The Best Tips for Working with Polymer Clay

Polymer Clay is versatile clay that can be hardened by oven-baking at a low temperature or by air-drying. You can use the clay to make hair accessories, refrigerator magnets, to add decorations to flower pots, add as accents onto your scrapbook pages, turned into Christmas tree ornaments, and all kinds of other fun things!

It’s easy to work with, comes in hundreds of different colors and is affordable. You can quickly whip up your projects and be using them or giving them as gifts within hours, not days! Looking for some great designs? Check out our previous review on Clay Play 24 Whimsical Projects Book. It’s one of our go-to books for designs and inspiration.

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Here are the BEST Tips for Working with Polymer Clay

1. Room Temperature – Store at room temperature in a sealed container or bag. When working with it…always work with it at room temperature!

2. Storage – Personally I prefer storing my blocks and balls in small zipper-closure bags. Snack-size baggies work best and keep dirt, dust and air from contaminating your clay.

3. Work Surface – A silicone non-stick baking mat makes the perfect work surface when rolling out and assembling your clay pieces. It’s non-stick, washable and reusable.

4. Tools – You don’t have to purchase a tool kit unless you want to! You can use paper clips, plastic forks, spoons and butter knives, pencils (make great rolling pins), plastic beads, plastic hair combs, bobby pins, etc. all make great tools and can add interesting texture to your designs.

5. Hand Cream – Lube up both hands with hand cream before working with the product. This will keep it from sticking to your hands.

6. Kneading – Don’t skip the kneading! If you want your pieces to be smooth with no cracking…knead the dough until soft and pliable. Proper kneading is necessary for your pieces to adhere to one another and for a smooth surface when finished.

7. Scraps – Keep all of your tiny little scraps in one storage bag. You can mix together all of those little scraps to come up with your own unique colors, use when you need just a tiny accent color or mash them all together to come up with your own tie-dye colors. Throw nothing away!

8. Money Saver – Purchase big blocks of your basic colors like black, white, red, green, blue, etc. The 8 major colors like what you find in a crayon box. Then purchase kits for a small variety of colors that you don’t use a lot in your projects. Purchasing a kit is more affordable than purchasing large blocks of colors that you don’t use often or need a lot of.

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