Revisiting Polymer Clay
Some time ago when I first became aware of what was possible with the relatively new precious metal clays on the market, I resisted the temptation to do down that route as I had the very strong feeling that I’d get totally enthralled with it and at the time, only being readily available in silver, it might prove to be an expensive obsession.
Instead, I decided to tinker with the rather less expensive polymer clay – initially, to see if I had the dexterity and necessary skills to potentially work with PMC. But I soon got hooked on it in its own right, I especially love that you can mimic natural materials like stones and wood and the infinite variety of colour work possible with it.
I’ve only ever really scratched the surface of what’s possible as I only have a small area to work in and it’s necessary to work cleanly and I need to clear the area of metalwork clutter for a working session. If I had a larger working room, I might dedicate an area to it and immerse myself even further into the possibilities.
I did a lot of polymer clay work in the past, but as other work had taken hold, I hadn’t returned to it for a while, but I’ve also now found a copper PMC that can be torch fired, so all the sketches and ideas I have for PMC might finally get the chance to take form as it’s affordable enough to be worth trying and would fit really well with everything else I do and the style of my work.
Before I started on my ideas, I wanted to get out all my polymer clay tools and see if I was suitably equipped and do a little more work with it to get my eye in again and re-hone the skills I had before. I also wanted to try out a few prototypes in polymer clay before committing ideas to metal. I realised that I had quite a lot of open packets of clay that I wasn’t sure how well it would age being stored for a while, so thought it was an ideal opportunity to use up the open materials, get my eye in and make some prototypes too.
The prototypes will stay under wraps until the metal clay versions are finished and then I’ll blog about them all together, but suffice it to say that I am delighted with the progress so far and can’t wait to get to put them into practice with the metal clay – I just hope it works as well as the prototypes did.
I did manage to make a significant amount of pieces and components for more extensive projects. The simple ones are now almost finished, but some will be used in conjunction with PMC components later too, especially the larger faux turquoise pieces.
The crackled ‘dichroic’ pendants have been fitted with Aanraku bails intended for genuine dichroic glass pendants and have been sanded and extensively varnished to seal everything in and protect the finishes. The embossing resin looks very good when first done, but it’s very soft and scratches easily without being varnished, so it needs that additional step. I’m going to keep a couple of these for myself as I wanted the green specifically to match a shirt I have that colour and a couple are intended for gifts. But now I have to find the time to photograph and list them all.
I guess that’s why I’m not real good at it. I want to see results fast, so i get in a big hurry and don’t take the time as I should. Will have to work on that. (-;
I hadn’t thought about it being a skill requiring patience until you mentioned it, but I suppose it is as there are often several stages to clay work – both polymer and metal. I think it’s one of the techniques I have to be in the mood to tackle as if nothing else, it always seems to need a lot of stuff getting out for it, careful cleaning both before and after and then putting away again. So whilst you can get quick results, it’s a material you need to settle down for a decent working session with it to do it justice, it’s not something you can pick up for a few minutes.
You are very talented. I have try some polymer clay but haven’t been happy with the results. I think I just don’t have the patience, and I get frustrated and quit. But your pieces are amazing. I see some polymer clay pieces that I wouldn’t have even known they were clay unless told otherwise. I go back every onces in a while and try again. Maybe one day I can master it instead of it mastering me (-;
Thank you both, you’re very kind. The polymer clay pieces aren’t particularly difficult pieces or unusual techniques, but I enjoyed making them, having not done any for a while.
I think that you make beautiful things
No wonder you are delighted with those results! Really lovely. I love your wire work as well. Looking forward to seeing where you’ll go next…