Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Polymer Clay Tip: How to keep your clay clean

Tuesday, August 31, 2010
It can really be a pain when you're working with your polymer clay and all this dirt gets into your wonderful work. There are several things you can do to keep things clean:
  1. Keep some scrap clay on hand. Every time you feel you need to, roll the scrap piece in your hands and try to cover as much ground as you can. Roll the clay on your fingers, between your fingers and all around in your palms. I like using a white piece of clay so I can see just how dirty my hands are, even after I've washed them!
  2. I love baby wipes. They help clean everything up (like Liquid Sculpey, which can be really awful and sticky). I usually wipe my hands with baby wipes but sometimes this leaves white micro threads on my hands that get worked into the clay. 
  3. With baby wipes you can also lightly brush away dirt that sticks on the surface of your clay.
  4. You could also wear gloves, except I personally prefer not to. I like feeling the clay as much as I can, I feel like it gives me more direct control over it. 
Scented Strawberry Sprinkles Donut Earstuds
My scented polymer clay donuts are made with a special color mix that I make and for some reason it gets dirty really quickly! White polymer clay is also an offender. It can be awful to work with certain colors and clays that pick icky stuff lying around your work station. So I hope that some of these tips will help you because they certainly work well for me! 

Got a personal way you keep your stuff clean? You can share some of your tips with us too!

1 comments:

WebAnna said...

Thanks for the tips! Your work is great! I had no idea until how difficult it would be. I sculpted in low light and was surprised by how dirty the pendents were when I pulled them out of the oven (the kitchen had better light). I was really disappointing!