Polymer Clay Tutorial | Faux Raku (Pt2) Deep Crackle Technique

After work last night I try the raku smooth. It is beautiful and fun but now I so want to learn to crackle it!!! Can't wait!

Hi Cindy,

Wow… this technique is EXTREMELY cool!!! :D

I had to run off to try it out during lunchtime because it looked like so much fun.

I've had about 5 goes at crackling and am getting the hang of how to control crackle size, although I've had to use quite different times to what was mentioned in the video, and the "ready test" doesn't work out with Kato. It's not surprising that that kind of detail differs with various brands of clay, however… Perhaps it would be worthwhile suggesting people try the crackling first with plain/scrap clay before "risking" their beautiful faux raku sheets?

I think I'll also try combining your technique with the leaching approach I played with when I first saw your deep crackle photos. That'll probably give me a bit of extra control over crackle size with Kato, and I have a feeling that it'll permit the use of a thicker crackle layer, producing an even deeper finished crackle. (I hope so, anyway!)

Many many thanks Cindy… this is really fantastic!

Sue

You'll love this one. Heat guns are over in storage, but getting them soon (after watching Cindy's, that model is on my Christmas list….think of how warm I can keep my hands and feed this winter, LOL).

Too impatient to wait, I discovered that if you place the clay on paper, then on a sheet of aluminum foil, I could rest it on top of the toaster (yep) and get the same dried out texture needed. Watch your settings, no burning! Since it's not inserted into the toast sections, no danger of contamination. I ran the exhaust fan and a regular fan, just to make sure.

I have sheets of this stuff I made a decade ago and loved it….just couldn't figure out what to do with it. Now, thanks to Cindy, I know.

dear Cindy
again another fantastic method- can't wait to try it. I have been crackling clay this week with the perfect pearls method that Barbara Fajardo of 'Desert designs' does on her flowers. This is a much easier method and i think you have more control.
Thank you again
Cara

Love the beads! Looks to be very easy! I love that blade….did it have a handle on it? It seems to be much longer than the ones you buy, where did u get that? Thank you for making my friday!

@Melinda: Hope you enjoy it!

@Sue: I bet it is different with the Kato! I found the times needed to get the sheet ready varied depending on how old my clay was, so I'm sure it changes from brand to brand as well. Glad you liked the technique. It really does make some beautiful beads doesn't it!

@Jocelyn: I am very worried about putting paper and tinfoil on a regular toaster being an extreme fire hazard. I'm sure you were careful, but some people might accidentally start a fire with a method like that. It would be better to just put the clay in the oven instead. That would be safer! That is cool you have some already made sheets. Maybe you can use them for this technique.

@cara: I am not familiar with Barbara's technique. Where did you learn it? Could the idea be combined with mine?

@Theresa: That blade was from the Studio by Sculpey Blade set. There are four blades in the set. One long stiff blade, a slightly shorter flexible blade and two sizes of ripple blades. There are two handles that can be snapped on to either end of each of the blades. But I like to use only one handle per blade since since I pull the blade through my clay. Having a second handle on a single blade would get in my way.

WOW! Another great idea Cindy. I have to admit that I kind of guessed how you might have done this. But I was curious to see what your process was. I knew it would be nice and simple and look like it was really hard to do. And I wasnt disappointed! Thats what I love about your techniques. They give such great results without being eyecrossing difficult. One more thing to add to my growing list of things to try when I can get at my clay!!
XOXO Jamie

One more day… then I have the weekend off and I intend to dedicate at least most of one day to my studio (my desk in the dining room). Can't wait!!! I can only pray that the children and the hubby will be okay with that.

@ Cindy

Good point. I watched it very carefully, and keep the toaster setting on low. I use my toaster do melt embossing powder too.

Love to click it up and down, and it warms the whole toaster, which for this girl's achy fingers, is quite the treat, LOL!

My Dad would have termed it "a controlled burn."

@Melinda

That's my current method. Works fine. Putting a shelf nearby at the right height where you can line up all your electronics, ready to go, helps and frees up space on the table. Also lets you use one of those long extension cords with the multi slots for all our toys.

Found that ebay.com was a great source for cheap clear plastic tablecloths. Use one on the underneath to protect the table from general smutz, and keep one to throw over the top to keep projects dust free. Also can put a nice colorful fabric tablecloth underneath for inspiration ('40's veggies).

