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Just
Ask Fall 2005 By Deb Hayes |
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Welcome to Just Ask. I am here to answer your questions…if I don’t know the answer, I will research it with our team of experts and give you THEIR answers. Email me at: Deb@pcPolyzine.com. |
Dear Readers, |
Dear
Deb, Christi—
Without knowing exactly what problems you encountered,
I will try to help. For
a hair wrap, you want your clay to be strong and
flexible. For that reason, I would work without the Sculpey, which
is very
brittle and prone to breaking in thinner applications. A blend of
mostly
Premo!, FIMO, or Kato clay with a much smaller amount of the flex clay
will
probably be your best bet. I haven’t had any luck in finding a
“recipe”
for hair spirals, so I will ask our readers for help. If you make
hair
spirals, or have a recipe for clay mixing that results in good, strong,
flexible spirals, (and don’t mind sharing) please drop me a line at deb@pcpolyzine.com. That
being said, I can’t stress enough the need to make sure
your oven is curing at the correct temperature for the correct length
of
time. Lower temperatures or shorter curing times could result in a
weaker
final product. Of course, a dependable oven thermometer is
essential. I
hope this has helped. Watch this space for replies from
our devoted readers, who are the best in e-zine land! Deb Hi, I
bought a two-part, food grade silicone putty that I would like
to use to make double sided leaf veiners for sugar paste.
The
company that I purchased the product from hasn't responded to my
request, so I
was hoping that someone from Polyzine (since working with polymer
clay
is very similar to working with sugar paste) could give me
some
tips. I was wondering if pressing the back of a heavily
veined leaf
into the mixture, letting it cure, peeling off the leaf and then
pressing
more of the mixture onto the cured part to get the reverse image
would
work. I'm not sure if this stuff will stick to itself, even
though
it's silicone. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank
you, Tambia,
I think it sounds like you have a great idea. That
is exactly what I would do if I were doing leaves for a project. I
am not
sure what you mean about the mixture sticking to itself,
though. Is your
leaf made of silicone, as well? Even so, it should make a great
impression
in a RTV (room temperature vulcanizing) silicone compound. Let us
know how
it turns out! Deb I
have just starting playing around with Polymer Clay (after
some research on it of course). I made and fired my first set of
beads and
I have two questions to ask. 1.
When the tiny beads were cooked at required time and temp
(275 at 30 minutes for every 1/4th or 5 mm width using
my stove from
the kitchen), and once cooled I was simply testing the surface to see
if it
would scratch and I had to try BUT using the tip of my nail,
I made
small thin nail impressions ... little scratches. 2.
I made a 10 mm bead and WRAPPED some long thin rolled piece
of clay around it and pressed ever so slightly as to avoid flatting the
string
but I thought enough to bond it. But once this bead was
done,
again, the nail could just ever so be seen when I was testing the
surfacing for
scratching, and then the string wrapped around the bead came off. OK,
so was the tip of my nail impressions happening because of
under cooking or is it slightly normal? And did the wrap come
off and
seemed even like rubbery instead of harden clay, because I did not
press
hard enough to the clay bead (which was not cooked yet), or maybe
just too
thin? I cannot seem to find an answer to these two simple things.
