A Super Handy Polymer Clay Tool - The Food Processor

Vid #62: Conditioning polymer clay is easy when your tools have muscles:

Do you have some hard clay that's tough to condition? Or do you have an arthritic condition that sometimes makes it difficult to work with polymer clay by hand? How about carpal tunnel discomfort? Well a great polymer clay tool that can give you lots of muscle in these situations is a handy dandy food processor!

However, once you use a food processor as a polymer clay tool, don't use it for food again. You don't want food residue getting into your polymer clay or polymer clay residue getting into your food.

Look for used food processors at garage sales and thrift shops. The nice thing is that usually the person who gets rid of their food processor wasn't ever using it, so most of them are in excellent condition.

I have an old Braun food processor with a broken bowl that would allow liquids to leak out. Since polymer clay is dry and solid, this broken Braun still works perfect fine for conditioning clay. My machine is large and durable, but a much smaller machine would suffice.

I have suffered from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in the past - had surgery on both hands to correct it. So when I'm working on large batches of clay or especially stiff ones, my processor is a real God send.

In future posts I will discuss specific techniques for using the food processor to condition polymer clay, mix colors, and make faux turquoise. So stay tuned! Although it takes up a little space and is another cost, I think that the food processor is a useful and excellent polymer clay tool worth consideration.

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"Food Processor Intro" Video Description: The full version of this tutorial is currently posted in the VIP backstage members area. In it I discuss how to use the food processor as a polymer clay tool as well as how to take care of and clean this versatile machine.