Conditioning How To – Polymer Clay Tools, Techniques and Instructions

Thanks for the extra ideas. I will let you know how my beads come out.

You're welcome Barbara! That would be great!

You have supplied us with a wealth of knowledge and I am learning from each and every page I open in the blog as well as the videos. May God bless you.

I have been given a HUGE box of polymer clay-probably 130 bars of Fimo classic and lots of sculptey in various sizes. It was from a woman who is going to a retirement home, whose daughter is the boss of my best friend.

Anyway, I have no idea how old anything is, but the first try with some Fimo was very crumbly, only after half an hour of playing with it making it workable. Is there a specific method to conditioning old old Polymer clay?

I also received in this ultra heavy box some bars of mixquick, which I am thinking of trying in the next day or so. How am I supposed to mix it in-knead it?

Finally, with the big box came a few canes that this woman made, square and large, but very very highly detailed. Can you successfully reduce a cane that is who knows how old? It was just wrapped up in one layer of Saran wrap and put into a plastic bag.

Thank you for your help, I really like your website; it is one of the only helpful online resources for artistic-typed polymer (no phony baloney stuff).

-Laura

Aside from the food processor and pasta machine techniques, I have successfully used the Sculpey Mold-Maker clay to reconstitute old (extremely crumbly) clay. You can use this extraordinarily sticky clay to pick up crumbles easily.

All the best!

@Laura: You lucky girl! I would love getting a gift like that, even if it was a little work to deal with! The one upside is you won't need to leach out any plasticizers because it is too soft and sticky like the clay most of us are dealing with right now! ;-)

I was thrilled to here you also got some Fimo Mix Quick which will be perfect for softening up that clay. I have a video in my Bead Making Course that shows you exactly how to use an old food processor for blending Mix Quick and old clay. Click the link by my name for more info on that.

With this large a batch of old clay you will need 'the big guns' such as a processor and a pasta machine. Doing that much by hand, though possible, would be an enormous task, and you probably want to get to making beads. If you don't have those machines yet, you can easily justify the cost with all the money you saved on clay.

Once ready that clay will be perfect for making canes and beads because of its firmness. So rejoice! As far as reducing old canes, type the words 'old canes' into your search box at the top left hand side of this blog for tips on how to deal with those.

@Mary Beth: Cool! I didn't know you could use Sculpey Mold Maker to reconstitute old clay. Thank you so much for passing that tip along. I'll have to give it a try!

this question is not really about conditioning the clay, but i have been unable to find a topic to put this under. when i have done any kind of canework or any design………..and i want to roll it into my solid sheet under it, or roll it out into a different shape…………..when i use the acrylic roller, it invariably dulls the surface. i will be all excited about some popping happening thing, and when i roll it ………boom……..there goes the luster and the zing. i have tried cleaing the rod with alcohol or rubbing it with a soft towel…………..do you have any other suggestions?

thanks, cindy!! how wonderful to have you out here helping the polymer clay expert wannabees~!

Don't worry about that Peggie. The shine will come back when you sand and buff it.

I recently purchased some Studio polymer clay, and when I opened the package, the clay was somewhat harder then the other pack. When I tried to condition it, it just turned into a crumbled mess. Everything I tried to do with it, conditioning by hand, adding liquid clay, didn't help – it just stayed crumbled. Is there a possible way to fix it or I should just toss this one and get a new one? Thank you very much for your help.

@Irene: Hi Irene! Unless your clay has been partially cured (near a hot radiator, or maybe along the shipping route) you should be able to get it to a working consistency. Have you tried adding a drop or two of Sculpey Dilutent or Fimo Mix Quick? (or mineral oil, baby oil, etc.) Are you using a pasta machine? Have you checked out both of the articles Cindy links to in her article above? One of them is about Food Processors, which can be a huge help when dealing with hard, crumbly clay. There are lots of tips in both of those articles, as well as this one on Softening Clay Quickly.

Here's an article on Fimo Mix Quick

Be sure to read the comments under the articles, as well, since there are lots of tips people use to get "difficult" clay to condition properly. If you haven't already signed up for Cindy's newsletter, you should. You'll receive 3 Free Videos (one of them is about Conditioning Clay!) Click on the link in the article above (or there's a "Yours Free" link on the top right side of the page.) This is a great deal not only for the videos, but also for the free color recipes (you get 8 a month!)

There are articles with lots and lots of information on conditioning clay all over the website. You can use the search box at the top left side of the page to find articles on any topic. Type in a keyword or two, like "conditioning" "hard clay" "crumbly", etc. and you'll get a list of articles with loads of information on that subject. There are also tags at the ends of the articles you can click on. They're right under Cindy's signature (there's one for conditioning, plasticisers, pasta machine, etc.)

Also, did you read the comment above by Mary Beth? She mentions that Mold Maker (a product used to make molds of objects) also works for picking up the crumbly clay and softening it. I've heard about others using this — it seems to be working well. Just use a small amount at a time, though. Same goes for any of the softeners. Another tip I forgot to mention above is to mix the hard clay with a very soft clay. You can use the same color or mix a new one (or you can try translucent.) If you do not have a food processor, you can try chopping the clays together into little bits or use a cheese grater before mixing with your crumbly clay.

I'm going to leave off here, for now (this is getting long!) I'm hoping that the articles and the videos will help you, or that trying Diluent or mineral oil will help you soften that crumbly clay & condition it. Leave a comment, though, if you need more help, and someone will be happy to give you more information. Actually, the best way to go is getting Cindy's Fundamentals/Polymer Clay Basics Course. This is a 39-video course that covers everything about getting started with clay. Cindy demonstrates all the tricks and tips on how to condition, bake, and finish your clay pieces, as well as many other topics. Either way, let me know how it works out — I hope I was able to help! Good luck getting that clay tamed~

@Irene: I forgot to mention one thing, you never want to throw out your clay (even cooked, dirty, ugly, burnt!) As you learn more about polymer clay, you'll find that there are uses for all kinds of clay. The hard or cooked stuff can be grated into other clays to give it a stone-like look. The crumbly stuff makes great Jupiter Beads.

You can use slightly dirty or ugly clay as centers for beads, and then cover with your "pretty" clay. Lots of ways to use clay that isn't perfect. Just wanted to let you know so you didn't toss it. Have fun~