Polymer clay, also called polyclay or fimo, is a modeling material that you can cure or bake at home in your regular oven. Today is a focus on Tips and Tricks for getting the best results when curing (baking) your projects. Check out the other articles, too. Part 1 was on Choosing your Oven and Part 2 was about Temperature.
Polymer Clay Baking Tips and Tricks
- Polymer clay must be baked long enough and hot enough to get complete fusion.
- Delicate structures need to be supported during baking, so use a bed of cornstarch or polyester fiber for this. Toilet paper or paper towels also work well.
- When baking on tile, to keep the back of your item from being shiny, bake on a piece of copy paper or cardstock.
- The oven’s element can be fiercely hot, causing browning even when the temperature setting is correct. Always cover your work.
- Preheating is best as many ovens spike during the preheat cycle.
- Boiling does not give a complete cure of polymer clay.
- Ceramic tiles can help an oven maintain a stable temperature.
- Make sure to read the articles on polymer clay ovens, choosing a temperature, and baking time.
Need baking help?
Learn about the right temperature, times ovens, and baking setups to ensure optimal results. No more broken or scorched projects!
How Long Should I Bake Polymer Clay?
It’s no wonder that people are confused about this one. Here’s what various packages of polymer clay tell you about baking duration:
- Fimo: 30 minutes
- Pardo Art Clay: Minimum of 30 minutes
- Cernit: Approximately 30 minutes
- Kato Polyclay: 10 minutes
- Premo: 30 minutes per 1/4″ (6mm) of thickness
- Sculpey Original: 15 minutes per 1/4″ (6mm) of thickness
These are the absolute minimum times that you should use, and the recommended 10 minutes for Kato is just plain erroneous. Polymer clay becomes much stronger when it is baked longer than these minimum times. You cannot burn or damage polymer clay by baking it for a very long time, even hours, as long as the temperature is correct. Unlike food, which will burn if left too long in the oven, polymer clay will not burn if baked at the correct temperature. The limiting factor, though, is that light colors of polymer clay will darken and brown with longer times in the oven. It does not damage them, but it will easily ruin your effect, especially if you’re working with light or translucent polymer clay.
I always recommend baking at least 45 minutes per 1/4″ of thickness and even longer for thicker pieces. For optimal results, do what works for you, not what a package says.
Not sure you’ve baked your piece long enough? Read about how you can tell if your polymer clay is baked by testing the flexibility here.
Position in the Oven
When you put your polymer clay in the oven, try to center it as far from any heating element as possible. You want good air circulation around your items so that the heat can distribute evenly inside the oven. Put it on the center rack, equidistant from the elements, and keep it away from the oven’s walls. This is obviously more difficult in a toaster oven as the baking chamber is so small. But if parts of your project are too close to the heating element, it will burn.
Protecting your work from the heat
As anyone who has ever held their hand above a stove’s heating element can attest, it gets awfully toasty! Even if the overall temperature in the oven stays where you set it, every time that heating element cycles on, it glows red hot and can singe your polymer clay pieces if they’re too close. Some ovens don’t regulate this very well and the element will scorch things, quite badly at times. The best way to protect your beautiful artwork from baking disasters is to protect it and shield it from the heat by keeping it covered up.
I use an aluminum foil cake pan, most often the 8″ x 8″ size because my 6″ ceramic tiles fit perfectly in the bottom. (Those of you outside the US will need to find the sizes that work for the materials you have where you are. In the UK, I know you can get 150mm tiles and 240mm square pans.) For larger projects I use larger pans and tiles. You could use a sheet of aluminum foil. Or a covered roasting pan. Or an upside down pan. Covering your work protects it from the heating element and it also helps keep the heat contained at a steady level inside the pan, leading to a more complete and reliable cure.
Another fantastic bonus of using a cover is that the chemical smells that come from baking polymer clay will be greatly contained. The few times that I have baked uncovered, my husband has come to me, worried, because he could smell the clay and thought it was burning! (It wasn’t.)
