When I started working with polymer clay, I made a lot of mistakes. (I still do, by the way.) But experience has taught me a few things and here are some mistakes that I no longer make. (These tips apply to all brands of polymer clay, not just Sculpey. Read on if you use any oven-bake clay brand!)
Nobody likes to have their work break, burn, melt, get sticky, or fall apart. Ruined projects are disappointing, but it’s even worse when we’ve given things as gifts or sold them to customers only to realize they’re falling apart over time. So whether you’re new to the world of Sculpey, Fimo, and polymer clay or whether you’re an old pro, it doesn’t hurt to take a moment to check these out. Avoid these 10 Sculpey mistakes and spend more time enjoying your work with polymer clay.
1. Using Weak Polymer Clay for Thin Pieces
It is so sad to work hard creating something that breaks when it’s worn or used. It’s even more horrifying to realize that you’ve sold something that is made from weak clay and won’t be durable. Not all polymer clay brands are created equal and each has its uses and purposes. For making things that are thin or have areas that are thinner than 1/4″ (6mm), make sure that you’re using a strong clay such as Premo, Fimo, Pardo, Kato, Cernit, or Souffle. Sculpey III, Original Sculpey, Super Sculpey, and Bake Shop are all quite brittle after baking and should not be used, unsupported, in any area thinner than 1/4″ (6mm). These weaker brands do have their uses, however, so save them for other projects. Here’s more about choosing the best brand of polymer clay for your project.
The stronger brands of polymer clay are durable enough that you cannot break them with your hands, even when used as thin as 1/16″ (1.5 mm). Of course to have this kind of durability the clay must be properly baked, which leads us to the next point.
2. Underbaking Polymer Clay
Polymer clay is made from PVC powder, plasticizers, binders and fillers, lubricant, and pigments. As the temperature increases during curing, the powdered PVC softens in the plasticizer and the particles begin to absorb the plasticizer. Optimally, the particles will eventually fully fuse together and form a solid mass of plastic. If polymer clay is underbaked, the fusion will not be complete and the resulting clay mass will be weak. Underbaked clay is not only less flexible, it is susceptible to breaking and crumbling. Underbaked polymer clay can also have excess free plasticizer that can lead to cure inhibition in paints and glues, causing them to remain soft and/or sticky.
To properly bake polymer clay, you must consider both time and temperature. The temperature on the package is a guideline, and you do have some leeway. But you really do need to bake at a sufficient temperature for at least as long as the time stated on the package. Most ovens are inaccurate and it’s important to use a separate oven thermometer to know what temperature your oven actually is — I like this inexpensive digital probe thermometer (Affiliate Link – learn more here), but there are many others — In the real world, even accurate ovens fluctuate during the baking cycle (and when you open the door). It’s therefore best to bake quite a bit longer than the label suggests to make up for this.
Polymer clay should be baked for at least 30 minutes for each 1/4″ of thickness. This means that a 1″ thick bead will need to be baked for two hours. Yes, this is correct. If your oven is truly baking at the correct temperature, your clay will not burn. Lighter colors may, however, discolor, so it is always better to do multiple bakings of thinner layers. Want to learn more? Here’s my class on baking polymer clay that gives more info about choosing an oven, baking temperatures, and knowing if you’ve baked your clay long enough.
3. Burning Polymer Clay
Let me be very clear. Polymer clay does not burn unless it reaches temperatures near 350°F (176°C). (Fimo is a bit more sensitive.) If your project actually turns black and bubbles, then your oven is way too hot! As already state, ovens can be wildly inaccurate. When the oven’s heating element cycles on and off, the heat radiating from it can be tremendous. If your project is close to the element, your thermometer could be reading the correct temperature but your project could still bubble and blacken. If you have burned polymer clay, you need to address your oven, not your baking times.
Many people assume that baking longer times at lower temperature settings will solve this problem. It’s common to read recommendations in forums to set your oven to, for instance, 215°F (100°C) and bake for an hour or so. Will this work? Well, it might work for a specific person because they’re compensating for an incorrect oven. What they think is 215°F might actually be 275°F in their oven. But when others follow this temperature advice, they end up with fragile, brittle, underbaked clay.
Light colored or translucent polymer clay will commonly discolor and darken during baking. This is not the same thing as burning. To prevent this, first make sure that your oven truly is baking at the correct temperature. Then cover your pieces to prevent the oven’s element from toasting your polymer clay project. For more info on covering clay and preventing browning, see my class on Baking Polymer Clay.
