Comments on: 7 Tips To Avoid Leaving Finger Prints on Polymer Clay Beads

By: Cindy Lietz@Rubbing Alcohol, Polymer Clay

Cindy Lietz@Rubbing Alcohol, Polymer Clay — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:56:07 +0000

Yeah I hate wearing latex gloves too! The only way they work well is when they are super tight and then my hands always feel like they are suffocating! A brush with rubbing alcohol works really well, especially on sculpted items. Thanks so much for sharing your tip!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:26:10 +0000

I thought latex gloves would help, but it turns out I hate the glove marks. When I want to get rid of fingerprints I brush a soft brush over the surface, or dip a paintbrush in rubbing alcohol and brush it over the surface.

By: Cindy Lietz@Polymer Clay Brands

Cindy Lietz@Polymer Clay Brands — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:47:05 +0000

Hi Debra, sorry to hear you are having trouble. It's not you, it's the clay!

I take it that you are using Sculpey III or Sculpey Original. Both those clays are so soft that they are very difficult to work with. Plus after being baking, they just are not that strong. Especially the Sculpey III.

Try a block of Premo Sculpey instead. It is an artist quality clay and is not only very strong when baked, but very easy to work with as well.

You can still use up your old stuff for bead cores, making molds and such. But you will find you are far less frustrated when you us a good clay.

Click the link by my name for more info on brands.

By: Debra Davis

Debra Davis — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:30:12 +0000

I am having a devil of a time with the white sculpey.I try to use bath oil or vaseline for conditional and water. Any way, what ever I do,no matter how long I knead it, it is full of wrinkles. and before I bake it is very hard to get the wrinkles out with any method. I am so frustrated. I don't know if the clay is old or what. then one of my pendants cracked in the oven. any ideas?
.

By: Cindy Lietz@Pricing Focal Beads on Etsy

Cindy Lietz@Pricing Focal Beads on Etsy — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:52:07 +0000

@Linda: Thanks for the tip, its a good one! BTW I went to your Etsy Store and your work is wonderful! In my opinion you are way undercharging for it. People will pay what something is worth. When you charge too little like that, they think it must be not worth it. Bet your sales would go up (and your profit) if you doubled or tripled your prices. Go look at Heather Power's store, Humble Beads, for ideas on pricing. I would hate to see you burn out because you were not making enough money for your time!

@MaryEllen: What a cute idea! Bet your friends would get a kick out of that!

By: Mary Ellen

Mary Ellen — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:05:50 +0000

I'm glad you can use baby oil because I have a little bottle of Sculpty clay softener and lots of baby oil…..Yeah! Also reading Jill's finger pendant idea I got a great idea for a funny extra to give friends of mine that are gardeners. Make a green thumb,drill and tie it to a garden tool gift.

By: Linda Sokovich

Linda Sokovich — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:17:57 +0000

I'm new at clay and don't pretend to know much. Your finger print info is great. Some times, I take the plastic wrap that the clay came in and place it over my work, bead, what ever and smooth lightly with my finger. Finger prints go away. Lightly is the key, being careful not to distort the work. Have a
Blessed Day.

By: Cindy Lietz@Antique Finish Polymer Clay

Cindy Lietz@Antique Finish Polymer Clay — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:38:56 +0000

You're very welcome Jill! I wouldn't paint the whole thing solid with the silver paint, it could look kinda cheap all right. What you could do instead is just antique it with silver paint after baking or rub the surface with silver mica powder before baking. If you decide to use silver clay, I would still use one of these techniques to get a nice finish. Click on the link by my name to find out more about antiquing polymer clay with acrylic paint.

By: jill

jill — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:23:10 +0000

Thank you! I made a practice piece with my own finger print and it works. So I want it to look like silver and bought some iridescent silver acrylic paint. Have you noticed this to look cheap? Would I be better off trying to find a silver polymer clay? Thank you for your help!

By: Cindy Lietz@Texture Ideas

Cindy Lietz@Texture Ideas — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:34:59 +0000

Jill if I understand you correctly, you want copies of the fingerprint you have in a baked piece of polymer clay. So if you want it to look the same, you will have to make a mold of your mold, so to speak. Just spray your original mold with water and press a piece of light colored scrap clay into the finger print, to make a reverse mold. Separate from your original and then bake. Then you can make your charms from your new mold.

The reason I suggest you use light clay for your mold, is that you don't want any dye from a color like black or red to stick to your original print. Other than that there are no real worries about harming your original.