One other nice bonus that comes from using the foil pans is that I have a cover for my unbaked pieces in the studio. Sometimes I’ll have the pan sitting there for days until I’ve made enough pieces to bake. The cover keeps the dust and curious kitties from ruining my clay.
If you use a toaster oven and have a tiny space, you could use the tiny aluminum foil pie pans the same way that I use the larger pans. Any pan with a lid that is oven safe could be used to protect your clay while baking. Keep your eye open for a small unpainted metal box, or even a tin. Run it through the oven by itself first to make sure it will handle the heat, though, just to make sure.
Maintaining a Constant Temperature
Convection ovens are much better at keeping a consistent temperature, but conventional and toaster ovens use a hot element, cycling on and off, to keep the space heated. The radiant heat from the element can burn your clay, as I’ve already stated, but there’s also the problem that curing of your items can be inhibited if the temperature doesn’t stay high the whole time. If your oven is one of those that gets fairly cold before the element kicks back on, it might be helpful to place ceramic tiles on the rack in the middle of the oven. This will act as what’s called a “heat sink” to help hold and evenly distribute the heat. You could also use an old pizza stone if your oven is large enough.
This is why I use a ceramic tile in the bottom of my foil pan baking system. It helps keep the temperature constant. I also use my ceramic tiles as work surfaces, if this is a new idea for you, you might want to read about how ceramic tiles are one of my most indispensable tools.
Support and Protective Material
When you place raw clay on a glazed ceramic tile and then bake it, the places where the clay touched the tile will be shiny. To prevent this, merely place your item on a piece of scrap copy paper, an index card, or a piece of card stock. Don’t worry, the paper will not burn. But make sure that it doesn’t have any printing or writing on it as the inks could transfer to your clay.
If you’re baking round beads, setting them on a flat surface is a recipe for frustration! To keep them from rolling all over the place, merely accordion fold a piece of blank copy paper and set your beads in the folds. They’ll stay in one place and they won’t have shiny spots.
Another method is to use a piece of polyester quilt batting. Again, it won’t burn in the oven, and it keeps your pieces from getting a shiny spot. Batting is a great tool, too, if you work with sculpture and need to support parts of your pieces during baking. Just use lots of polyester fiber fill (Affiliate Link – learn more here) to prop it all up.
One thing to note about using paper, though. Don’t leave your art piece on paper for very long before you bake it. You might notice an oily spot on the paper…that’s the liquid plasticizer that’s leached out of your clay. A small amount won’t hurt your clay (make sure to discard the paper afterward, though). But if excessive amounts of plasticizer are leached out, it might weaken your piece.
How to prevent browning of your clay projects
Translucent and light colors of polymer clay are very susceptible to turning brown during baking. This is not an indication of burning and is not dangerous, but it is frustrating. It’s just one of those things you have to work around and there are some things you can do to prevent, or at least minimize the problem. Before we get to those, though, make sure that you are baking at the right temperature and are covering your pieces during baking to prevent the heating element from damaging your work. Here are a few other things you can try.
Bury your Beads
Another strategy to protect your polymer clay from the heat of the oven is to bury them in baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) during baking. Other people use cornstarch or salt. To do this, just pour an oven-safe bowl of your favorite powder, dig a hole, and put your beads inside. Put the whole thing in the oven to bake. After baking, you will need to rinse the powder off the beads. Some people report that cornstarch is harder to rinse off and leaves a white residue, so you might prefer to use baking soda if that’s the case. Regardless, don’t leave the beads sitting around unbaked in the powder for very long, though, for the same reason as with the paper above. The plasticizer can possibly leache out of the beads, leaving them brittle.