4. Using Nail Polish as a Polymer Clay Glaze
It’s very common to see polymer clay projects, especially on craft blogs, that recommend using nail polish as a glaze or gloss finish on polymer clay. It’s convenient, it’s simple, and seems like such a good idea. Except that it’s not. As many, many people have found out, nail polish on polymer clay will very often turn sticky and goopy over time. Not all nail polishes are bad. Some work just fine. But there are thousands of brands of nail polish around the world and there is really no way of knowing which ones will work on which brands of polymer clay. Don’t risk it. Use a proper polymer clay sealer. If you need to use one at all. Yes, that’s right. You don’t actually NEED to seal polymer clay. Read more and learn which sealers are the best to use when you do want to use one.
5. Using a Spray Varnish on Polymer Clay
It also seems like such a good idea to buy a can of spray varnish and give all your newly made Sculpey creatures a nice glossy coat of spray varnish. So simple and so easy. Except that the varnish never dries. There are very few spray varnishes that are compatible with polymer clay. And what works with one brand of clay won’t work with another. I tested many brands of spray sealer on polymer clay and only found two brands that consistently works with all brands of clay.
What if you’ve used a spray sealer and now your charms are sticky? Can they be saved? In some cases, yes. I found that 91% isopropyl alcohol removed most sticky spray sealers. It’s worth a try.
6. Storing Polymer Clay in the Wrong Plastic
Polymer clay is vinyl that contains a plasticizer to make the finished pieces more durable. That same plasticizer also softens other plastics, too. So there are some plastics that will be dissolved when left in contact with polymer clay. Because of this, you need to be careful to only store your unbaked polymer clay in containers that are compatible with polymer clay. Avoid using anything with recycle number 6 or 7 on it. Avoid contact between raw polymer clay and anything made of styrene, polystyrene, styrofoam, and ABS because it will soften and fuse with the polymer. This also means you should avoid contact with keyboards, Lego, many toys, and Bic Cristal pens, and those clear hard plastic pots that lip gloss or eye shadow comes in. The clear, brittle plastic storage boxes are a no-no, too. Learn more about polymer clay melting plastic in this article.
You can generally store unbaked polymer clay in plastic ziploc bags and any plastic box with a 1, 2, or 5 on the bottom. The floss box below works very well.
7. Not Washing Your Hands Before Working With Clay
Related to the dust issue is one of making sure that your hands are clean before working with polymer clay. Even when you think your hands are clean…they’re not. And when working light colors such as white or yellow, or translucent, dirt that’s invisible on your hands can end up in your clay, giving your work dirty streaks. Even the blue residue from wearing blue jeans will coat your hands and show up on light-colored clay. So before working with polymer clay, wash your hands well, and don’t forget to clean under your fingernails.
Another trick is to have a ball of scrap translucent clay at your work desk. Roll this clay between your hands before working. It will pick up any loose skin bits, fiber, dirt, and dust. It’s also a great trick to do when switching from working with a dark color to a light one. When the clay gets too junk-filled, just toss it and make a new one.
8. Buying Too Many Tools…At First
It’s all too common for a newbie to find out about polymer clay and buy everything in the clay aisle at the craft store, assuming that it’s all required for working with polymer clay. Not only can this be very expensive, but you really don’t need most of the tools you’ll see for sale there. Start with some basics, then add more as your experience grows and you have a better idea of what you like to make.
There are plenty of polymer clay tools out there, and you want to leave enough money (and space) so that you can buy the things that will bring you the most enjoyment. So, what are the essentials? Here’s what I recommend to buy for your Polymer Clay Starter Kit. And when you do start buying tools, you can often find them quite cheaply when you start looking in creative places. Here’s more about finding cheap polymer clay tools.
9. Embedding Eyepins Without a Kink
When you make polymer clay pendants and charms, you’ll want to include a hanging loop. A lot of clayers take a commonly available jewelry eyepin, cut it to length, and insert it into the raw clay. But after baking, the straight wire of the eyepin readily pulls out of the clay. Some people glue the pin and push it back into the baked clay. That will often hold, but not always.
A better way is to create a small kink in the end of the eyepin, before you embed it into the raw clay. This way it cannot pull out after baking. Here’s an example of what I mean:
10. Using the Wrong Glue with Polymer Clay
Superglue is magical and it can be an incredible glue in the right circumstance. But it’s not the best glue for polymer clay. At least not the usual inexpensive superglue that we all know and love/hate because the cap gets glued on (so frustrating). It is a very brittle glue and polymer clay is flexible, so when the clay flexes, the hardened glue will pop right off and the bond fails. It’s better to use a gel version such as Loctite Gel Control (Affiliate Link – learn more here) or a higher end version such as Lisa Pavelka’s PolyBonder.
