The story so far :
The first time I stumbled on to polymer clay was during my 12th standard board examinations.I am not quite sure how , but suddenly there were these Google pages full of polymer clay and cool things made out of polymer clay.I saw stars and dreams in a millisecond.Just looking at the fascinating possibilities kept me in check for a little while , then I decided I wanted it.
Accordingly I started searching for its availability in India.Even as I searched extensively, I drew a complete blank .There was nothing online and nobody in any craft shops knew what I was talking about.I reached out to some Indian artists working with Polymer clay, I learned that :
1. They were settled outside of India, where polymer clay is easily available.
2.They have friends/ family settled outside India , who bring the P.C to India or ship it in.
3.They buy it from web stores based outside of India.
At first I was greatly excited by the 3rd option and I thought ,"Wow! I shall now buy it from web stores !".I calculated the conversion charges from foreign currency to Indian rupee." Hmm", I thought",Expensive ? Yes.But not super expensive !I can totally buy this ! ".
Unfortunately for me , I had not looked through the shipping charges involved.The second I did so, there was a big BOOM ( in my head ). My dreams blew up , and floated down to the earth in little realistic pieces.
You see , the shipping charges were 5 to 6 times the value of the clay.I could not afford it at all.
That rude awakening happened around seven years back.I still found P.C fascinating,I read up as much as I could anticipating the wonderful day where it would be affordable for me.At first ,I checked the prices every few weeks,then every few months , but seeing no remarkable change, I became resigned to my fate and stopped looking at all.
In the meanwhile ,I found cold porcelain around 2 years previously.Its pretty great , and absolutely affordable .The only hitch is that I don't trust the durability for making jewelry.I found that sometimes, metal corroded in reaction with it.Clearly the metal needs to be put in after the clay has cured (air dried ) completely, but if the metal is not put in immediately , it may not stay in.It was a bit of catch 22. I still love making beads with it , I leave it to dry for a few days and make sure I don't put any metal in it during this time.
Last month we were shifting houses and to alleviate my nervousness and snappy behavior, I started looking at polymer clay art (which calms me down),and somehow I stumbled onto yahoo answers with the link to where polymer clay can be bought in India.I thought it would be fake or at least misleading ( a lot of links go back to non Indian websites that ship it to India at a very high rate ).This particular link was real enough though, and affordable and I bought a sampler pack !
I was very excited.I tried to make canes, needless to say,it did not turn out great.In the meanwhile I read that toaster oven temperatures are not very reliable so ,I ordered for a oven thermometer to use with the Croma toaster oven I purchased.
So everything's good till now , except I got impatient. And that's how my first experiment with P.C came in to being.
Note: I did not take any before pictures for the first lot, so only the outcome pics are here for that.
Experiment 1 :
Materials used : (Please go through here for a more detailed explanation of the basic tools).The materials italicized are not mandatory for making a bead , I had them so I used them.
1.Polymer clay : I bought Premo! by sculpey. Its a sampler set with 1oz of 12 colors. The quantity as you figure is not much.I just mixed up some colors to use for my first baking trial.
2. Toaster oven
3. Plastic sheets
4. Rolling Pin
5. Dedicated clay knife
6. Dedicated Cutters
7.Oven thermometer
8.Fire extinguisher ( not used , only for emergencies )
9.Some wire : I already had some 20 gauge, color coated copper wire that I purchased from a hard ware shop. If the shop person does not know the gauge,look for a thickness approximating earring posts.Again,any gauge can be used,its just easier to work with this gauge.If you can get regular copper wire ( without color coating) , that is always better
10.Jewelry pliers
If this is the first time you are doing this please set aside at least an hour or two.It is lots of fun , and you know how time just passes by without you knowing anything about it when you are having fun.
I am not going ahead into the making a bead part of it , mainly because I already conducted the first experiment before making this blog and I only have the outcome pics.
What did I do :
1.Condition the clay : The clay is quite stiff when left alone.Before using it for any project , roll it in your hands , or using the roller so that clay softens. Using your hands works out well, because the heat from your hand warms up the clay a little , which in turn softens it.Once it becomes soft knead it well, so that all air bubbles ( if any) are released , which ensures that cracking will reduce.