Experiment with Time and Temperature
Higher temperatures and longer bake times lead to more browning. So reducing the temperature or the duration of baking can solve the problem of browning. But, as I’ve discussed previously, that can also lead to weakened and underbaked projects. I suggest carefully experimenting with minimizing the baking time and temperature while at the same time monitoring the project’s strength. You need to bake long and hot enough to be fully cured and strong. Try the other strategies first, and if you still have unacceptable browning, then try experimenting with the time and temperature of baking.
Preventing Plaques and Cracks
Plaques are whitish areas that appear in the middle of a piece of polymer clay after curing. They look like they’re air bubbles but seem to happen when there was no obvious air trapped in the raw clay before baking. It’s more obvious in translucent and light colored clay. It’s been suggested that they are caused by water vapor or air collecting in the clay during curing and that they are caused by or exacerbated by sharp contrasts in temperature during baking or cooling. You will see more plaques when you’re baking too close to the heating element.
Can you bake polymer clay more than once?
A common question for those new to polymer clay is “Can you bake polymer clay more than once?” The answer is YES! There is no reason you can’t bake a piece of clay as many times as you need to. In fact, for complex pieces, it’s common to bake parts of the piece separately and then assemble and attach them after baking. It’s also perfectly fine to attach raw clay to baked clay and bake that. Sometimes it’s the only way you can get certain effects.
High Altitude Baking of Polymer Clay
If you live at a high altitude, then you already know that the laws of physics can do some strange things to your baking times and temperatures. Because baking times for food needs to be adjusted at high altitudes, many people assume this is the same for polymer clay. It is not. There is no water in polymer clay, so the air pressure differences of altitude are irrelevant.
Alternate Methods of Curing
Microwave
Do not use a microwave to cure polymer clay. It’s the wrong kind of heating process. It’s not going to cause sparks or anything like that, but it will cause smoke when it burns! Read more about it in my article about it here.
Boiling
For some reason, there is a controversy about using boiling water to cure polymer clay. Some people say that it works, but that just isn’t realistic. Water boils at 212°F (100°C), which is a temperature too low to cure polymer clay. You’d think that adding more heat would raise the temperature of the water, but in reality, it doesn’t. Blame physics. Now some people will say that boiling for a long time does give a complete cure for polymer clay. I am very, very skeptical of this.
However, I can conceive of why you might want to boil a polymer clay sculpture, for instance, to allow the water to support the item long enough to partially cure. This might be helpful with complex thin projections or pieces that would ordinarily be too floppy to bake without the support of the water. You would then fully bake the item at a proper temperatures in the oven. But that’s not something most of us are going to be dealing with.
Heat Gun
A heat gun is a valuable tool for working with polymer clay. You can spot cure polymer clay with a heat gun but you have to be very, very careful to keep the gun moving at all times and not get too close to the clay. Heat guns (Affiliate Links – learn more here) produce enough heat to scorch and burn polymer clay causing it to blister and turn black (and produce irritating fumes). Yes, I hang my head in shame here. I have done this. But as long as you’re super careful to avoid burning, you can sort of “soft cure” clay to get it to solidify. You might use this technique if using liquid clay to assemble a sculpture, for instance. But it’s not a complete cure and you would still need to fully cure your project in the oven.
Cynthia Tinapple does use a heat gun (Affiliate Link – learn more here) to cure her polymer in place in the wooden bowls she creates with her husband Blair Davis. But she also uses a digital thermometer to make sure the clay is actually reaching curing temperature. For most of us, this isn’t a generally reliable way of curing polymer clay.
Well that’s all I can think of. You should have a pretty good idea of how to bake polymer clay. Now go make something beautiful!
This article was Part 3 of a series on Baking Polymer Clay. Part 1 was about Choosing the Right Oven and Part 2 was about Using the Right Temperature. Next is Part 4, How Long to Bake Polymer Clay.
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191 thoughts on “How to Bake Polymer Clay: Part 3 – Tips and Tricks”
Hi Ginger: I took a workshop with Donna Kato about 5 years ago & she bakes her stuff at least an hour at 300 degrees F.
