Polymer clay tips and tricks.

Polymer clay is awesome stuff as most of us know.
I was working on a job using Fimo yesterday and got curious about a few things so I did some research…

How do you keep the clay clean?
When working with really light coloured fimo it is SO hard to keep it clean. 
There is two key points to keeping your clay clean.  
Clean hands
The best way keep your hands clean. Wash your hands first of course however this won’t make your hands totally clean. Once your hands are dry play with a small piece of Fimo. Just squish it around in your hands. This will get all the little bits off your hands.
This is the best way I have found to keep your hands clean.
I have seen others recommend using baby wipes, lava soap (I don’t know what that is though…) and baby oil. Someone also get the great tip of watching what you wear! I would never have thought of that. Try to wear lighter coloured clothing. That way if you get any little bits of fluffy stuff from your clothes on your hands it won’t be a obvious! brilliant. 🙂
Clean work space.
Making sure your work surface is clean is just as important as your hands being clean! I use the back of my cutting mat as a work surface. You need a really smooth surface because the clay takes on any textures it comes in contact with. You can wipe it down with baby wipes to get rid of one colour before starting work on another colour. Or if you have enough space try using a different section of the board. 

How do I stop my clay from being so crumbley?
Some times if the clay has been sitting around for a while or has been stored in a place that is to warm it can become quite crumbley and very hard to soften. (this i experienced yesterday) I have not tried it but fimo makes a product called Mix Quick. It’s clear and makes the clay softer and easier to work with. But if there is only one colour you are having trouble with then you might be best to just buy a new block of that colour…

How do i get rid of my finger prints?
I had always assumed this was impossible apart from sanding them off but this would not make the clay smooth, just fingerprintless…
APPARENTLY if you pre-bake the clay at a lower temp. you can use a toothbrush (the softer the better) and acetone and scrub the fingerprints off! WOW! pretty exited to try that one!
however some do advise against pre-baking and say it won’t cure as hard as it would without pre-baking. 

Can you mix colours?
You can totally mix colours! They go by the same formula as mixing paint. All you need to do is blend the appropriate colours together. For example if you want to make pink you would mix red and white. It can take quite a while to create a nice even colour though. You can make really cool marble effects this way too! 🙂

How do you create a gradient in clay?
Found a GREAT super simple tutorial to help with this posted by Megan LaCore on Cut out and Keep. Click here for the tutorial.

Can you mix different brands?
Sure can! The only thing in doing this is trying to get the baking time right… I assume if you find a happy medium between the recommendations of both brands it should work. But I would do a few test runs with that before getting into a major project! 

Want project ideas?
Try these great links…
www.sculpey.com/projects
www.cutoutandkeep.net

I learned a lot from these sites. If you want to know more check them out. 🙂
www.handmade-craft-ideas.com/how-to-work-with-fimo.html
www.jaedworks.com/clayspot/polyclay-faq/mixing.html
www.clayprincess.com.au/products/fimo.htm 

Hope this helps. 🙂

Picture from clayprincess.com.au