|
|
|
| What can I do with Polymer clay? |
| You can cover anything (as long as it won't melt or burn at the low firing temperatures) with a veneer of polymer clay: wooden boxes, picture frames, mirrors, and tableware. One popular application is jewelry: polymer clay can be used to make beads, pendants, bracelets, and neckpieces. Small sculptures and buttons are other possibilities. Clay artists have developed techniques to give polymer clay the appearance of granite, jade, amber, coral, turquoise, and ivory, and its flexibility means you can make pieces in shapes and sizes that wouldn't be possible using actual stone. (Because the plasticizer in polymer clay may leach out even after it's fired, polymer clay is not suitable for objects in direct contact with food.) |
| What makes polymer clay special is its versatility. It comes in dozens of colors, and you can blend clays together like paints to make your own colors. The clay's pliability and ductility let you use techniques from glasswork, textile arts, and sculpture. And polymer clay doesn't dry out, so you can sculpt and form it without worrying about a time limit. Firing - the process that fuses the particles into a solid - requires only low temperatures, low enough to use a home oven as your kiln. When fired, the clay gets hard enough to make durable objects, and can be finished in various ways to obtain textures from glassy to stone like. |
|
|
|
|
|
