friend.

This one has several uses. Cornstarch makes a great mold release for molds and texture sheets. A bit of cornstarch on your finger is great for smoothing the fingerprints off of your clay creations. And finally you can bury your beads in a bed of cornstarch when baking to prevent the clay from browning or scorching.

3. Nail polish, spray paint, and solvents will cause sticky polymer clay.

For some reason, this polymer clay tip isn’t well known. It seems like such a simple solution to use nail polish to accent your polymer clay creations. Or use clear nail polish as a glaze. Don’t do it. Ever. Under any circumstances! The solvent in nail polish will begin to soften and dissolve your polymer clay, even baked clay, making it sticky and gooey over time. The same holds true for most varnishes and paints in spray cans can either degrade the clay or remain sticky. And also paints that are solvent based and require mineral spirits to clean your brushes may never fully dry on polymer clay. If you need a spray sealer to coat polymer clay, then you should use PYM II, or Helmar Crystal Kote. These are both polymer clay safe protective coatings. Read here for more information about polymer clay sealers, including which ones to use and which to avoid. (Note: Some brands of nail polish seem to work, most don’t. So beware. Also, artists oil paints do work on polymer clay but thin coats are best as it takes a long time to dry.)

10 Simple Polymer Clay Tips by The Blue Bottle Tree

4. You can change the texture of polymer clay.

If your polymer clay is too soft and mushy you can firm it up by a process called leaching. To leach clay, you just sandwich sheets of it between plain paper and then put a book on it for a few hours. Keep checking until the clay’s the consistency that you want. The longer you leach it, the more of the clay’s plasticizer will leach into the paper and out of the clay. This will cause the clay to be more firm. You don’t want to do too much, though, or the clay will be too crumbly. Conversely, you can soften clay that is too hard and crumbly by mixing in a small amount of baby oil, liquid polymer clay, or you can use a product by Sculpey called clay softener (previously called diluent). Again, don’t add too much or your clay will be too soft. If your clay is too hard to mix, you can chop it up and then let it sit a few days with the softener. It will diffuse through a bit, allowing the clay to soften enough to be able to be mixed. (Though in my opinion, life is too short…I just toss clay that’s this much work.)

5. Most Important of Polymer Clay Tips: You really do need an oven thermometer!

They’re around $10 at a kitchen supply store or Amazon (Affiliate Link – learn more here). And they’re indispensable! Even if you’ve been baking in your oven for years without a problem, that doesn’t mean that it’s accurate. And when it comes to clay, accuracy counts. You’ve got to bake it long enough and hot enough to get a full and complete cure. Otherwise your project will be spongy and brittle. On the other hand, some brands of clay are very susceptible to burning and high spikes in temperature might not hurt your casserole but it will completely toast your polymer. This is part of getting to know your oven so that it can be your friend and give you very good results. Learn all about baking polymer clay here.

6. Sharpie fades on polymer clay.

I see Sharpie Markers recommended in tutorials all the time and I have to tell you…don’t do it. Sharpie markers are a great little tool and I love them for all sorts of crafts. But Sharpies are a solvent-based dye-based marker. And that means that over time the dye will diffuse into the polymer, creating a “blur” or bleed. Use a pigment based marker instead, such as PITT Artist Marker or Microperm markers. See the article What’s the Best Pen for Drawing on Polymer Clay?

7. Store polymer clay in Ziploc sandwich bags.

Polymer clay can react with and dissolve some plastics. But plain old Ziploc sandwich bags are polymer clay safe. Plus you can zip the bag shut, keeping out dust. And if you’d like, you can label the bag with a Sharpie, removing all doubt about what brand of clay you put inside. Read my article about what plastics can be used to store polymer clay.

10 Simple Polymer Clay Tips by The Blue Bottle Tree.com

8. Use white scrap clay to clean your hands and pasta machine.

When working with white polymer clay, you want it to stay pristine white. Fibers, dirt, or residue from other clay colors that are on your hands or in your pasta machine will contaminate your nice white clay. Here’s an easy solution. Take a ball of white scrap clay and roll it around in your hands. It will pick up any contaminants. Then run it through your pasta machine, allowing it to pick up any stray colors or fibers there. You can use this scrap clay over and over. Keep it in a Ziploc bag. (Bet you saw that one coming.)

9. Crumpled aluminum foil makes a good bead core.

When making a large bead or a large figurine, you save both clay and weight by using crumpled up aluminum foil as a core or armature. Just crumple it tightly and then cover it with clay, then bake.

10. To avoid bubbles, put clay fold first into the pasta machine.

Are you finding bubbles in your polymer clay after conditioning it with a pasta machine? Bubbles are bad because they will expand during baking, creating an unsightly lump in your work, often ruining a piece. When conditioning clay, try inserting your folded over sheets of clay into the pasta machine fold side first. That way air doesn’t get trapped inside. If you do get a bubble, just slice into it with your razor blade and then press the air out, sealing the hole shut with your fingers.

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188 thoughts on “10 Simple Polymer Clay Tips (that you surely knew – but maybe not?)”

  1. Darlene Bruehl

    I put a lot of work into a project and the sealer I used got sticky about 6 months later. Is there anything I can put on it to stop the “sticky” or is it ruined?

    1. It depends on how sticky it is. If it’s only a tiny bit sticky, you can usually get by with giving it another coat of a good polymer-safe varnish. Varathane works very well for this. If it’s really goopy, though, you’ll need to remove the varnish. You can usually get it off with isopropyl alcohol, but that will also remove any surface treatments.

  2. Latex Paint on baked Polymer Clay creations?
    Will latex paint that’s used for painting interior walls, etc. (the kind of latex paint like Sherwyn-Williams or the Home Depot brand that uses soap and water for clean-up) work with baked polymer clay creations?

    1. It should, yes. Give it a try. The only thing with that paint is that it’s often quite chalky due to having lots of white in it, offering the coverage you need when painting walls.

  3. I hope you don’t mind me asking – is gesso (including spray varieties, like Krylon Gesso) or paint primer OK with most polymer clays? And if we put gesso/primer and then use either acrylic paint or dry pigments, does it really matter what kind of varnish or sealant we use on top of our creations (aside from whether it goes well with paint/pigment?)?

    1. Gesso and other products that are used to seal paper or canvas will not act the same way on polymer clay. The plasticizer in the polymer clay will still migrate through the gesso to the other products higher up. In addition, many of these products are also softened by the plasticizers themselves.

  4. I have 2 questions. If I was to use the polymer clay on a turn table to maker a vase could I use water to help shape it or would it meets up the clay? And the other question is.. when I paint with my acrylic paint I have a spray paint varnish that I use that is for acrylic,oil and water colors. ” krylon kamar varnish 1312″ will that mess up the clay like normal spray paint or not. I use it for all my paintings on canvas and wood. Things like that but I’ve never used it on clay.

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