The tools. I have a long history of trying to use the
wrong tool for the job. I’ve driven nails with the handle of a screwdriver. I’ve
used band aids when I ran out of electrical tape ( something I don’t recommend,
but believe me, if you’re going to try it, peel the gauze off before wrapping
the wires). This works just often enough to tempt me to try stuff from time to
time. Maybe I’m too lazy to go back in the house for a hammer, so I start
banging away with a crescent wrench, the thing is, I know that it’s possible to
get stuff done with a limited number of tools. I am living proof that you can do
stuff using the wrong tool. But I’ve been frustrated enough and defeated often
enough to know that using the wrong tool isn’t the best way to go about getting
stuff done efficiently and properly. There is an old aphorism that says To a
hammer every problem looks like a nail. So while the absolute, bottom line
essentials for working with polymer clay might be hands with opposable thumbs,
you are going to be happier working with this art medium if you gather the
essential tools.
The Pasta Machine
The number one tool for working with polymer clay has
to be the pasta machine. I’m not kidding. Yes it presses stuff out, so yeah, a
rolling pen would work. You could also put the clay under a book and ask Aunt
Bertha to rest her big ole butt on the book, and that would flatten the clay
out, but the pasta machine is going to give you ease and control over thickness.
TIP: Don’t buy your pasta machine at an exclusive kitchen
supply emporium. Go to an one of those la-dee-dah Kitchen Supply stores in a
mall and you could pay $50 to $80 for a machine. You’ll get a better deal at a
Craft Store like Michaels, or on ebay.
The number 2 tool
is some sort of roller. An acrylic briar, or a piece of PVC pipe, will work
nicely.
The number 3 tool is a tissue blade. (Make that blades.) The
craft store sells blades, but personally, I prefer to buy my blades in the
hardware store. Packages of wall paper peeling replacement blades work great.
Rollers The pasta machine is a roller, and it is
an essential tool, but it doesn’t eliminate the need for having hand held roller
tools. You can use a variety of objects as rollers. A rolling pen, a short link
of PVC pipe, a brayer, a glass olive jar, all can work.
Needle Tools
If you work with Polymer clay long enough you will end
up with a collection of needle tools. Don’t go to a lot of expense here. A
toothpick, doll maker’s needles, leather awl, and ice pick, a paper clip bent
out, knitting needles in all thicknesses and lengths are common choices. Many
polymer clay artists make clay coated handles for their favorite needle tools.
Once you start decorating stuff with cane slices you can hardly stop yourself.
Blades
Tissue blades are a must. There are tissue blades made
especially for polymer clay, but I’m partial to wall paper scraper replacement
blades. I find them both cheaper and sharper than the polymer clay blades
commonly found in craft stores. Because the wall paper replacement blades come
in packages of 5 or more, I’m not so reluctant to discard a dull one.
There is also a place for the famous xacto knife, and even the pocket
knife.
Extruders
You can wait to get an extruder, but eventually, you’re
going to want one. The most commonly found extruders look like syringes without
the needles. They tend to be hard to use. Some people make a special wooden
hinged device to force the polymer clay to be extruded.
Some place their
extruder in a caulking gun.
There are a couple of neat extruders on the
market now that are considerably easier to use.
Makin's®
Professional™ Ultimate Clay Extruder™ is a great choice.
Condition
Your Clay
Tip: Conditioning is unconditional.
It
is a must. You absolutely must condition theclay. OK, you must condition the
clay except for those times when you may not want to condition it. There are a
few techniques that don't require clay to be conditioned beforehand. These are
mostly techniques where the brittleness of unconditioned clay is desired. Making
some faux stone is an example of when that might be preferred. I say more about
that later.