Could even throw one on the floor as the designed no traffic zone and to catch all those little globs of clay. If they find your way into your acrylic carpet, it will eventially eat it away and leave holes. Trust me. LOL!

If the wind blows at your house, make a couple of clay covered weights or paperweights to keep it from moving.

I am so excited about this part of the technique, was not quite sure about the smooth part. Now I can't wait till I can try the crackle. What beautiful beads, thanks Cindy for another wonderful technique.

Dear Cindy,
I found barbara's site through polymer clay central and her gallery is rubarbdesertdesigns.com. Her beads are extraordinary and I paid for a single online lesson to make her crackle flora bead. Barbara uses perfect pearls to get multiple colours and crackles,because the PP is resin based and when rolled cracks. The more you layer, the deeper the cracks. But the paint tends to lift more than your method and again I think your method is much better. One of Barbara's greatest inspirations is Klew, whose beads are also amazing. When I first saw the work of these women, I was inspired to learn more about polymer clay- hence I found your online course- which is the best way that i can learn the skills to make my own design ideas.
All the best
Cara

This is my video favorite so far. I've been wondering how to do this ever since you first showed off your faux deep raku. Thanks for sharing your technique for getting those gorgeous deep crackles. I'd like to see more about doing the smaller, smoother crackles, too. Is it just a "normal" variation? Or do you do something different on those?

@Jamie: Thank you Sweetie! Love your words, "great results without being eyecrossing difficult"! I'm a huge 'fan' of making things that look difficult but are actually easy and a huge 'hater' of things that look easy but are super hard! :-)

@Melinda: How cute! You'll have to just tell them family you'll make them something. Maybe that will help. (Should work for the kids. May have to appease the hubby with food.) ;-)

@Jocelyn: Love the tips! Send photos of your workspace. Even if it is small I'm sure others would love to take a look and see what works for you!

@nancy: Thanks! Glad you liked it!

@cara: I've seen Barbara's work and it is really lovely. I just haven't seen any of her techniques. Sounds interesting. Will have to experiment with perfect pearls. Been meaning to get some anyways. Thanks for passing the info along. Thank you for the compliments as well!

@PLaneFancies: Thanks! It is part of the 'normal' variations. If you look closely in the video there is areas with large crackles and fine crackles. The areas where the crackle is finer were on the edges where they were cured for slightly less time. You could play around with the cure time to get the look you want.

LOL….Cindy…you first. Ahahahaha. I want to see what is under "the blue drape."

@PLaneFancies: Cindy mentioned it in her reply to you too, but the crackle size seems strongly linked to curing time, judging by the experimentation I've done since Cindy released the video.

I use Kato so the times are quite different, but as an example, 12 seconds consistently gives me a fine crackle like the flat pale-gold-on-red piece in the introduction to the video, and 17 seconds consistently gives me a larger crackle similar to the coarsely-crackled pink-on-black tube bead in the introduction. (Much more than that and Kato holds together too much to crackle.)

Worked on this technique tonight, it was very simple after following Cindy's techniques. Thanks Cindy again for your excellent tutoring skills.

@ Nancy

Love your site! Very impressive pic of some excellent faux raku.

Well I will speak for inept among us– I think the attempted crackle sheet may end up as lovely Jupiter beads eventually. I don't know if I over cured the sheet or what but I had a HUGE mess once I tried to crackle to sheet onto other clay. What I could get to stick crackled nicely, but basically I had a mess. ewwww.

Sarah: Lol, I have to admit it took a couple times for me to get it right. I over cooked two sheets… whoops!!! But once I got it… it was fun.

Thanks Jocelyn, I love the table cloth idea! Thnks Cindy for the tutorial. I had a good clay day!

Dear Cindy,this technic is great!
I have a question concerning the uses of the heat gun with polymer clay. I've just made a flower bead in pearl and black and I wanted to add a piece of clay on the reverse side back of the flower. I always am afraid of baking a clear color twice, and that's why I ask if it's possible to bake a little peace of clay fixed to the big one with liquid clay with the heat gun. Can you help me? or maybe to fix 2 parts with liquid clay already baked. thanks a lot from the Mediterranean!!!

Thank you Jocelyn, I had a lot of fun making them.

