Polymer Clay for Beginners

I find that I have different crafting obsessions that hit me as the muse strikes, though I have my primary love of beading/jewelry making and scrap-booking that I have always fallen back on.

Something in me has always wanted to get into polymer clay, though. So recently I decided to take the plunge. This will be a series of articles devoted to what I have learned on my recent trek through polymer clay land.

Day 1: The Spending

My wife cringes when I ask her to stop off at Hobby Lobby, Joann's, or an independently owned craft store in my area, and this was no different. Now normally when I begin a new craft, I do at least a little research on basic tools needed, and different techniques. However, this time I thought to myself, "It is just clay, how hard can it be?" So I went to Hobby Lobby because they had a sale on clay, and I bought some. I didn't know anything about the different brands of clay, so I just chose by color. Boy was that a mistake.

I took my booty home, unwrapped a block of clay (and then carefully re-wrapped it so it didn't "dry out" and promised myself I would buy something air tight to store it in.

So I had a block of Fimo clay in front of me. I picked it up, tried to break off a chunk, and discovered... "Wow, this is hard and crumbly!" So I put it back down, thinking that I got dried out clay. I picked up a random block of Sculpey III I had bought in the same color and found it wonderfully pliable.

I then discovered I had no inspiration, or no education. I knew I wanted to probably reproduce some beads, and I had picked up white, so I decided I would make ivory beads!

Needless to say, I had misshapen white lumps with awkward holes in them when I was finished. Unsatisfied with them, I got a little more frustrated, and so decided to make 'wooden' runes for a Renaissance Fair costume I was making.

Little did I know that this would frustrate me even further. I knew that wood should have a 'grain' in it, so I mixed a little black and brown together. I mixed, and mixed, and mixed, and came up with a... muddy brown. Nothing at all like wood. So I flattened some pieces out by hand (and then I stole my wife's rolling pin), and had flat, thin pieces of clay. Carving runes in them was equally disastrous.

Then I looked at the package of clay, and decided to bake them. I had about 1/8th inch 'runes', so I decided baking it for half the time of the 1/4" suggestion would make sense. After about half the time, the FAINT odor of the clay baking made me paranoid, and I whipped them out of the stove.

Did I mention I used one of my wife's good cookie sheets? The runes were still hot and FLOPPY! I threw them all away, thinking that they were ruined because they weren't cooked long enough. My clay venture was over, a failure... Or so I thought.

What I have learned thus far...

1. It is not 'just clay', and requires a lot more initial research and respect than I gave it on my first intrepid venture.

2. Polymer clay does not 'dry out' because it is not water based. Storage is an important consideration, but not for the reasons I had expected.

3. To make something nice, you need to have a lot more than just the clay you are using. Good tools make great pieces of art!

4. A softer clay like Sculpey III, or Sculpey Studio works well for beginners because it is a softer clay.

5. The color you bake is not always the color that comes out of the oven.

6. The smell from your oven does not mean that your stove will explode in one toxic ball of fumes!

7. Don't steal your wife's baking and cooking accouterments for your crafty addiction! It can/will be hazardous to your health.