September 21, 2008
Make Polymer Clay Pendants and Flat Beads Smooth and Bubble Free
Trapped Air in Your Polymer Clay Beads or Pendants Can Quickly Ruin a Piece of Jewelry:
There are a few tricks that you can do to prevent air from getting into your clay. Here are a few of them along with some tips for minimizing the problem if some bubbles do happen to show up:
- The very first step of any polymer clay project is to condition your clay. Take care not to trap air in your clay at this early stage in the process. Make sure that the fold side always goes into the pasta machine first, so that the air can escape as the layers are squeezed together. Tearing the sheets instead of folding can also help. To learn more about using your pasta machine properly, read this article: Conditioning Polyclay without Trapping Air Bubbles
- Pop bubbles in raw clay with a pin or a knife, when ever you see them.
- You can stretch clay to release air pockets that may be trapped inside.
- Clay that is too soft will trap air bubbles way easier than firm clay. Firm up soft clay by leaching it on a piece of paper.
- Bake flat beads and pendants in a 'ceramic tile sandwich'. For some tips and instructions on how to do this, read this article: Baking Polymer Clay Pendants
- Bake flat pendants and polymer clay sheets face down. Hot air rises, so it stands to reason that air trapped in clay will rise as it bakes. Placing your pieces face down will at least send any unwanted bubbles to the back of your piece.
- If you do see bubbles in your flat pieces after baking or after using a heat gun, place them inside of a 'tile sandwich' while the clay is still warm. When the piece cools many of the bubbles will have disappeared.
So if you want to make polymer clay pendants and flat beads smooth and bubble free, try out the trick outlined above. You'll be happy you did.
Filed Under: 02: Tools, 04: Handling, 05: Techniques by Comment. 
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Comments on Make Polymer Clay Pendants and Flat Beads Smooth and Bubble Free
7:29 pm
If you have any tips and tricks of your own on for avoiding bubbles and trapped air in your polymer clay beads and projects, make sure to share them here in the comments section.
6:31 pm
Cindy,
The tip about baking face down makes all kinds of sense but I never thought about it. As Yakov says "you will now".
4:12 pm
Yeah don't I know it! Only starting doing this a little while ago myself! Thanks for dropping by MJ, it's nice to hear from you again!
2:20 pm
Thanks a lot in your tutorial. They are very helpful to me because I am now beginning to creating jewelry from fimo. Big greetings from Macedonia
2:28 pm
You are very welcome Daniela. Thanks for sharing from Macedonia. For my benefit (and hopefully others too), I looked up some info about your country over at the Wikipedia site….
Macedonia is a landlocked country located on the central Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991. It became a member of the United Nations in 1993, but as a result of a dispute with Greece over its name, it was admitted under the provisional reference of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Macedonia is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west. The country's capital is Skopje, with 506,926 inhabitants according to a 2004 census. Other cities include Bitola, Kumanovo, Prilep, Tetovo, Ohrid, Veles, Štip, Ko?ani, Gostivar and Strumica. It has more than 50 lakes and sixteen mountains higher than 2,000 m (6,562 ft).
7:10 pm
Welcome, Daniela!