Conditioning Clay
Conditioning polymer clay can be a fairly quick and easy process. Condition only one package of clay at a time (and be sure to wash your hands in between to avoid accidental mixing of colors). Begin by warming the clay between your hands, and then kneading and stretching it until is becomes soft and pliable. Pasta machines can be used as aide to conditioning. Set the machine on its widest setting and feed chunks through the machine. The firmer clays may take a few minutes, Sculpey III can be conditioned in seconds! If clay gets too soft, let it sit for a few minutes and it should be ready to work with again.
Mixing Colors
To create your own colors, polymer clay can be formulated like paint, or colored with powders, chalk, ink, glitter, colored pencils, powdered makeup and paint. For instruction on blending, see below for Skinner Blends.
Technique Glossary
Bead/Button Work
Beadwork is a beautiful way to show off your polymer clay expertise! Beads and buttons can be formed by simply marbling and rolling clay together to form balls or rolling from layers to make "rolled paper" beads. As well as rolling, clay can be wrapped around existing wooden beads for uniform shape. Millefiore or Skinner blends can be used also to create one of a kind beads. Don't forget to use a skewer or large needle to pierce before baking. A Bead Baking Rack can keep beads perfect while baking.
Jewelry
Polymer clay jewelry is an infinite array of creativity and innovation. Clay can be used to form beads, stones, and glass-like or transfer art for your jewelry collection. Jewelry findings can be attached to the clay using wire or liquid clay.
Jewelry can be hung on wire, fishing line, or with larger holes, leather or satin. Try Sculpey Ultralight to keep your pendants and beads light to wear!
Millefiore (canework)
Millefiori has its origins in Italian glasswork. It is the process of creating clay rods, or canes, which contain multicolored patterns which are seen at the ends. This technique is often referred to as caning and can produce an array of designs, ranging from simple blends to intricate faces and flowers. This technique takes some practice but produces unique results well worth the effort. Caning can be used with almost anything in clay art. There are numerous books and web resources available showing this technique and project ideas.
Mokume Gane
Mokume game is the technique of shaving layered pieces of clay. It originates from 17th century Japanese metalworking, when it was used specifically to make Samauri swords. It is done by stacking layers of clay and often leafing foil and then shaving to create rings and graining.
Scrapbooking Embellishment
Baked Premo! Sculpey has been tested and proven to be both acid and lignin free, creating an opportunity to expand your clay and scrapbooking creativity! Use clay with push molds, stencils, texture sheets and more to create pages that really "stand out"! Clay is a great way to personalize pages and add eye-catching embellishments. Filigree corners or texture frames can be used to bring out color in pictures and stamping or transferring allows you to set your wording in clay.
Skinner blends
The Skinner Blend is a technique invented by Judith Skinner that involves geometrically layering colors of clay and feeding them through a pasta machine to create beautiful blends that can be used in caning, beadwork and more!
Technique definitions taken from sculpey.com
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