If you want a perfectly smooth and glass-like finish on polymer clay, the best solution is to sand and buff (learn about that here). But sometimes you want a plain area, such as on the back of pendants and earrings. But if you leave an area plain, it will be easier to see all the normal little flaws such as fingerprints and those annoying little bubbles that often crop up. So what can you do? I’ve talked about using textures to hide flaws before, but I have one tool that I use more than any other. Here’s a clayer’s secret weapon come into play. Use texture sponges on polymer clay!
How to Use Texture Sponges on Polymer Clay
To use texture sponges on your polymer clay creations, just press the texture sponge onto the unbaked clay surface. The harder you press, the deeper the texture. And the more times you press down, the denser the pattern will be. Believe it or not, the texture sponge won’t stick to the polymer clay and you don’t (usually) need to wash it between uses. (That’s not true if your clay is super sticky or if you’re doing anything on white. White is a pain in the neck.) A single piece lasts for a long time but eventually does start to break down and shed a bit (after several years).
What are Texture Sponges?
If you do a search for texture sponges, you won’t come up with much. That’s because their “real” use is for something else. These sponge-like materials are also called “open-cell foam” and are typically used as either air or water filters. You may have seen something similar as a filter for your aquarium pump or window air conditioner.
Where to Buy Texture Sponges for Polymer Clay?
When you buy a sheet of filter material, you’ll get more than you’ll need. This is nice when you want to share it with a friend. Get these from hardware stores or from marketplaces like Amazon. If you want small pieces and a variety of filter pore sizes, you can buy bundled packs from polymer clay suppliers.
From Hardware Stores or Amazon (US)
Sheets of this spongy foam sponge are sometimes sold in dollar stores as a liner for your refrigerator’s produce bin. If you can’t find them locally, you can buy them from marketplaces such as Amazon. The medium-sized “holes” on these texture sponges are a good all-purpose size.
You can also buy an air conditioning filter from the hardware store. I bought a larger-celled filter from Amazon here, and this one is smaller textured.
From Polymer Clay Suppliers
Clayaround in the UK carries a package of texture sponges that has three sizes. The largest one is very coarse but gives a unique “light touch” to the clay.
In Australia, you can get this set of 4 texture sponges from 2Wards Polymer Clay.
This set of texture sponges are available on Etsy.
Clay-Yo sponges are the name brand of a set of these sponges originally distributed by Daniel Torres and Natalia GarcÃa de Leániz.
Other Ways to Use Texture Sponges
You can also use these texture sponges to create areas that look like sand or stone. Try using a texture sponge over mokume gane or canework to give an interesting soft texture.
