June 4, 2009
Help… My Polymer Clay is Too Soft from these Hot Summer Days
Tips For Chilling Hot Mushy Polymer Clay To Firm It Up:
No doubt about it, Summer is underway… at least it is up here in the northern hemisphere. With the warm weather comes soft mushy clay that shows finger prints like crazy. Great time for mixing. But building or cutting canes and sculpting is way trickier when it's hot.
Here are a few tricks for coping with polymer clay in the heat when you don't have an air conditioned studio:
- A simple propeller or rotary fan can help. It won't really cool down your clay too much but it will keep you a bit more comfortable. Super hot bodies (like mine hehehe) have super hot hands, which just make mushy clay even mushier.
- A bucket of ice water will help. Put your hands and your clay into ice water periodically to cool things down. Use a paper towel to dry off your clay before working with it though, so the moisture doesn't get trapped in the clay and cause problems like bubbles and cracks.
- Work with a firm clay. Super soft clay gets even worse in the heat. Fimo, Kato and Premo do better. Leach some of the plasticizers from the clay if it is too soft to start with. There is a nifty video in my Beginner's Course that shows you How To Firm Up Soft Polymer Clay with your pasta machine if you don't know how to leach your clay.
- Get out the ice packs for cooling your polymer clay. The photo above shows packages of Premo Sculpey clay on a re-freezable gel ice pack. If you put another ice pack on top to form a sandwich, the clay will chill even faster. Or, simply pop all of your clay into the refrigerator and only bring it out as needed.
- Drink lots of Pina Coladas! This will not only cool you down but will also cause you not to stress about your problems with slicing squishy canes! :-)
- Have fun! It is Summer after all!
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Comments on Help… My Polymer Clay is Too Soft from these Hot Summer Days
6:15 am
I like the last idea best! YUM!!!!!
5:21 am
Greetings, i have gone through PC withdrawal this week because of work related training in San Diego, California. I love it when my "Day Job" sends me nice places. But I am sooo happy to be back home and in my own bed.
I liked the Pina Colada suggestion too. I wonder if that is why Cindy made that lovely martini olive spear.
I do my "clayin" in a spare bedroom but our house does have a room in the front that has lots of windows on three sides and I had been thinking about making my clay space. We refer to this room as the "Sun Room" for lack of a better name, unfortunately this room is rarely used because it faces West and is really, really hot in the summer. A great place for plants but not for clay.
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11:28 am
Speaking of "converting spare rooms into clay studios," I just received the following email from Bonnie who gave me permission to reprint it here. It's a wonderful story about: Teaching; First time successes; And a supportive husband.
By the way, welcome back Bonnie. It's great to have subscribed at the library again. Missed you!
[BEGIN EMAIL MESSAGE FROM BONNIE]
Glad to be back, I miss all your fun stuff. I've been working to get stuff on Etsy and get my blog up and teaching polymer clay to people here in Arizona. I have a new student that I've been working with and she's absolutely amazed me. The first beads she made she put in a shadow box and decorated it to be a keepsake and now her husband is rebuilding a room for her to do polymer clay in. I love it when that happens. I sent her your url and told her to subscribe when got the chance because she would learn tons of great stuff."
I read about your tumbler fiasco, I bought one and haven't used it yet but want to because I hate sanding small beads. I just ordered a new buffer because I have a little 3 inch one and it works but I like buffing my beads.
Thanks again for being there with great stuff, I'm glad to be back.
~Bonnie
[END EMAIL FROM BONNIE]
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11:34 am
Oh and this just in from Naama Zamir via Twitter:
"…since i don't have air condition in my room i work on a cold tile while the ventilator is on, directed to my work surface."
Cold tile is a great idea! Probably the thicker the better to hold the cold for as long as possible. Thxs Naama
8:17 pm
Cindy,I found out recently that I'm not the only one who belongs to your long list of followers. I belong to the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild and at one of our meetings a few months ago I told them about cleaning clay with a paper towel and alcohol and that I read it on your site. There were at least 5 other people who said they also belong to your Polymer Clay Tutor website and love it. If you ever get a chance, our website is azpcg.org. We have a new webmaster now who is updating our site and doing a wonderful job, I might add. You will be able to see pictures of our Camp Pinerock retreat. We do clay for 4 days. It's fun, wish you could join us.
Thanks for your helpful hints.
Bonnie
5:24 pm
Hi Bonnie! I love your story! To think you were from the same guild and all hanging out here! I checked out your guild. Love your logo! (a cactus lying on it side and getting sliced like a cane)
Looks like you guys are up to good things in your guild. Guilds are always great for sharing information and comradery. BTW you are welcome to link to our site in your polymer clay information section if you like. I don't mind.
Have fun at your retreat! I wish I could be there too. It sounds fun!
7:05 am
I don't know a good place to post these sale alerts but Michael's has Premo and Fimo on sale this week in the US 4 blocks for $5.00. Hope this is going to be a continuing trend.
1:00 pm
Cindy, here I am yakking again. Wanted to tell you that because of your inspiration I tried my rock tumbler yesterday with polymer clay beads. First I cut up sand paper and put it in the tumbler, that didn't seem to do anything so I did some research and saw a couple articles saying to use Bon Ami Cleanser. I didn't have Bon Ami but I had Bar Keepers Friend and figured it would be the same thing. Worked pretty good. I let them tumble for 2 hours. These were beads I made with Studio By Sculpey. I am in the process of buffing these now. I had added a little pearl to the clay mix so they aren't real shiny after buffing like beads get when you use Premo but they aren't bad. I did go to Ace Hardware today and buy 4 cans of Bon Ami because we couldn't find it at Wal-Mart or any where else. Thanks for the tip about the clay at Michael's. I just got back and bought a bunch, just not sure where I'm going to store it. I am a clay-aholic.
7:53 pm
@Anna: Me too! Thanks for letting everyone know!
@Bonnie: Although the Bon Ami does work I like using River Rock in the tumbler much more. Click the link by my name for a preview video on how I use the rock. I think you will prefer it too once you try it!
5:13 pm
I had a tumbler from Michaels that I had bought for my daughter to polish some pebbles. Can I use that; the barrel is rather tiny?
Where can I buy river rocks??
5:24 pm
I bought a bag of river rocks at Michael's today and put them in the tumbler. It was really dirty in there when I opened it up. My husband said I needed to wash the rocks before I use them. I put the tumbler on a towel in the guest bathroom on the floor and it's been running very well in there. Didn't want to put it in the garage because this time of year it gets very hot and the rubber tumbler expands and stops turning.
3:36 pm
@Cheryl: Sure you can use that tumbler. Lots of people have for this technique. I think they are not built as well and will wear out sooner, but if it's just collecting dust, might as well use it!
@Bonnie: Yeah washing them first is not a bad idea. Good tip on putting the tumbler on a towel for noise. I find the sound kind of soothing. Like hundreds of tiny hands are polishing my beads for me. I hear that vibrating machines are noisier however. So if I had one of those, I would most definitely want to muffle the sound.