Joan Taylor used to do earthen clay (they use clay cones during firing) & makes little cone/tepee shapes out of her scrap clay from her projects & bakes them with her finished pieces. When they come out of the oven she places them point down on a table surface & attempts to break them. If they break or crack her batch of clay needs to bake longer. (I’ve tried that & it does give you piece of mind that your clay is cured & strong).
When I buy an oven new to me, usually from a thrift store or Craigslist, I plug it in & set the temp by the oven dial. I place my separate oven thermometer on the tile on my metal tray. I set my timer for 30 minutes. If its too low I bump it up & wait another 30 min. Too high I turn it down & wait another 30, etc. Once the oven consistently stays at 300 degrees I unplug it! I never move the oven temperature dial again! I always plug my oven in, set my timer for 30 minutes & recheck the temperature before I bake my first tray. I also tent all my clay with aluminum foil. I live in Colorado and get consistently great results. This works with small & large toaster ovens. Hopes this helps everyone!
I LOVE the idea of using little cones. Of course different thicknesses of clay will be different. But still, the idea is cool. Thanks! And the idea of leaving your oven at a specific temp is great if you stick with one brand. (That being said, you can bake all but Kato at 275, so that might be a better temp for some people.) Thanks for the ideas!
Just stumbled upon your blog and was surprised to hear that I should be covering my pieces when baking and the long baking times that you recommend. I am very much a newbie at this and now I know why several pieces have come out brown, that they are still flexible when I take them out of the oven. Thanks for the info and look forward to learning more.
I’m glad that the information is helpful, Lynn. Polymer will still be flexible when it comes out of the oven, though. Underbaked clay will actually be brittle and crumble easily.
Hi Ginger, thank you for a great article! I`m from Lima Perù,
I just baked some beads (round and flat) in my oven with Sculpey. The beads began red and turned brown. They are too soft,like a piece of rubber.! can you give me a help please ? Thank you so much !
Hi Mary Ann, sorry you’re having trouble. I’m not sure what’s going on, that doesn’t sound like any polymer clay that I know. What brand is it? It is pretty common for polymer clay to burn, especially if you’ve never baked clay in the oven before. You have to use an oven thermometer to make extra sure that your oven truly is staying at the right temperature (most are wildly inaccurate). And do make sure you cover your work to protect it from browning. But polymer clay is seldom soft like rubber. If anything, polymer clay is usually quite brittle if it’s underbaked and quite hard of it’s overbaked. Properly baked clay can be quite flexible, depending on the brand, but it is never soft like rubber. It sounds very odd to me. Is is possible that you’re using a modeling clay such as plastalina or something similar?
Sounds to me like the color darkened from the heat, like Ginger suggested. Certain colors and brands are notorious for this. Did you try any of the tips above to prevent browning? I always bury or tent everything I bake. It makes a world of difference. Also, Sculpey tends to be very soft when you first take it from the oven but then much more brittle than other brands – how was it after you let it cool? If it was still rubbery, then it wasn’t baked long enough. Remember your altitude, too – the higher your elevation, the longer you have to let it bake.
Thank you Ginger this was very helpful and informative, for a beginner like me, I used Premo to make a bangle using a coke can and a thermometer it came out rubbery then it cracked, I placed it in cold water after baking could this have been the problem? Again thank you for your tutorials they are the best..
Hi Pat, in general, anytime a clay cracks later, after baking, it’s due to undercuring. Always make sure you bake the full length of time (remembering that it takes a while to get up to temperature, especially if you’re covering your work). For a bangle on a coke can, I would bake it for an hour or maybe an hour and fifteen. As long as the temp is correct and you have it covered, you can safely bake longer times without trouble. And the longer you bake, the stronger your piece will be. Premo is a very flexible clay, though, and you should still be able to flex it slightly, depending on the thickness.