2.Make the bead :I just rolled up two identical pieces of pc in my hand , of a color I liked.I wanted to make a pair of earrings , so I shaped them identically into something vaguely resembling a dagger. Trust me, its quite easy to do.
3.I made a little horse shoe shaped wire piece, and put it into the bead.(One end of the wire is a loop , then it comes together and then separates out).This is not a mandatory step as this further requires jewelry making pliers.You can just poke a hole in the bead and be done with it.
4. Now this has to be baked at 130 degree Celsius (275 Fahrenheit). I thought frankly this was going to be the easiest of the whole job.Oh boy! To put it simply , I set up the rack of the oven , set the dial to 130 and the timer to 30 mins and then I went about my merry way.
5. This was the result :
While I tried to prettify it ,as you can clearly tell, this is an experiment that did not go well.To put it simply it was major burrrn for my "I can get everything done right, the very first time" attitude.It looked like bird droppings hanging from a wire.The whole kitchen smelled really toxic , and I had to open all the windows and doors.While it did put me back in my place ( that of a novice who has no practical knowledge) , I was thankful that it did not poison anyone else and did not set fire to anything.So another thing added to my list : fire extinguisher.
The reason I put up the picture was because there are hardly any pictures of what happens when things go wrong.Hopefully I will get better in time and I wont put up such gruesome pictures anymore.Anyway, to proceed ,
What I learnt : ( After going through search results for " why did my polymer clay get burnt")
1.Invest in an Oven thermometer.Even though your toaster oven may have a temperature dial , its accuracy may be well off. ( My oven is off by around 50 Celsius )
2.Try to keep temperature consistent.Ovens have a tendency to both spike the temperature and cool down sporadically to maintain the temperature on the dial.But this may mean that the oven may heat up to a higher degree than 130 and burn your clay before cooling down.
a. Keep the polymer clay inside two aluminium foil containers ( such as the ones restaurants commonly use for packing food ), clip it and then cure it.The temperature inside the aluminium foil remains more consistent.
b.Preheat the oven before curing clay .I did not know this at all, since I have never used an oven before this.
c.Use ceramic tiles to line the oven and containers that are being used.
d. Do not disappear after putting on the timer.Be physically present so that you may check the temperature to dial it down if required , or to remove the item if it starts burning.
e.I also cook it for an hour at least now.I have found my oven is more even tempered while cooking longer duration's.But do not put pre baked and then painted pieces in for an hour , 10 mins is sufficient.( updated : 19.02.2015)
That's all for today ! In case you were wondering, I did make the beads once more , and it came out all right.I shall update on how exactly I did that very soon.
Thanks for reading.Please do drop in with your comments , they are always welcome.
You see , the shipping charges were 5 to 6 times the value of the clay.I could not afford it at all.
That rude awakening happened around seven years back.I still found P.C fascinating,I read up as much as I could anticipating the wonderful day where it would be affordable for me.At first ,I checked the prices every few weeks,then every few months , but seeing no remarkable change, I became resigned to my fate and stopped looking at all.
In the meanwhile ,I found cold porcelain around 2 years previously.Its pretty great , and absolutely affordable .The only hitch is that I don't trust the durability for making jewelry.I found that sometimes, metal corroded in reaction with it.Clearly the metal needs to be put in after the clay has cured (air dried ) completely, but if the metal is not put in immediately , it may not stay in.It was a bit of catch 22. I still love making beads with it , I leave it to dry for a few days and make sure I don't put any metal in it during this time.
Last month we were shifting houses and to alleviate my nervousness and snappy behavior, I started looking at polymer clay art (which calms me down),and somehow I stumbled onto yahoo answers with the link to where polymer clay can be bought in India.I thought it would be fake or at least misleading ( a lot of links go back to non Indian websites that ship it to India at a very high rate ).This particular link was real enough though, and affordable and I bought a sampler pack !
I was very excited.I tried to make canes, needless to say,it did not turn out great.In the meanwhile I read that toaster oven temperatures are not very reliable so ,I ordered for a oven thermometer to use with the Croma toaster oven I purchased.
So everything's good till now , except I got impatient. And that's how my first experiment with P.C came in to being.