Another often recommended glue, especially for jewelry use, is E6000. While it can be a very good glue for some uses, it does tend to remain gummy and never fully harden on polymer clay. Many people DO have good results, but many others do not. I suspect the issue lies with the brand of polymer clay or perhaps the age of the E6000. But don’t be surprised if you find that this glue fails for you.
It’s always better to use a physical bond or a baked bond to glue polymer clay to itself or to glue metal to polymer. For more specific recommendation and glue strategies, visit my article What’s The Best Glue for Polymer Clay.
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186 thoughts on “Avoid These 10 Sculpey Mistakes (and other clays, too!)”
Hi Ginger
Thank you so much for listing the do’s and don’t’ when using polymer clay. I’m very interested in starting to sculpt detailed models/dolls and wanted to ask what is probably a silly question. When working on a sculpture/ doll that could take weeks to eventually finish, what would be the best way to store the sculpture/doll when not working on it? I’m worried that if I start a model and maybe go back to it in a couple of days time, that I won’t be able to work some more on that particular area.
Thank you for listening to my rambling!
Not a silly question at all. The best thing is to set it aside and make sure that it’s covered to protect it from dust. Sometimes you can get cracking if you let something sit for too long and then try to work on it again, but that is more like months than days. If you are working on something very large you may prefer to bake in stages. Some sculptors bake at the end of every sculpting session, adding more clay the next time. You can bake as many times as you want. It’s a way of preventing damage to previous areas.
Great info and great advice! (I have a some Etsy friends who just started using polymer clay)
Got here googling E6000 🙂
Thank you,
Roche
http://www.TheRocheShop.com
Can anyone tell me why my clay breaks if I put an eye pin in it while baking? It ALWAYS breaks if I do this and ruins the piece. Normally I remember and add the eye pin after but sometimes I add a detail to my piece and forget about the eye pin which means my piece gets completely ruined. 🙁
Also, lately my clay doesn’t seem to want to stick to itself. I make necklaces with tiny details and the details ALWAYS fall off and I don’t know why!! I am so nervous about selling my pieces anymore because of this. I have to glue the pieces back on after baking just to make sure the bonds are secure.
During baking? Do you mean after? If you do this, you’ll have to drill a hole for the eye pin to go into. The clay shouldn’t break, but you do need to use a strong brand of clay (not Sculpey III and do bake hot enough and long enough (at least an hour at 275°F).
It sounds like you need to be using a dab of liquid clay when you join the details to the main clay. Then bake. This way they won’t fall off. Underbaked clay will also tend to break apart more easily.
Actually I meant before baking. I have seen SO many charm artists put eye pins in their pieces before baking so I figured it would be okay to bake the clay with the eye pin in but like I said when I do this the piece breaks. Anyway, it’s not a big deal since I usually add them after. I just had a couple instances where I accidentally forgot the eye pin was in the item and I added a detail or fixed a problem and rebaked the piece, forgetting to take the pin out.
Also, I think I may have figured out the problem with the breaking clay and pieces not joining correctly. Thank you!
One more thing… anyone ever have air bubbles between their piece and the armature (if you use a foil+tape armature)??? Another problem I have on occassion. It’s not a matter of conditioning the clay correctly either since the air pocket develops between the clay and the armature. Not sure if there’s a solution to this but figured I would ask the experts. 🙂
Air bubbles are always an issue when creating with polymer clay. You just have to be diligent in preventing them. It’s also one of the reasons why people create and armature, cover it with clay, then bake it before adding the actual sculpture part. This way the air bubbles, if they pop up, can be smoothed back down without ruining your final piece. Multiple bakes are sculptor’s best friend.
This is an interesting idea. I always found it hard to cover baked clay with unbaked but I will try this with my next piece because it’s getting so frustrating and I have an art show coming up soon. I don’t know why it just started in the last year when I have been working with clay for 5 years. 🙁
hello what about polymer clay made at home with white glue and …. is it good
You can’t make polymer clay at home. Those recipes are for an air-dry clay called “cold porcelain”. Like any modelling clay, there are some things that are similar. But it’s a very different material and you can’t use it to do most of the things you see people doing with polymer clay.
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question
Hola! Will polymer (or oven-baked , however you say it ) clay break if you drill a hole into it ! Please reply asap!!!
