I’ve visited this page quite a bit in search of the best polymer clay glaze and so I thought I’d add what I’ve learned :)

I’ve never been able to find Varathane here (I live in Orlando), and so I went in search of something else. I found a Minwax water based finish (this one: minwax.com/wood-products/interior-clear-protective-finishes/minwax-polycrylic-protective-finish) and decided to try that. It goes on well, and it leaves a really nice glossy shine. However, after about 2 weeks of wearing (I put it on a necklace that touches my skin), the piece loses all its shine. It appears as if the Minwax wears off. This occurs even after I bake it to set it.

I have one piece that does not touch the skin, and so far there are no signs of losing its glossiness. So maybe Minwax is only suitable for pieces that don’t come into direct contact with skin?

I hope this helps someone else out there! Meanwhile, I’ll continue my search for another glaze to use.

I’ve been trying to get some Future water based Acrylic Floor Polish but with no success. I’ve found several sites where this polish can be found, but they’re all in the USA and none of them is willing/able to post to the UK. Seems this is a customs problem as ‘suspicious’ liquids above a certain quantity cannot be sent overseas.

Just for info, I bought some Future when visiting the USA a couple of years ago and it was brilliant (pun intended!). I then tried putting Future on a previous batch of beads, which had a different polish applied that had turned out very disappointingly, I decided to try Future on these too. I poured a little Future into a small container and began to paint it on the beads. I watched as some of the Future dripped off my bead back into the small container, as I wanted to keep as much as possible. At first all seemed well, but then – and I shall always regret this! – I poured the Future from the small container back into the almost full bottle of Future and to my utter horror I saw the Future begin to separate. I tried pouring it back out to try and save some but I was too late. I tried mixing it up again but it just kept separating. When I tried painting it on some more raw baked clay it just dribbled off in bubbles. Unforunately I have no idea what polish I used on the previous occasion, but this is just a ‘heads-up’ to warn your members only to put Future on raw baked clay, and Never on top of some other polish – just in case!

Thanks – Marion

PS – if anyone can tell me where I can get Future either in the UK or from some source that is willing to mail to the UK I would be eternally grateful!

The bottle I have says it can be used on sealed wood as well as other washable sealed floor surfaces (plastic, tile, stone, laminate and parquet) and doesn’t mention cotk at all.

it says
Contains <5% non-ionic surfactants. Also contains perfume, dimethylol glycol, methylchloroisothiasolinone, methylisothiazolinone, limonene, linalool, couramin

Anyway I think I have perfected my sanding (well apart from small round beads – going to get a tumbler when i have the money), just need to sort out buffing now and I will mainly stick to that as a finish I think cause they feel so good but will probably play safe and buy a water based polyeurathane varnish for those times I need to seal the surface – any brands anyone inthe uk can recommend?