Forgot to ask if Premo has a shelf live?
Not a shelf life so much as the plasticizer can evaporate out and the clay can get a bit more dry and hard over time. Most modern clay should be fine if used within a year or two (if stored properly). The old stuff, from years ago, seemed to hold up indefinitely. I still have clay from well over 10 years ago that’s just fine. But the modern stuff does dry out.
Ginger thanks for a great article! I just baked some re beads in my toaster oven with Premo. The beads started out red and turned brown and rubber like. I do use an oven thermometer and suspect the temp was not holding at 275. All the pieces were rubbery and puffed up. Have you experienced or heard of this before? I am going to try baking in our oven in the aluminum pans with the tile and hopefully have better results. Thanks again
Wow, I’ve never heard anything like that before. I’ve baked a lot of Premo over the years and while I have had them turn from sometimes, the texture doesn’t ever become rubbery. And they puffed up, too? Gee, I’ve never seen any brand of polymer clay do that. Sometimes they’ll expand the slightest amount during baking, but they come back to normal size when they cool down. I hate to say this, but is there a possibility that you are working with modeling compound of some sort and not polymer clay? (Stranger things have happened.) Sometimes people end up with plasticine modeling clay in with their polymer stash and when that stuff bakes it…well…isn’t pretty.
When I first started with polymer clay, my boyfriend’s dad gave me his old toaster oven. My first projects not only puffed up, the boiled, bubbled, turned black, and were catching on fire in less then 5 minutes due to the temp being way, way too hot. Needless to say I ditched that toaster oven, got a better one, and a thermometer! Just as idea to what might be happening there. I’m definitely not an expert, but I’d like to think I have learned from at least some of my mistakes! LOL
This just happened to me with a new toaster oven. It ruined a piece I worked on for a very long time. I just assumed that since the oven was new (and I used it once before with no problem) that it would be fine. I guess that’s what I get for assuming.
🙁 I’m sorry. So very disappointing!
I use a toaster oven for running workshops and when I first tested it the same thing happened. What I learnt was that the clay was way too close to the elements, even when baked in a foil tent. So what I did was insulated the elements by placing several layers of ceramic tiles under the top element, and above the bottom element. What this did was absorb the direct heat of the elements and allowed the oven to get hot enough, but prevented any direct heat hitting the clay – essentially it distributed the heat more evenly. Now I never have a problem with clay burning. I used at least 2 layers of tiles, but you could use more.
Hi Ginger, I would like to bake my clay into a shallow bowl shape – can I bake it in an ovenproof bowl or will this prevent it from baking properly? Any tips for a beginner greatly appreciated!!
That would work nicely. We often use ovenproof bowls, jars, etc, to create the curves and shapes we need for our polymer clay. Just keep in mind that where the clay touches the bowl, that part will be shiny after baking. So plan for that in your design. And yes, you might have to bake a little longer to account for the bowl itself taking time to heat up. And since polymer clay gets stonger with longer bakes, I’d recommend baking a long time anyway. Make sure you cover it all, though, you don’t want any scorching!
Thank you so much Ginger, I’m giving it a try today!
Hi, Ginger! Thank you for your sharing! Really useful and informative! However, I would just like to ask if the clay would leave odour in the oven after baking and if I actually make use of the method you mention above about protecting my work, will it help to reduce the odour if there is?
Polymer clay is a plastic and does give off sort of a chemical smell. Different brands have different smells. And just like when you bake cookies, the smell does stick around for a little bit. It’s not terribly strong, though. But yes, keeping the piece inside of a pan really does help reduce the odor. The few times I don’t bake my beads inside of a pan, my husband will walk into the kitchen and ask if I left something on a burner. If you take the pan outside before opening it, you’ll reduce the smell even more. But still…it’s not a super strong smell. Kato polyclay has the strongest smell, and it’s sort of like “new Barbie doll”.
Could the paper catch on fire?