It would depend completely on the brand of clay you use, how thick it is, how big the drill bit is, and how well it’s cured. A 1/4″ thick piece of Sculpey (Original Sculpey, Super Sculpey, Sculpey III) would mostly likely crack if you drilled through it. But a well-cured piece of Fimo Professional, Cernit, or Kato would likely hold up quite well. Do make sure you cure a long time, though, and at the correct temperature.
Any success with drilling? I’m interested in holes in some premo pieces for jewelry wiring to go through and have small drill bits, but would rather bake before making the holes. Would love to hear your experience with drilling if you tried it.
Polymer clay is fairly soft after baking and can easily be drilled with a hand drill. Here’s an article I wrote about the drill set I use: Micro Drills
Can you help? I’ve 6 completed sculptures, each about 6 inches high, very detailed, took me years… I’ve not baked any of them yet, they’re very hard now and covered in dust. I want to bake them but I’m worried some chemical changes have taken place which will cause them to crack or crumble. Any advice most welcome
There are no chemical changes when polymer clay sits for a long time. It does, however, become “unconditioned”. That usually only matters when you need to re-work an area. To remove the dust on your unbaked sculptures, try wiping them with a q-tip dipped in alcohol. Depending on how detailed your sculptures are, this can be quite effective. Be careful, though, as the alcohol will dissolve the clay, and fine detail could be lost. In the future, bake the sculpture after each stage of sculpting. You can bake polymer clay over and over again. As long as your temp is correct, it won’t harm the clay.
Help! Any ideas on why my clay is MELTING instead of baking????
Hi Diane, I’m sorry you’ve had this happen. Very frustrating. It sounds like what you have is not actually polymer clay. Modeling clay (plastaline) looks very similar to polymer clay and since it’s sold in the same section in the store, it’s very easy to grab the wrong package. This can also happen when we inherit craft supplies from others. We see a block of un-labelled clay and we assume polymer, but often it’s not!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share these very valuable tips! I appreciate it.
Hello,
I agree with every kind of mistakes that you’ve described . In the other hand I glaze my first polymer clay of nail polish, and I understand, why people doing this. I know that post is about “miskate”, but maybe you can help me. My problem is: I use Fimo liquide and soft pastel to create a topping for example: ice cream . I do not bake my work right away but few days later. After a few hours later the topping is run down, because is to smooth. When I add more soft pastel it still the some. Do you know what I can do whit this? I try many things, but i can found the solution. Lots of kisses.
hi there! this is great 🙂 about the eyepin having a kink, how do we insert that eyepin without ruining the sculpted clay?? and I think it’s hard to work with your clay if it’s inserted before actually molding the clay 🙁 any tips on inserting the eyepin after sculpting? 🙂
You’ll have some distortion. But you can usually insert it and then repair the damage right around the pin with sculpting tools. Also, instead of using a loop or large kink, you can just bend the wire into an L shape. Insert the wire end and then tilt your hand as the kink in the L goes in…you should only have a tiny hole right around the wire.
I just joined your newsletters today and they are great! Oh, if I had only known about your blog years ago! 🙂 Anyhooo … I stopped claying (is that a word) years ago after turning to photography, then last month I was digging around in my piles of craft stuff, and found a drawer full of Sculpey and Femo clays I had since 2004!!! Most of the clay is very usable, but I have some white clay (Don’t know the brand) that is flaky and crumbly after putting it through a pasta machine. I was going to toss it, then an idea popped into my brain cell, and I made an animal shape out of the clay. It looks like fur. My question is … FINALLY … Can I still bake it? And should it be baked differently since it is crumbly and flacky?
Welcome Shannon! Yes, you can bake it. Because it’s crumbly and flaky, there’s a chance that the flaky bits might be weaker than normal clay and will continue to flake off a bit after baking. Not a lot, but it’s a possibility. Regardless, it sounds like a great idea and a great way to use up the old clay. Welcome back to claying! (Yes, it’s a word in my book!)
Do you have any recommendations on glue that can bind resin onto polymer clay? Someone suggested Liquid Fusion. Do you have any experience with Liquid Fusion, and do you know if it’ll bond resin to clay? I plan to bake the clay first, and then try to bond the resin onto it, after it cools down. Would Liquid Fusion be okay, or could you recommend something else? I also need suggestions on a glue to bond polymer clay to a metal alloy, as well. And I’ve heard Liquid Fusion would be good for that… But what about about the resin and polymer clay? Please help 🙂
Yes, I have used Liquid Fusion. It works nicely on polymer clay. Though, it don’t know how it works on resin. What kind of resin do you mean? Epoxy resin (such as Envirotex Lite) is often used directly on polymer clay as a sealer coating. There’s a fair bit to know about using glues with polymer clay. Have a look at my article on glues here.
