Wire & Polymer Clay


Hello, my dear friends!
This is my first article that deals with wire and clay, as well as any of the questions that you may have about working with either of them. So let’ begin, shall we?


Wire

To start off, I will first begin with a list of the materials that I like to use as well as a quick description of it.

Aluminum Wire
A very soft bendable wire that comes in a wide range of different colours and gauges. I usually use 12 to 26 gauge wire.

Some great online places to find Aluminum Wire:
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Copper Wire
A very good wire, but it is harder to work with than aluminum. It comes in a wide variety of colours and is also very easy to find.

When working with wire, always try to use gloves and goggles. When you cut wire, the ends can easily fly into your eyes, and when you are handling and bending the wire, you can get some pretty nasty cuts on your hands.


Tools

This is a collection of tools and supplies that you need to work with both Wire and Polymer Clay.

Pliers
-Round nose pliers
-Flat nose pliers
-Wire cutters or Flush Cutters

It’s very important to buy some good quality pliers that will endure all of the abuse that you put them through in your crafting endeavors. It is much better to save for quality than rack out the money for a pair of pliers and have them break and have to buy new ones. Some of the best quality pliers out there are by companies like Lindstrom and Swanstrom, however pliers do not need to be super expensive to be decent working quality. The pliers that I own are the Craftsman brand from Sears, and a year later they are still working just fine.

Hammer & Anvil
This is a great tool that gives more rigidity and texture to the wire. Personally, I don’t use it much, but many people use it to give the wire “flat spots” in chosen sections of the wire.


Polymer Clay

I first started working with polymer clay in 2008. This is a list of materials that I have used so far:

Kato Polyclay This is probably not the best brand of clay to start out with if you are a beginner. It is rather stiff and difficult to work with.

Sculpey III This brand comes in a wide variety of colours, but the downside is that it can have a very sticky texture which I personally don’t like.

Fimo Soft This brand is very easy to work with and you don’t need to knead it very much, so it makes it very easy for beginners.

Studio by Sculpey This is my favourite brand out of all the polymer clays, so far. It is a tad bit more expensive, but it is definitely worth it. It has a very nice consistency and texture – perfect in every way!

TLS (Translucent Liquid Sculpey) You can buy these in small squeezable bottles or larger 8 oz bottles. You can use it as a glue to connect unbaked pieces together before baking, or you can add it to kneaded clay and stir it to get a very nice icing.

Fimo Liquid Decorating Gel This is a liquid clay much like TLS except it bakes much more transparent, which makes it better for syrups and clear liquids.

Just a quick tip – if you like various brands of clay, don’t be afraid to mix them! There is no harm in this!


Polymer Clay Tools

Toaster Oven This is where I bake my polymer clay pieces. You can also use a regular oven, but that is entirely up to you! It is good to have something specifically just for baking your clay. You might also want to invest in one with a timer, as most clay has to be baked at a specific time.

Ceramic Tile This is the best work surface for flattening and working with your clay. It can also be thrown into the oven to bake your pieces on top of!

Pasta Machine A very good piece of equipment that is well worth the investment. It makes it very easy to flatten your clay, much easier than a rolling pin. You can find them in kitchen stores or on the internet. Always make sure to keep it clean, though!

Acrylic Roller Even if you have a pasta machine, an acrylic roller is a good thing to have when it comes to kneading or flattening small amounts of clay.

Razorblades An essential (but dangerous) tool to use for cutting clay. Things like long bendable blade, one sided blades, and an exacto knife are all good tools to have!

Safety Pins or Needles This is a very cheap tool that is very easy to find. It is great for texturing things like cakes and making the holes in beads.

Cookie Cutters This is a great tool to use when cutting out shapes from clay. It is better to use large cutters as opposed to small ones especially when you want to add wire borders and detailing to your clay. Wire is more easy to shape when the bends and curves are more bigger. Things like hearts, circles, stars, and squares are some good basic shapes to keep handy. You can find them in the baking sections of most kitchen stores or in cake decorating stores as well.

Textures These are an amazing tool but some can be quite expensive. Take a look around your house to see what kind of interesting textures you can find, and always keep a look out in stores for things you can stamp into your clay for added texture.

Mica Powder Again, very expensive, but a little goes a long way and so you probably won’t have to buy very much at a time! You can also use shimmery eyeshadow as a cheap substitute.

Glitter Not all glitter works, since some of it is plastic based and can melt in the oven, but if you use it after baking in combination with a glaze, it looks beautiful! Other things like coloured sand (which can be bought from :devspookyspry or glass glitter (which can be bought from *monsterkookies) are also great to add to clay.

Beads If you are baking beads with your clay, please make sure that they are either made from glass or crystal. Plastic will melt in the oven. Things like microbeads (without holes) can be found in Nail Shops or Craft Stores, and even online.

Scents You can use things like concentrated oil scents (that are used for candles and soaps) to scent your clay before baking. You can also use it in TLS. Here is a great tutorial for how to add scent to clay: [link]

Glaze Some people use Fimo or Sculpey glaze, but they are very expensive if you plan on doing a lot of glazing, and they tend to be gloopy as well. A great alternative is Floor Varnish such as Varathane, Future, or Palmer – just make sure they are water based and “gloss” (not semi-gloss) finish.

Sandpaper Sand paper is great to smooth rough surfaces. Go for larger numbers like 600 – which is a very fine grit. You can also use a nail buffer to buff the surface and give the clay a natural shine.


Extra Tips
Always work on a clean surface. If you don’t want any finger prints on your pieces, use gloves.
Not all the materials you need are at craft stores. Always keep an eye open in baking supply shops, cake decorating stores, hardware stores, and beauty supply shops!
Keep open clay inside zipper top baggies to keep them clean and from drying out in the open air.
If you are cutting your pieces but don’t want to squish the clay, just put your clay in the freezer for 15 minutes to stiffen up the clay! No distortion and no squishing!


This article was written by =colourful-blossom and edited by the wonderful *monsterkookies Thanks very much, and I hope you enjoyed my article!