@Jocelyn: I keep forgetting to get Doug to take photos of my studio! The lighting is poor so the pictures don't always turn out. May need to bring up lights from the 'set' where we film the videos. We will get to it… don't worry! :-)

@Sue: I absolutely adore how precise you are!! It must be a great deal of help to those who need preciseness! I understand it is a bit of trial and error since clay never seems to be at exactly the same consistency but once you you get a feel for it like you have you can get consistent results. It's worth figuring out though, since the look is so cool!

@nancy: Very happy to hear you found it easy to do. Your beads on your site look like they turned out quite well! Good for you!

@sarahwww: Sorry you had trouble. Don't worry with a little practice it will get easier. Maybe practice on a few scraps of scrap clay until you get the hang of how far you need to cure it, to get it to crackle. If you have any questions, just ask. I'd be happy to help!

@Melinda: What a beautiful job! Thanks for sharing your work with us, so that everyone can see it is a doable project.

@Amada: The problem with using a heat gun to cure clay is that it is difficult to control the exact temperature and to have the patience to hold the heat gun long enough (1 hour) to get a proper cure. You can kind of cure it but it won't be fully cured deep inside and could break down over time. I wouldn't be afraid to bake your clear color twice. Just make sure the temp is not too high and that it is tented with a piece of folded paper. you should be fine. Ask for more help if you need it.

I've just tried making these and I wish I'd practiced on scrap. I used white kato and made quite a large patch, but it just wouldn't stick to the bottom layer when I* put it through the pasta machine so I ended up having to roll it with the acrylic roller. I think it cured way too much.

So I then thought I'd try making Jupiter beads but couldn't get that to work either, so I'm feeling a bit despondent and a bit lighter on clay!

I have some beads in the oven right now which may turn out ok – if they do I'll take some photos.

**PHOTOS ADDED: The following link will take you to a Spotlight Article featuring some pictures of Polyanya's beautiful work: Faux Raku Polymer Clay

Oh that does sound frustrating Polyanya… don't worry we'll get it figured out!

First of all, mistakes are part of learning and you should not get too discouraged by them. There are probably a few things that went right.

In the video I used Premo clay and suggested that you just cure the clay in tiny amounts at a time and 'test' it often so that you don't over cure it. From what Sue said above, Kato cures a lot quicker in this technique and she had to adjust her times back quite a bit. Read her comment above for times.

Also, in the video I suggested you use only a small amount of your sheet just in case it takes a few tries to get the feel of it. When you try this technique again (and I suggest you do), test it on small scrap pieces first.

As far as what to do with the clay that didn't work out, just chop through the pile with your blade (or put in an old food processor) until the baked bits are small and thoroughly mixed with the raw clay. This will make perfect faux pebble beads so it won't be wasted.

In regards to the Jupiter Beads, you didn't put the raku stuff in the barrel did you? Because that won't really get the right result. You need a mix of new and old clay not baked clay to get the crackled effect.

Also just using soft clays won't do it either. It is the mixture of soft and crumbly that makes it work.

Don't get down about mistakes. When you are learning new techniques, some will be easy and some will be harder but if you persist, you will be able to conquer them all. Keep your test batches small until you master the techniques and you won't use up your clay so fast.

If you have any more questions or you need more help, don't hesitate to ask. I am here for you!

Bless you Cindy, what an encouraging tutor you are! Of course I didn't follow your video to the letter – watched it once and thought I'd remember everything, then I watched it back again after I'd made the raku sheet and saw the part where you said DON'T use it all at once. Doh!

And yes I put the raku crumbles into the extruder. Ah well!

I made some more raku sheets and tried just putting some scrap clay mixed with a touch of gold through and part baking that. It worked well and I've made some beads. I'll send you an email soon as I've finished them. I warn you Cindy, I hardly ever do anything to the letter – never followed a recipe in my life – sometimes things go wrong but sometimes I get it right. I just like having a go!

**PHOTOS ADDED: The following link will take you to a Spotlight Article featuring some pictures of Polyanya's beautiful work: Faux Raku Polymer Clay

Awww that's cute Polyanya! I do something similar myself… my mind races ahead to the end and I end up making many mistakes because of it. But then I get to pass them on to everyone, as what NOT to do, so it works out in the end. :-)

I would love to see pictures of your beads. They would be excellent for one of the 'Spotlight' segments on the blog.