I’m really not sure what type of resin it is. They’re some type of resin charms that I bought off eBay, but they didn’t specify what type of resin was used to make them 🙁 I’ll give Liquid Fusion a go, and see how well it works. I normally use E6000 glue, for my projects, but many people have mentioned that it doesn’t work very well with polymer clay, so I’m trying to find other glues that might work. Thank you for your help 🙂
– Stephanie
Hi Ginger,
I’ve got a quick question and it might be a dumb one. Can I use an acrylic latex paint that I’ve used for painting the walls of my house on polymer clay? Will it deteriorate the clay, like you’ve discussed nail polish and spray paint does?
Thanks,
Catherine
It won’t deteriorate the clay. But it might not be as durable as you’d like or it might remain sticky instead of curing completely. But most likely it will work just fine.
Thanks for all the tips, although I had read most of these from your other more extensive posts, it is a great reminder of all things I must NOT do now that I am trying out my new polymer clay kits that finally arrived. I have however found myself guilty of committing sin number 8, like I guess others have, ah well, I will do my best to get around to use everything I bought and not feel too bad about it.
Ginger, I wanted to ask you something I have not been able to find. I am fascinated by tutorials that show wrapping polymer clay around another object and baking them together to fuse them in one artistic piece. I have seen that you can do this with glass and with wood objects and they should not burn. However I am afraid to do so since I do have an experience of one of my friends putting a glass container in the oven to make a lasagna and the thing cracking all the way down the middle. May I suggest that it would be a great post if you could explain to us newbies exactly what materials can we join to our polymer clay creations and which ones should we not use because they can melt? I find loads of tutorials about cooking polymer clay in the oven but I can’t find one that explains what I ask. Also a bit confused about what jewels can you put in the polymer clay and bake and which ones can melt. I have seen a lot of artists using aluminum drink cans to make bangles, seems that can’t melt either but can we integrate it into a jewellery polymer clay piece?. Thank you so much.
You make a good point in that it’s not automatic for people to know what can be baked and what can’t. In general, all glass, metal, paper, wood, stone, gemstones, and ceramic can be baked in polymer clay. None of those will melt, burn, or become ruined by the low temperatures that polymer clay bakes at. Your memory of a lasagna dish breaking was due to thermal stresses within the dish itself and was a manufacturing defect. While it can happen, especially if a pyrex dish has been damaged, it’s not common and not something you should generally be worried about when working with polymer. The only thing that can’t be baked is some plastic. (Not all…some plastic bakes just fine.) Many plastic beads and “stones” can melt or warp when baked inside of clay, so it’s usually best to avoid those or at least run some experiments. I’ll put it on my list of things to write about, though. It’s a good thing to share. Thanks!
Hi Ginger, I had a similar experience of oven cracking with Pyrex. I was told that the composition of the glass changed after circa 1987, resulting in a weaker structure. The old Pyrex from the 1960’s and 70’s works just fine and can take stress. There are all sorts of product advisories accompanying Pyrex today, like “cool the pan with a towel under it–don’t put it directly on a hard surface or a stove straight out of the oven, allow to come to room temp before baking.” I am fairly certain that all of these advisories are because of the change in composition.
I do have a question about the pink Sculpy. I forget the exact name, but it allows for fine detail work. My instructor is advising me to coat it with Shellac after baking. I would like to know if that’s a good finish. I plan to paint on it with acrylics also and don’t know what coating would allow for this. Do you have advice? Can you email me? Thanks, Pat
Many people seem to think that polymer needs to be sealed and “shellac” is a term that many people use for varnish. I wouldn’t use shellac, the real stuff. Polymer does not need a varnish at all. Just paint on the Super Sculpey after baking, it will be just fine. If you feel it needs to be shinier or you want to have a varnish over that, you can use most water-based varnishes. I like to use Varathane polyurethane.
As usual, Ginger, a remarkable post! Thank you! I didn’t learn anything new this time, but refreshers on what I’ve learned previously are always a pleasure and necessity, since I forget so much! 🙂
Hi Ginger, As always, a great post! I wanted to ask about item 2 and the digital probe thermometer. I was under the impression that you have to have the probe inserted in the item. I think I tested mine and it did not work just lying in the oven. Can you clarify how you use this type of thermometer. Thanks!