The first time I made anything with polymer clay, I had no
idea the stuff had to be conditioned. Conditioning is the process that makes
polymer clay ready to work with. Most conditioning is done simply by working the
clay with your hands until it reaches a good working consistency. The warmth of
your hands combined with the physical process of stretching and compressing the
clay changes its texture, making it softer and more pliable. Conditioning
spreads the plasticizer out through the entire lump of clay, like it is
leavening a big batch of bread dough. Conditioning not only makes the clay
easier to manipulate, it also makes the clay stickier and less brittle, letting
you roll thin sheets and reduce canes without causing the clay to crack, break,
or crumble.
Some clay brands are so soft out of the package that you'll
be tempted not to bother with conditioning, but you will find that taking the
time will improve both the workability of the clay and the strength of your
fired pieces.
The simplest way to condition polymer clay is to work it
with your hands for several minutes. Take a chunk of clay of a size you feel
comfortable working with, half an ounce to an ounce or so, and begin squidging
it between your fingers. (Squidging is a word. It may not be in your dictionary,
but it isn’t a burp. It is, in fact, the perfect word to describe what I’m
talking about.) As the clay warms and softens, you should start rolling it
between your palms making it into a snake shape. [We’re reverting back to
childhood, and turning play dough into snakes, balls, cubes and triangles. Next,
take your snake and move your hands against each other in a circular motion to
compress the snake back into a ball. Repeat this process several times. Take the
snake fold it in half, twist it together, then ball it up and repeat the steps.
Each time you do this you are conditioning the clay. Keep going. Give it a
work-out You can’t over condition this stuff. If you have weakness in your
hands, use the pasta machine and run it through changing the thickness click by
click making each sheet progressively smaller, then fold it up and start at a
thick setting and work you way back down again to the thinnest setting. Send it
through the pasta machine 15 or 20 times and it won’t be too much.
Remember that there are always variables that impact the way the clay
responds. Different colors seem to respond in different ways. Clay that was
stored at too high a temperature (like say, the back of a truck on a long haul
through Death Valley ). Sometimes I think the clay was partially cured on its
way to the store. Old clay may have leeched out some of the plasticizer over
time.
Tip: To salvage old clay that is partially cured while still in
the package, I will sometimes mix the old clay with a new block of the same
color. The new clay helps soften the old stuff, and the old stuff gives the new
stuff a little more spine. I’ve even used a cheese grater to bust up a partially
cured block of clay, added a few drops of baby oi (or mineral oil) and then set
the stuff in a zip-lock sandwich back giving the mineral oil time to held
condition the clay.
Tip: Something similar can be done if the clay is
too soft coming from the package. Roll out the too soft clay into a sheet and
put it between to pieces of card stock. Then put newspapers on the top and
bottom of that sandwiching the card stock and clay in the middle. Now, while
you’re working on something else, set you bum down on the clay and let the
warmth of your butt leech out some of the excess plasticizers which are absorbed
by the cardstock.
If things are going well, you’ll find that the clay's
texture changes during the conditioning process, usually in positive ways. As
you get more experienced, you'll be able to see and feel this change to tell
when your clay is completely conditioned.
Chopper Some polyclay artists use a
food
processor to chop up the clay. The small chopped bits are easier to work
with than large chunks, and the friction of the blade warms the clay. Perhaps my
food processor was too cheap, but I had trouble getting the clay properly
chopped up using a food-processor. Still, if you have an old food processor
you’re going to retire from the kitchen, you should try chopping up some polymer
clay. After chopping the clay, you dump out the chopped bits, press them
together with your fingers, and continue the conditioning as described above.
These chopped chips of clay can also be used in making faux stone.
Whichever method you use, make sure your clay is well-conditioned before
you use it, since under-conditioned clay can cause you problems in workability
and reduce the strength of your finished items.
Note: As with all rules,
this one should be followed except when you don’t want to follow it. New stuff
is not discovered by those who follow the rules.
Links to
help
http://www.glassattic.com/
The Glass Attic http://www.npcg.org/ The
National Polymer Clay Guild http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/
Polymer Clay Central http://www.jaedworks.com/clayspot/
http://www.abnormalarts.com/polymerclaybeadtut.html
http://createapendant.com/fauxdichroic.htm
http://www.kelliesklay.com/
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