All polymer clays must be conditioned before your began to work on them.
Failure to condition polymer clay, will lessen the finished strength of the baked clay. No matter how soft polymer clay is out of the packet, and even if it’s already conditioned the day before, if you want a stronger finish, condition your clay.
Why is conditioning polymer clay important?
After polymer clay has been sitting around for hours, the ingredients in polymer clay will settle and plasticizer in the clay can leech out into non-protected surfaces. Plasticizer is the most important ingredient you need to be aware of since it is what holds the particles of clay together. Conditioning removes trapped pockets of air and evenly redistributes the plasticizer and other ingredients in the clay. The will result in a more durable end-piece and cure with a stronger finish.
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How to Condition Polymer Clay:
#1: Manually Condition Polymer Clay
- Soft clay brands like Sculpey III & Sculpey Premo can be easily conditioned with your hands, all you need to do is portion out a workable amount and knead it with the warmth of your hands.
- If the clay is a bit firmer, tissue blades can make the process a bit faster. Slice the clay into smaller chunks, then knead the clay.
#2: Condition Polymer Clay with Pasta Machine
- For firmer clays, you can use a pasta machine to speed up the process of conditioning even though it’s possible to do it all by hand. I remember one time I had made 5 sets of earrings in one day, and by the next day my hands were so sore that I was just done and sick of kneading clay, so I realized how indispensable a pasta machine is if your working with clay on days that are back to back.
- To condition your clay with a pasta machine you need to partially condition it first:
- Chop your clay into smaller chucks.
- Set the dial to a thin setting between like 3 or 4.
- After it’s rolled out, fold the sides and feed it through again.
- Try to avoid having folds at the top because that can cause air bubbles.
- And repeat this process several times until you are able to fold it without cracking.
- You can tell that the clay is adequately conditioned when you can fold it without cracking.
Condition brittle polymer clay
#3: Condition with Liquid Clay or Mineral Oil
Normally clay can be conditioned with the methods I discussed previously, but sometimes clay can be extra brittle. This is because overtime, plasticizer may leech out. Brittle and crumbly clay will need a little help by mixing it with products to condition it such as liquid clay, clay softener, or mineral oil.
- Products like liquid clay or clay softener contain plasticizer and you can add a drop or two at time to soften the clay.
- Put the crumbled clay into a ziploc bag or plastic wrap with the conditioner and knead it until it becomes pliable.
- Be careful not to add too much conditioner at a time because overdoing it may cause your clay to get too soft and mushy.
- Mineral oil on the other hand, does not contain plasticizer, but it does help moisten clay. Add mineral oil employing the same method I talked about earlier with liquid clay. Mineral oil can be found in your local drugstore in the baby section, be sure to get one that is fragrance-free. The reason why mineral oil is preferred over vegetable oil is because it will not go rancid. I don’t know about you, but rancid polymer clay is a big NOPE for me!
- Personally, i’ll do a mixture of both liquid clay to add some plasticizer and mineral oil to moisten the clay. However, my favorite is using the clay mixing method listed below because it’s faster and simpler!
#4: Mix Soft Clay with Brittle Clay to change it’s consistency
You can make use of softer clays brands that have been sitting around on your shelf for a while, by mixing them with harder clays to customize the properties. For example, as a beginner I bought a ton of Sculpey III because there were a wider selection to choose from in my local craft store, but overtime, I realized I much prefer the finish and strength of Sculpey Premo for jewerly-making. I found that you can get a consistency similar to Sculpey Premo by mixing a itty bitty amount of Sculpey III translucent with Kato (or Fimo).
The softer Sculpey III clay tends to bake more porous, matte, and brittle – it’s not the best choice for professional projects, but it is immensely useful when mixed with more resilient brands like Fimo, Kato to get a clay that’s stronger than Sculpey III, but easier to work with than Fimo or Kato. Just be careful not to mix too much of it, since it can cause clay to get overly sticky and overworked fast.
How to leech polymer clay (if polymer clay is too sticky)
Now that we’ve gone over the most common ways to condition polymer clay, and discussed ways to fix brittle clay with too little plasticizer, let’s talk about how to do the reverse: how to fix clay that is too sticky because it has too much plasticizer by a technique called leeching.
How to tell if you have too much plasticizer in your clay?
Does you your clay gets overworked too quickly? Does it get too soft, too mushy and difficult to work with? Does it stick to your roller or pasta machine making things hard to clean. Does it smear like toothpaste and seems to think it’s play-doo and have trouble holding itself together? Maybe it leaves too many fingerprints and the texture is very hard to get smooth and nice. Maybe you just want to grab the thing and all it’s pieces and throw it out your window. If that’s the case, your clay may have too much plasticizer.
Leeching is a process of removing plasticizer from clay to make the clay firmer to work with.
Just keep in mind that if leeching is overdone, it can lesson the finished strength of the piece and make your clay crumbly.
To begin the leeching process, sandwich thin slices of clay between several layers of copy paper. Place this on your work tile and set a book on top for a couple of hours and continue checking until it’s gets to the consistency you want.
Tips for conditioning polymer clay:
Here are some quick tips to keep in mind when conditioning clay.
- It’s best to condition and work with the lighter colored clays first since clay is like a magnet and will pick up anything on your hands or work surface.
- You can use baby wipes, for handling clay in between colors of clay. However, pick a brand that doesn’t leave lint your hands.
- And lastly, mineral oil can be used to clean the rollers on your pasta machine since overtime plasticizer can have a chemical reaction to the steel rollers causing black streaks in your clay. Just take a towel with a few drops of mineral oil and wipe the rollers.
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