Polymer Clay I: An Introduction

Working with a new creative medium can be very intimidating. Many people think of polymer clay and instantly think of cartoon type characters, but clay is so much more than that. If you can imagine it, chances are, you can make it with polymer clay. It's a very forgiving medium that is only limited by what you think you can do with it.

There are so many things you can do with polymer clay and people are coming up with more ideas every day. You can make beautiful beads, cover light switch plate covers, make sculpture, cover glass bottles, cover candy tins and many others.

The range of colors polymer clay gives you is enormous, if you can't find the right color, you can always combine colors until you get what you want. With all the different clay companies, you have a huge variety of shades and types of clay to choose from.

If you make a mistake, don't bake it, it's that easy. Or manipulate it and see what else you can make out of it. That is one of the best things about polymer clay, there aren't really any mistakes. Things aren't mistakes, they just turn out differently than you thought.

Polymer clay is easily manipulated and shape without the use of tools. You can just take a block, open it up and start playing. The different brands can sometimes be a little stiffer, but all are still easy to use without much effort.

Polymer is a freeing medium to use. It's so easily manipulated and brightly colored, a person can become addicted very quickly. You just have to find what you want to do with it.

All brands of polymer are easily baked without special equipment. When baking in your home oven, it is advised to put it inside of a covered pan that is dedicated to clay only. As the clay bakes it can give off fumes that you wouldn't want baking into your food the next time you use the oven.

You can even sand it to get rid of any fingerprints or it can be easily carved. It can be used as a canvas, you can draw and paint on it, then just place a protective seal over it. Many different artists have used it with other mediums.

Young, old, male, female, even the creatively challenged, all can benefit from playing with clay. There's a lot of relaxation to be found in the act of being creative. So go out and pick up a couple of blocks, just do it, don't even think about it.