Note: I did not take any before pictures for the first lot, so only the outcome pics are here for that.
Experiment 1 :
Materials used : (Please go through here for a more detailed explanation of the basic tools).The materials italicized are not mandatory for making a bead , I had them so I used them.
1.Polymer clay : I bought Premo! by sculpey. Its a sampler set with 1oz of 12 colors. The quantity as you figure is not much.I just mixed up some colors to use for my first baking trial.
2. Toaster oven
3. Plastic sheets
4. Rolling Pin
5. Dedicated clay knife
6. Dedicated Cutters
7.Oven thermometer
8.Fire extinguisher ( not used , only for emergencies )
9.Some wire : I already had some 20 gauge, color coated copper wire that I purchased from a hard ware shop. If the shop person does not know the gauge,look for a thickness approximating earring posts.Again,any gauge can be used,its just easier to work with this gauge.If you can get regular copper wire ( without color coating) , that is always better
10.Jewelry pliers
If this is the first time you are doing this please set aside at least an hour or two.It is lots of fun , and you know how time just passes by without you knowing anything about it when you are having fun.
I am not going ahead into the making a bead part of it , mainly because I already conducted the first experiment before making this blog and I only have the outcome pics.
What did I do :
1.Condition the clay : The clay is quite stiff when left alone.Before using it for any project , roll it in your hands , or using the roller so that clay softens. Using your hands works out well, because the heat from your hand warms up the clay a little , which in turn softens it.Once it becomes soft knead it well, so that all air bubbles ( if any) are released , which ensures that cracking will reduce.
2.Make the bead :I just rolled up two identical pieces of pc in my hand , of a color I liked.I wanted to make a pair of earrings , so I shaped them identically into something vaguely resembling a dagger. Trust me, its quite easy to do.
3.I made a little horse shoe shaped wire piece, and put it into the bead.(One end of the wire is a loop , then it comes together and then separates out).This is not a mandatory step as this further requires jewelry making pliers.You can just poke a hole in the bead and be done with it.
4. Now this has to be baked at 130 degree Celsius (275 Fahrenheit). I thought frankly this was going to be the easiest of the whole job.Oh boy! To put it simply , I set up the rack of the oven , set the dial to 130 and the timer to 30 mins and then I went about my merry way.
5. This was the result :
While I tried to prettify it ,as you can clearly tell, this is an experiment that did not go well.To put it simply it was major burrrn for my "I can get everything done right, the very first time" attitude.It looked like bird droppings hanging from a wire.The whole kitchen smelled really toxic , and I had to open all the windows and doors.While it did put me back in my place ( that of a novice who has no practical knowledge) , I was thankful that it did not poison anyone else and did not set fire to anything.So another thing added to my list : fire extinguisher.
The reason I put up the picture was because there are hardly any pictures of what happens when things go wrong.Hopefully I will get better in time and I wont put up such gruesome pictures anymore.Anyway, to proceed ,
What I learnt : ( After going through search results for " why did my polymer clay get burnt")
1.Invest in an Oven thermometer.Even though your toaster oven may have a temperature dial , its accuracy may be well off. ( My oven is off by around 50 Celsius )
2.Try to keep temperature consistent.Ovens have a tendency to both spike the temperature and cool down sporadically to maintain the temperature on the dial.But this may mean that the oven may heat up to a higher degree than 130 and burn your clay before cooling down.
a. Keep the polymer clay inside two aluminium foil containers ( such as the ones restaurants commonly use for packing food ), clip it and then cure it.The temperature inside the aluminium foil remains more consistent.
b.Preheat the oven before curing clay .I did not know this at all, since I have never used an oven before this.
c.Use ceramic tiles to line the oven and containers that are being used.
d. Do not disappear after putting on the timer.Be physically present so that you may check the temperature to dial it down if required , or to remove the item if it starts burning.
e.I also cook it for an hour at least now.I have found my oven is more even tempered while cooking longer duration's.But do not put pre baked and then painted pieces in for an hour , 10 mins is sufficient.( updated : 19.02.2015)
That's all for today ! In case you were wondering, I did make the beads once more , and it came out all right.I shall update on how exactly I did that very soon.
Thanks for reading.Please do drop in with your comments , they are always welcome.
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