At first thought, you would think so. But first off, polymer clay doesn’t bake at a very high temperature. And secondly, we use baking parchment for making cookies a lot hotter than this! No, the paper doesn’t catch on fire. It doesn’t even turn brown!
I baked a 1/8″ thick piece (a chocolate bar) for 30 minutes at 248 F, as the Cernit package said and it got 3 darker spots on top 🙁 why did that happen?
Hi Libelle, sorry you ran into trouble baking your Cernit. Anytime you bake polymer clay, the most important things are to verify your oven’s temperature with a separate thermometer and to cover your items while baking to protect them from the oven’s heating elements. Baking for that actual temperature and for that time shouldn’t cause the clay to darken. It really does sound like your oven is baking hotter than it should. Good luck!
Hi . I have been making cuff bracelets but am worried about them breaking. They need to be strong but flexible. I have used 2 layers together on the number one setting for the thickness and baked them for 30 minutes at 130c. on a coca cola tin leaving a 1.1/2 inch gap. I have just had one returned snapped in half. The woman said she squeezed the gap together to fit it in a box and it snapped in half. Could you tell me if I need to bake it for longer or make it thinner?. I am using Fimo effects clay.
Hi Jean, sorry for the delay in my response. I’m on vacation in the UK at the moment. I would think the problem is baking time. 30 min is not really enough for thicker pieces. I would bake for at least an hour, and do make sure that you cover your item when you bake.
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Hi ginger I am struggling to get my clay super strong am baking triangle pieces in a fan oven 130 degrees for 50 mins – I noticed your pieces are very thin . Mine break when I put pressure on them what testing can I do to ensure they are stronger or is it ok to have delicate pieces. I am looking to start selling so want to get it as good as possible. I know that brands Premo and Kato are the best ..But I have had issues with Premo being brittle too…I am going to do some testing. Any advice would be helpful . Thanks
Hi Lisa, The very thin pieces that you see of mine are all made from Pardo or Fimo Effect. Thin pieces of Premo are quite bendy and really shouldn’t be brittle. It sounds like to me that your oven might not be getting to a hot enough temperature. Make sure you use a separate oven thermometer to verify that you are indeed getting up to the right temp. And I would bake even hotter, to be honest. Polymer clay won’t burn until you get well over 325F (160C), assuming that you are covering your pieces to protect them from the element’s fluctuations.
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I’m one of those high altitude bakers. It took me a while to figure out the problem after we moved here and then someone online suggested the altitude and the light bulb came on. Upping the temp and bake time fixed my problems instantly. And we’re right at the 5000ft line.
Please tell me if this kind of polymer ,fimo is safe cause the seller told me that we should use it in a separate oven cause there is apoison gas comes out,thats why its not safe,so i was hesitated to by it.please tell me the truth ,and if its true how can we prevent it
Hi Ingy, There is a huge amount of misconception out there about the safety of polymer clay and well-meaning people keep perpetuating it. I’m sorry that their misplaced caution has caused you to worry. There is no need to worry. I’ve discussed this issue in part 1 of my Baking with Polymer Clay series, but I’ll summarize here. Polymer clay has been thoroughly tested and is certified to be safe when used according to the directions. It is not toxic. You can handle unbaked clay with your hands and you will not be harmed. You can bake polymer clay in your home oven without harm. There are no poisonous gases being released by baking polymer clay. However, just as you would with any craft compound, you should wash your hands thoroughly after working with polymer clay. You shouldn’t use your tools (such as knives) with food after using polymer clay. And because polymer clay isn’t certified as being “food safe”, (because you can’t sterilize it), you shouldn’t make plates and bowls or other food-contacting utensils with polymer (though you can cover the handles). Also, like anything, if you burn it you can release irritating fumes and gases. In the case of polymer clay it’s not so much poisonous as it is acrid and irritating. If you do burn your polymer clay, turn off the oven, open all the windows, and leave the room until the smoke clears. But you’ll never have that problem if you follow the directions I give in this Baking with Polymer Clay series. Verify your oven’s temperature with a thermometer, cover your items with foil while baking, and enjoy polymer clay!
