Baking Polymer Clay Pendants in a Ceramic Tile Sandwich

To avoid trapping air bubbles in your flat sheet of clay, you first need to condition it properly using a polymer clay pasta machine.

Cindy last blog post..When Baking Beads, It's OK to Sometimes Break the Rules

When baking polymer clay items that need to be flat can you also use one of those new non-stick baking sheets that they are selling or will they leave a funky residue or "shine" on the bead?

If you are baking them with the ceramic tiles do you have to increase or decrease the baking time?

Are you talking about one of those silicon mats like the Silpat liners? I'm not sure if they would be good or not. Might be great… might be horrible… would have to test that.

When you bake on a ceramic tile it does even out the temperature so you can bake it longer. I recommend baking for way longer than the package says. To learn more on that technique click on the 'baking beads' link by my name.

Where can you get a couple of ceramic tiles?

Places Like Home Depot and many tile shops, sell single ceramic tiles. The color doesn't matter though they should be as smooth as possible so texture doesn't get transferred to the clay.

Does the baking time change using the ceramic tiles? I'm concerned my pieces may have not baked long enough sandwiched in between two ceramic tiles. Is there a way to tell if a polymer clay piece is baked long enough?

It is a good idea to increase the baking time when baking between tiles. I always bake all my beads for 1 hr anyways so this seem to be adequate. You can't really tell that easy if your clay is baked hard enough without breaking it, though it does feel harder and sands nicer when it is baked right. Kind of something you get a feel for over time. Thanks for the comment Lisa!

Thank you Cindy for your answer! Wow, you bake your beads for an hour! That is great to know. I was afraid to bake too long, thought it would burn the clay. And that was going to be another question on mine… how can you rebake pieces (after adding raw clay to it) without burning the previously baked piece. But, I guess that burning the clay has only to do with the oven temperature? Would an hour at 275 degrees be safe?

Yes Lisa. You can re-bake your beads as many times as you like. It is more about temp than time. I like to bake at 265 though, seems to work for me. For more info on baking for a longer time, click on the link by my name.

Cindy,

Last night I attempted to do a pendant with an Acrylic Floor Finish. I mixed the future floor polish with a little Pearl Ex powder and applied it to the clay. After the polish was dry and the piece finished I was on to baking. I did the "sandwich" sort-of…I forgot to put wax paper between piece and tile and it Stuck to the tile. So….when I attempt this again will the floor polish stick to either wax paper or cardstock???
Or do I have to bake without "sandwiching" the piece.
Hope this makes sense. THanks for any direction you can send me in.

Thank you for your comment Shelly! That's too bad that happened to you.

It is important to put the Future floor finish on after you have baked, sanded and buffed your piece. If you try to put it on before it has been baked, the clay won't cure properly and everything will also stick.

I know some people like to put their finished baked pieces with Future on them and stick them back into the oven to harden, so this is probably where the confusion came from. In that case the piece is hung from a bead rack so the finish doesn't stick to anything.

You were right to try and sandwich your piece with the tiles, just don't put the future on at this stage. Also don't use wax paper because the wax will stick to the clay as well. Use regular office paper or parchment paper instead and you will have great success.

Make sure to read some baking articles on this blog. If you type 'baking' into the search box at the top of this blog, you will get a whole list of articles.

Let me know if you need any more help.

I know I'm a newbie but this trick I use may help someone. When I'm baking multiple flat pieces that are of different thicknesses, I put them all on an 8×10 piece of ceramic tile with parchment paper, clustering pieces of like thicknesses. Then – I use a "lid" tile for each grouping – I have 2×2 and 4×4 tiles- and I mix and match over the parchment paper so the lid tile rests evenly over all the pieces under it. So all the pieces that are a size 3 from the pasta machine are under one tile, and all those that are a 5 are under another, etc. That way my lids come into contact with the pieces evenly. Having tiles of several sizes is really helpful.

I hope that's making sense! I hadn't read it anywhere yet, but like most things in the world, I suspect it's not an original thought ;-) Synchronicity rules!

edie

Nice tips Edie! Thanks for sharing them!

Do you really cook beads for an hour? I just made some light colored (and translucent) beads, buried them in cornstarch, but I'm afraid to burn them!! It's Sculpey 3.

Normally I'd say, yes, cook 'em for an hour! That's proper for most beads. But, with light-colored clay you want to take some extra precautions. Have you baked beads in this oven before, or is this the first time? (I ask so that I can find out how other baking experiences went and if it seemed like you had any "hot spots".) Did you use the oven thermometer, and did the temperature stay consistently in the proper range while baking? If you haven't baked beads in this oven yet, you might want to do a test run with some scrap clay, just so that you can fine tune your process, and find the right spot on the dial that leads to the correct temperature on the thermometer.

Then, once you have tested your oven and you know it will bake at the right temperature, you ready your piece. What kind of dish are you planning to use fill with cornstarch to cover the piece? If it is metal, you should place it on a ceramic tile. This way, if there are any hot spots in the oven, they won't be magnified by the hot metal and end up darkening the clay even through the cornstarch. Even though you're covering with cornstarch, you should also cover or tent the container your beads are in. One last question, how thick or large are your beads?

Now you're ready to give it a try. Turn on your oven and preheat it. Check the temperature. Maintain it at a slightly lower than pkg directions temp. Fill your dish with cornstarch, put the beads in and cover them with it. If the dish is metal, place it on the tile. Cover the pan, using its lid, or tent your beads with aluminum foil, heavy card stock, or a cut up folder. Put all of it in the oven! Leave them in for about 30 minutes, monitoring the temperature the entire time. It it's all looking good, no browning of your beads at all, you can put them in for about 15 more. If they are really small beads, they might be well cured after that 15 min. Otherwise, check them again, if all's well, you can put them back in the oven for another 15.

If you're using translucent, get some ice water ready to plunge your beads into once they come out of the oven. Then after that final 15 minutes, success! I know this seems like a super cautious way to go about it. But I hate ruining a bead. I burnt beads when I first started, so I want to help you avoid it, if I can. I hope this helped… :D

Wow, thanks Cindy! Now I'm blushing… (and smiling :D)