I
would SOOOO be thankful for some help on this. Please Please
Please!! Thank
you, Christine,
I would like to thank you for the chance to learn
something new! When I tried to indent some of my cured beads, I
did find a
small nick. I had to press pretty hard, though, and the beads were
not
coated with Future or any other finish. I would think that putting
on a
coat of finish and baking it on (200F for about ten minutes) would aid
in
protecting against scratches, though. The
thin strand that came out flexible did as it was intended to
do, as long as you’re not using Sculpey or Sculpey III. The
stronger clays
are flexible in thinner applications. For a great mechanical bond
between
two clay layers, try using some liquid polymer clay as “glue”. For even
better
adhesion, you can key (or scratch lightly) the underlying clay, and the
bottom
of the wrapping piece before using the liquid clay. I
hope this helps, and again, thank you for getting me to do my
own test! Deb HI! I
just tried making my own polymer beads this week. I
mixed black, pearl pink, and silver. They looked great before
baking! After, the pinks came out bronzed, except for one of each
size. The blacks and silvers did not change color. Is this
from
baking too long, or do I need to question my used toaster oven? Thanks
so much! Donna,
thanks for asking—that sounds like a gorgeous combination
of colors. Don’t you just HATE it when the great looking item
comes out of
the oven looking less than great? Would I be correct in guessing
that the
smallest beads came out unchanged? If so, I would be quick to
blame your
toaster oven, indeed. Since they are intended for toasting, the
element
needs to be fairly close to the object being toasted, which is great
for
bagels, but not so good for beads. I would double-check the
nearness to
the heating element, as well as double-checking the temperature holding
ability
of your toaster oven. The pink, along with other light colors, is
more
likely to darken in the oven, so tenting with a bit of aluminum foil is
a good
idea. If you have the time and supplies, why not check your oven,
tent the
project, and let us know how it turned out. Deb Hi
Deb, Came
across your site, just started using Sculpey, I have a
small book (not very informative) and have gone online to try to
learn to
make canes. I love the clay and making beads, but feel very
discouraged with canes and that is what I really want to
make. I
can’t seem to understand how to build the picture in the cane in
the
beginning. Even when I make a simple heart cane it still got
distorted. Can you recommend some good sites on
building canes? I don’t want to give up on it. Connie,
I am in the same boat as you…caning seems to be beyond
me sometimes, too! Sculpey is probably one of the least preferred
clays
for caning, since it softens so quickly and loses its shape
easily. I
would start with a firmer clay, such as Premo!, FIMO or Kato
Clay. For a
simple cane like a heart, what I do is roll the heart clay into a log,
then
shape the whole thing into a heart; I taper the bottom and groove the
top. I then pack the outside with the contrasting color of clay,
and roll
it to smooth and even it out. Again, I am no caning guru, but it
works for
me. I
have done a bit of web crawling, and here are some links, in
no particular order: http://www.jaedworks.com/clayspot/polyclay-faq/caning.html
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/cyclopedia/canework.html
http://www.littlebit.com/ideas_pc/pcprojects.htm
I
hope these help. The basics to remember: Use strong
clay, start simply, and practice, practice, practice! Deb Dear
Deb, Elaine,
Although
my AMACO “pasta” machines have been pretty much
problem-free for me, even with fifteen kids vying for them, quite a few
folks
have reported the same kind of problems with them that you have
had. My
advice would be to contact the AMACO people and let them know what is
wrong,
when it started, and what you’ve done to try to fix it. You might
also
contact the store where you bought it, since many of them have simple,
100%
satisfaction guarantees. The
wrinkling of the clay is usually a result of uneven pressure
on the rollers, and there is not much you can do about it. Making sure
your
clay sheets are just a bit thicker than the setting you want to use may
reduce
the greasy streaks, too. The grease (black smears) issue is one
that has
been very hard to overcome. If you get them at the beginning of
your
rolling only, then running some scrap clay through to take up the
grease would
be great. I also use an alcohol-soaked baby wipe to run through
from time
to time. If the grease is becoming less of a problem as time goes
by, then
it will probably quit altogether, when the excess from the factory has
all come
out. However,
it is my personal opinion that a company that markets a
tool for a specific purpose needs to know that it is succeeding or
failing. We are the only ones who can tell them what is wrong, so
we
should thank them for trying to help us, and let them know how they can
help us
more. Stepping
off the soapbox now, Hi
Deb my name is Debbie Amit and I live in Debbie—I
found this information on the Internet, and you get to
choose the best language for you. Although the polymer clays we
use are
rated non-toxic, they shouldn’t be eaten, nor used with food or inside
food
containers. I think I would call the baby’s pediatrician and ask
for more
details. Here is the link: http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/cyclopedia/advicefimo.html
Clay
safely, Hi
Deb, Sheila,
when I wrote this, Regarding
the light bulb cover, it is a lovely idea. The
concern would be less the strength of the clay, since outdoor
applications are
used in many areas, but more the safety of the shade itself. Since
light
bulbs can get hot, you would need to make sure the shade was far enough
away
(wide enough?) from the bulb not to scorch. Using a smaller
wattage bulb
will help, as well. We
would love pictures of your fixtures when they’re finished. Deb I
want you all to know that I really appreciate all the mail I
get, and to let you know that I do answer each and every question
myself
(eventually). In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, I will be
volunteering
with The American Red Cross, and may be sent out of town to
help. I
will do my best to stay in touch with our publisher, Jeannie Havel. All
the best,
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