I had the same observation at first. I tried just putting one probe in the oven on the rack and it fluctuated so wildly that I assumed being in the air was the trouble. So I made a clay sleeve for it. Same thing happened, only with more delay. Only when I used a tile on the bottom rack, then used a tray, then covered the whole setup and used the convection feature did it finally stabilize and stay the same temperature. And both thermometers read the same now. (They don’t if I turn off the convection.) And I also verified with a separate infrared thermometer gun, too. I’ll write this all up someday. It took me quite a while to get a setup that worked. But no, the air vs contact didn’t seem to matter. It fluctuated in air because the air really was changing temp rapidly. Ovens really do fluctuate like mad if you don’t cover it and make a little “cocoon”. Luckily, small fluctuations don’t matter much as clay can handle a fair bit of higher temps. But it also explains why some people have so much trouble with burning if their overs really are going that wild.
Thanks for the info Ginger. I look forward to your more detailed write-up on this. I had heard about using a probe thermometer from someone else and bought the thermometer, but without these details you get a disappointing result!
O my, i am glad to have found your information!
i am new to the polymer scene, an idea born due to my hobby of fairy gardening.
Bought the sculpty… shaped my minis, popped them in my clay oven set the timer, and in 3.6 seconds… ON FIRE!
LOL. 2nd attempt soon to follow.
Thank you Ginger ! Essential for beginners and for advanced your answer to Jeanne about baking is very interesting !
Another great blog, Ginger. Hadn’t realized the clay composition change affected the shelf life – good to know! AMR
Thank you 🙂
<3
Thank you, Ginger! As always, you have so much wonderful information to share!
Ginger, as always love your articles, but I have a question on baking time and temperature. I heard this year at a retreat, and I can’t remember from who, that you must bake your clay 1/4″ per half hour the first time you put it in the oven. The person said that if the plasticizers and polymer powders don’t get fully formed into polymer chains the first time the clay bakes that baking it for shorter times a number of times does not make it stronger and that the fusing that needs to happen between the ingredients will never be completed. Since you seem to have many sources of knowledge, do you have any knowledge if this is true or not? The reason I ask, is that at our guild meetings we do demos and bake the clay items we get done just enough to harden them so we can get them home safely, under the above scenario, this would mean our pieces would be ruined and not fine if we put them in the oven and “finish” baking them later. Thank you.
I have heard that as well, likely from the same source. I agree and disagree with it. One thing, polymer clay doesn’t “polymerize into chains” when it cures, so that part is suspect. but I do think that the fusion isn’t going to be as strong if it’s partly cured and then finished later. That does make sense to me. But it doesn’t mean your clay is ruined. Doing a partial bake and then finishing later DOES result in stronger results than just the pre-bake would, so obviously there is more fusion going on with a second bake. Until both situations are tested, I’m just going on my gut feelings and assumptions. I would think that a full, long bake is always preferable to two bakes. However, just to make things more confusing, when clay is baked many, many times (like for complex sculptures) it does get stronger and stronger.
I didn’t really add much clarity, did I? Sorry!
If you ever do experiments on this, I would be very interested in the results. I make little sneakers in multiple steps. So I also like to bake just long enough to make it easier to add the next layer of clay and then bake longer once everything is put together.
I work with kiln fired clay and do pottery sculpture and clay pictures. I have found that polymer clay is much better at small detail and would like to do a polymer clay picture(about A4 size) of a steam engine but what would be the best thing to use as a base, it would cost far too much to make it of the polymer clay. I’m assuming I would have to make the details of the picture,bake it and then glue on to the base. I would be grateful for any help you can give.
Thank you Doris.
You could do it that way. Or you could create it on a solid base of another sort. Some people use wood or MDF. Or glass or ceramic tile. Or you could create it in a mosaic form by glueing baked bits onto a substrate. There are many ways to go with this. I would suggest to try things on a small-scale basis and experiment to see what gives you the best effect you want. Making large spans of pure polymer is impractical, btw, because it will bend and bow. Baked polymer clay is vinyl, so it’s not terribly rigid. Good luck!
Great article, Ginger! I need to save this one. BTW, I am number 8 on the list! And thanks for explaining why my clay doesn’t seem to last as long. I will have to buy in smaller quantities now. I’m interested in this Liquid Fusion that can double as resin, too.
I did learn this one the hard way. I had a couple of pounds of hard, crumbly Premo white trans to deal with. I eventually used it all up, but it wasn’t fun.
Ginger, THANKYOu so much for all the info you share with us.
🙂
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