Thank you..! 🙂 these tips r really helpful.
Well i have that microwave oven which has four options including convection.
So can i use that?
What things should i keep in mind?
Hi Laxmi, if the oven is cooking with heat and not microwaves, then you can use it. Just make sure that you use a separate thermometer to check the oven is reaching the correct temperature. And keep the clay covered with a pan or foil. Microwaves don’t cure polymer clay, so you’ll have to make sure that the microwave part is turned off and you’re just using heat only. I’m not familiar with that type of oven, though, so make sure you experiment before putting too much work into a nice project.
Thank you so very much for these tips! I am going to try every one of them. Especially using the tins to bake and the baking soda to avoid color changes, I’ve been very frustrated with his lately and that is exactly what I searched in google and what brought me to your blog. I also recently went out and bought a convection/toaster oven and spent 150€ on it only to be frustrated becuase it doesn’t hold the temperature properly! I have an oven thermometer and check it every ten minutes to find that it fluctuates and sometimes even drops below 100° c! It’s very time and electricity consuming! I’m of course afraid to go too high for fear of burning. I do bake on the ceramic tile and that helps but I do sometimes find that I have to re-bake becuase of breakage. Perhaps with your tulsi can go a little higher on temp if they are well protected. Thanks again I look forward to following your blog!
As always awesome reading!! I too am a premo girl and I always bake my items 1/2″ or less thickness for 1 hour.
I have been using my Kitchen-Aid toaster oven for 3 years on a daily basis. Never burned anything!
Always tent with aluminum foil. Never had problems with spikes in temperature. Its a real work-horse…
But I have to say Ginger, you have given me ease of mind about using my home oven.
See, that’s the thing. Toaster ovens work for some people and if you’ve got a good one then use the heck out of it! But at the same time, some people think they can’t use their home oven and then spend money on a toaster oven that then burns every other batch. Sounds like you’ve got one of the good ones. Enjoy it! I think the tenting with foil and the longer bake times are really important to your success, too. Thanks for sharing!
Very well done Ginger!! As always…..well written, clearly detailed, with wonderful pics!! I looked forward to reading each new installment 🙂 Are you sure you weren’t a “mad scientist” in another life – LOL!!
Well, I was a scientist in another life, but my kids and husband would probably attest that it’s now that I’m completely “mad” and off my rocker!
This is the most valuable post on baking temperatures and times that I’ve ever read! I didn’t realize it was okay to extend baking times, and also to increase your baking temperature if you’re at a higher altitude, which I am. You rock!! Thank you so much for writing this!
I hadn’t thought of the issues with high altitude, either. But there is a fantastic polymer clay guild in Denver and some of the ladies there were discussing this issue online. Isn’t it great that we can all share ideas like this? Saves so much trouble.
Great tips Ginger! I do use aluminum foil pans and cover with another aluminim pan but do not clip together – duh!!!
Will do so from now on! Also have not used the ramping up tip but will try on some pieces. I use cornstarch to protect certain pieces and also use it as a mild abrasive which works well. I love your articles! Always learn something new and repeat is always good to reinforce my memory! Thanks so much!
Isn’t it funny how we’ll miss one little detail that is perfectly obvious once we see it? I do that all the time. Sometimes I think that’s what teenagers are for…to point out where we’ve missed something. LOL. At least my kids do that!
Wonderful information Ginger, thanks so much for sharing your experience with us newbies!!
Thanks for sharing some very informative tips!
applauding, applauding… is there an emote for this? 😉 Nicely done, Miss Ginger. Again, where were you when i was starting out? Seriously, a brilliant series of tips and tricks, and yes, I did learn some new tricks. Thank you for sharing your experiences. ~ Kate
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