Polymer Clay Productions, Inc.Polymer Clay Productions

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Have you ever wondered how polymer clay artists get such wonderful visual textures on their clay pieces? This episode will show the basics- how to choose a texture tool with a nicely impressed image or design, and how to get your clay into and out of the texture tool easily.

First of all, you need a rubber stamp, texture sheet, rolling pin, or some other tool with a texture on it- and that texture should be “deeply impressed.” What that means is if it isn’t deep enough, it won’t leave a good mark in the clay. Here are some pictures of the stamps we used.

Before and while using your texture tools, you need to decide if a release is needed. If your clay is too mushy and sticky, or if it’s hot and humid, or if your stamp or tool is really deep and your clay gets stuck in it when you practice, you will probably need a release. This is just something that will get between your clay and your tool and keep the clay from sticking inside the tool. Water is a great release with polymer clay because the clay is not water soluble. Cornstarch is another good one- but only in certain circumstances. Cornstarch will stick to your clay and get onto it- but after baking, it dissolves in water. So it’s a good choice if you are going to decorate your clay after baking it. Not a good choice, say, if you want to decorate your clay with powdered pigments or inks prior to baking, because the cornstarch will stick to the clay and get in the way of the other things you might want to put on the clay. If you have some pigment powders you can try using that as a release. Just dust the clay and stamp with powdered pigments and stamp away. You can also try using pigment inks- I stamp all over the texture sheet and press my clay onto it. The ink gets into the crevices of the stamp and the wetness keeps the clay from sticking. Experiment and see which release works best for you!

The full project video is available at www.polymerclayclassroom.com

And here is the Companion Kit, with all the materials and supplies you need to follow right along with the video. Our kits make excellent gifts, too.

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We are so excited to say that we were contacted by the marketing manager of http://www.veoh.com and they want to feature our videos on the front page of their site. We will let you know when we get featured so you can check it out. Speaking of videos we have a new episode of Polymer Clay TV due out this Friday June 22nd so make sure to check that out. We will also have our first download in our shop showing you how to complete 4 unique magnets. Our first companion kit will be available in the shop also.  The boxes have arrived so the gifts for the first 100 newsletter subscribers will be going out in the mail shortly. Our newsletter is due out July 1st and we will announce the first winner of our monthly contest. Make sure and sign up for the newsletter and you will automatically be entered into all of our monthly contests. Thank you for the support, we hope you enjoy the show!

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We have been working on our first download that will be available in our shop this Friday June 22nd. We had some early subscribers and they have been sent an e-mail to view Episode #1 of Polymer Clay Classroom. We hope you enjoy it!

We are getting around the internet and our Polymer Clay TV videos can be seen on Google Video,You Tube, Yahoo Video, Blip TV, Myspace, Bit Torrent,Veoh and on many other sites. We have had some great response and we really appreciate the support.

Episode #2 of the videocast, Polymer Clay TV will be available for download this Friday June 22nd here on our website at Itunes and in other directories. We show you the techniques and products we talked about on Polymer Clay Podcast last week. Rubber stamps and texture plates work great with polymer clay and we show you the techniques to get you started stamping away! I love to work with texture and use stamps and texture plates often, I hope you have as much fun as I do.

Make sure to visit the forum to ask questions, get inspiration and to share thoughts, ideas and comments about the show. Don’t forget if you sign up for the newsletter you will automatically be entered to win prizes in our monthly contest. We have had a great response to the newsletter and have already surpassed 100 subscribers. The first 100 subscribers will receive a fun handmade gift so make sure to respond to the e-mails we sent with your snail mail address so we can get your gift to you. We will announce the winners in the newsletter and here on the website. Good Luck.

Enjoy the show!

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Click the links right here to play the podcast on your computer, or go to the sidebar where you can get our podcast from the podcatcher of your choice, or itunes.

Welcome to Episode 2 of Polymer Clay Podcast! We hope you enjoy listening all about how to add texture to your clay pieces using rubber stamps and texture sheets. Make sure to visit us next week when we do a video demonstration of everything we talked about.

Some key points when using stamps- you need to test the compatibility of your clay and your texturing tool of choice. Sometimes the clay will stick and if it does, you will need what’s called a release agent. That’s a fancy way of saying something needs to help the clay not stick. You can try cornstarch baby powder, because it will wash off the baked clay with water. You can also try spritzing the stamp with water before applying the clay. Also try putting the stamp onto the clay and refrigerating the whole thing for a few minutes to firm up the clay, then peel the stamp off (gently!) Another success we’ve had is actually using the powdered pigments that you want as part of the surface design as a release- just powder up your clay before impressing the stamp and the powder gets between the stamp and the clay and helps it peel off easily. One more thing- try putting your stamp and your clay right into the oven. Only try this with unmounted sheet rubber stamps. The 275 F heat won’t hurt the stamp, and this way you can let the whole thing cool down before removing the stamp and there will be less chances for your design to get smushed in the unpeeling process. DO NOT try this with sheet plastic texture sheets or clear “rubber” stamps. Any clear plastic item can not withstand the heat and it will melt, curl, or catch on fire. This tip goes for those of you who want to make clay covered pens- never use the clear kind.

What kind of stamp or texture sheets should you use? You need to find ones that are deeply impressed. That means that the stamp is actually deep, so it will make a good mark in the clay. Try buying unmounted rubber stamps- they are nice and flexible so you can have more control. Plastic texture sheets for embossing paper work well, as do the clear ones by Scratchart that we will be featuring in next week’s video. We love these because they are big, so your design can cover a larger space. They also allow you to get two designs for the price of one- an “inny” and an “outy!” Ok, I’m just being silly- what I mean is, one side impresses the design into the clay, and the other side causes a raised design to be left on the surface of the clay.

While you are working with stamps and texture sheets, you will need to develop the skill to create a good impression. Ilysa puts her clay on her work surface and pushes the texture into the clay, sometimes using her acrylic roller to assist. I, on the other hand, usually put my texture tool down on the table and push my clay into it with my fingers. Practice makes perfect and the great thing about polymer clay is that you can just mush-up your mess-up and try it again. Next week when you watch the video you’ll get to see both techniques in action.

Here are some links to the things we talked about today, enjoy!
www.polymerclaycentral.com
www.clayfactory.net

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Well we have been working diligently on getting Polymer Clay Classroom finished, which is the first downloadable full length tutorial that will be available in our shop. Since I have NO backround in film it has been a big learning experience for me and Kira as well. I am enjoying every minute of it and I have decided to look into taking a film making class. In the first episode of Polymer Clay Classroom we are showing how to make 4 different magnets from start to finish. There are so many different kind of magnets that you can make with polymer clay but this is a great place to get started and get the creative juices flowing. Magnets make great gifts and are a lot of fun to make, so we hope you enjoy this project as much as we did. Don’t forget Episode #2 of Polymer Clay Podcast will be available to listen to on Friday. Thank you for all of the nice comments and e-mails, keep them coming!

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