Polymer Clay: More tips, tricks, and tutes

^{Other installments of this article POLYMER CLAY ARTICLE 1 ARTICLE 2}

Reviews

I recently got my hands on a big bottle of liquid Kato brand clay and it is said to bake clear. I tried out a few things and I am glad to report it does bake clear.

At first glance: This product is much more liquid like than either Fimo or Sculpey's translucent liquid clays. If you aren't careful it will run all over the place. It has the consistency of 2% milk. It smells like rubber and easily pours out of the bottle.



Although you must keep coats thin. The thicker the layer of liquid clay the less clear it will be.
I have noticed that the "moon" marks occur when placed over black or painted on too thick. This occurs in some translucent solid clays as well.
It creates a rounded and smooth finish. Great for pendants.

I got my hands on some liquid Fimo and compared it to liquid Sculpey. Up until this point I have only been using liquid Sculpey, mostly because it is readily available in my area, and I thought both products were the same. I was HUGELY wrong.

Appearance

Before baking: It is similar to liquid Sculpey although a little thinner (not very much thinner) and is white in appearance. It is more like the consistency of white glue.

After Baking: The Liquid Fimo is almost perfectly clear! When placing it on writing or an object you can clearly read through it and it slightly magnifies. It is not very hard at all but rubber like. I can bend it multiple times and crease it and no lines, breaking, or cracking occurs. You are unable to see through it like a lens, everything is blurred, but when directly on a paper it is perfectly clear.

Before baking: White in appearance, slightly thicker than liquid Fimo. This is much stiffer and is more like soft cake frosting.

After Baking: Very stiff in comparison to the liquid Fimo and not nearly as transparent. The baked puddle has a frosted glass look to it but I can still clearly see the tiny "S" I placed in the puddle before baking. Lots of little :moon" marks

I just bought some Sculpey mold maker and tried it out today.
At first glance: The clay is very soft to the touch and almost a bit sticky. The box says that you should refrigerate the clay before making a mold due to it being so soft. I plopped it in front of my air conditioner for a bit and it worked just fine.



Making the Mold: At first the mold making clay kept getting stuck to my original item. The instructions say to rub mineral oil or power on the item first to prevent sticking and boy are they correct. I grabbed a bit of oil and it came out much easier although part of the mold was still sticking in small crevices.

Baking the mold: After baking be sure to let it cool completely before removing it from it's baking surface. It is very soft right after baking I touched it and the slight brush of my nail cut it. After cooling it is very flexible but not as flexible as the plastic used in the pre-made molds you can buy. It made a great duplication of my original item but it isn't 100% perfect. That might be due to my playing around with it.

Tips and Tricks

How can we prevent eyepins/loops from falling out?

This is a very common problem that a lot of clay users have.
Headpins are a very simple solution. I use these a lot. Instead of an eyepin you insert this one from the bottom of your charm up. There is a little foot, or "head", to the pin that will grip the charm from the bottom. Here is an image of one [link]
Also squirting some liquid clay onto the eyepin before inserting the pin and baking can make it sturdier.
Placing the eyepin further into the clay so the eye is halfway covered is also a good way of getting a better grip. The downside is that you will no longer be able to open the "eye" of the eyepin.

What are some uses for liquid clay?

There are a very wide array of uses and this is just some of them.
Used as a glue for clay-to-clay adhesion. Although you must bake the liquid to cure it. It will not cure on it's own like typical glue.
Window Clings- Liquid Fimo is the perfect choice for these. You can take an image (cut from paper) and coat it front and back in liquid fimo. Bake according to instructions and the rubbery surface will allow you to stick your item to a window.
Faux sauces and frostings are also made with liquid clays seen in the Cupcake Tutorial below.
A bakeable varnish, very thin coats of liquid fimo or Clear Kato can be used in place of a paint on varnish. Again, you would have to re-bake the object because the liquid clays do not cure on their own.
All three can be used to transfer images onto clay and they come with instructions to do so. The instructions vary by brand so you'll have to be careful.

Tutorials

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Features

I hope you have enjoyed this article. If you are looking for more information please visit my 2 previous Articles: POLYMER CLAY ARTICLE 1 ARTICLE 2

Until next time - *chat-noir