When you send the pics do write a little description of your "Raku Escapades'. What went wrong and how you fixed it. Everyone likes to feel they aren't the only ones to make mistakes. I think they would love to hear your story!

I wanted to share my smooth raku inro that I finished yesterday. Being computer challenged, I am not sure how to place the picture on this comment section. So if you will click on my blog and you can view my version of the smooth raku.Initally, I had stated that I wasn't sure about the smooth technique, and that bothered me,until I tried it and finally came up with a way to work it in to a project I had been wanting to try. My Inro, I think came out to round and too big, but it gave me an idea of how to work on others. the smooth raku technique is much prettier in person I think. Thanks again Cindy, you inspire so many people to create with your teaching style. Thanks

Wow Nancy that is so great that you have made so many things with this technique already! Great job!

*For those of you who have seen her beads yet, pop over to Nancy's site to check out what she's done. The link is attached to her name in the comment above.

Doing some work tonite on the set up. Everytime I think I have it mapped out on paper someone here has another fantastic work shop idea in the comments or Cindy features a studio to die for. Oooooo, the one with the black and white tiled floor…can I come live with you? LOL! Jamie, yours sounds very promising too, cannot wait to see it featured!

Two new things popped out at me, and if this works for you…great!

Was into glass for awhile and live in small spaces, so am always on the lookout for bargains on mirrors, tiles, glass sheets, or mirrored tiled glass sheets.

On Carson many years ago, Burt Reynold's had me hysterical with a bit he did around the time his movie "The End," premiered.

After a discussion of Reynold's likes and dislikes he summed it up with:

"I like tiles. I like mirrors. I like Indians."

Me, too. Then, I am part Cherokee, so I guess that figures. I was also raised devout Roman Catholic, and when I could not stand Latin or my brother (who always snapped the elastic on those foolish hats my Mom made us all wear) one more second, I could turn to those gorgeous and inspiring stained glass window for solice, comfort, and endless joy.

I took the mirrored tiles and put them back to back, then sealed the edges with copper foiled stained glass tape. The tape comes in many colors, thicknesses, and border designs now to match your decor. This heavy thick glass never budges, and it is heaven to create on with polymer clay. I have several.

It also helps with determining how to tackle sticky or edge problems because the edge reflects back at you. It stays cool and is easy to clean. Muggy hot day? Just pop it in the fridge for a few secs and wipe the condensation off.

I also use double sheets of clear glass in the same manner, but to help with design, I have imbedded graph paper within the plates to assist with sizing. Also I have several imbedded with color chips and choices so can match them quickly.

These are not tempered, so please be cautious with them, especially around small children who are fascinated with their own faces. One or two have hit the floor by accident, and I can tell you that is one mess you don't want. It also could cut an artery/vein and cause a 911 call, so keep them far away from the edge of the work surface.

As for design and inspirational pics, you could also put them underneath the plastic tablecloth and have them very accessible, no glass needed.

Hi Cindy, this technique looks really nice, but tell me how can I get the gold and the black raku effects that you show at the end of the video?is the clay already in gold color or hast it gold mica powder? and the black? thank you Cindy, now I'm starting my holiday time and I want to give more time to these polymer clay techniques. Thanks

@Jocelyn: Wow those are some great ideas! I have thought about sliding a sheet of graph paper under my glass cutting board but just haven't got around to it yet. It would be very helpful when making Kaleidoscope canes, in order to get those right angle triangles. Need to find some paper with the larger grids on it.

@Amanda: With the gold and black sample, I used Black clay with gold, copper and I think Pink colored Mica powder. The effect is quite striking in person. I am so glad to have you as a new member! If you have any more questions, I would be happy to help. Thank you for commenting!

Thanks Cindy.

Just use any size graph paper and bump the square size up and down using your scanner or copier, or go to the local copier store. You can have several sizes on hand.

You could laminate them to work on when size counts. Or, use the old overhead projector clear acetate sheets to copy your grids onto…you can slip the right one right under your glass work surface.

Acetate copies are easier available at copier outlets, and cheap. Easy to make at home too. They are fragile and need to be under something clear, or the clay would stick.

Hmmmm, wonder if you could get acetate templates for your Lietz teardrop blends. You could just trace around the teardrop shapes and sizes, then run it through the acetator (lol) to have a record for a series of color blends.

Hope these ideas might help!

Hi Cindy,

I tried today the faux raku crackle technique but I seem to have a problem: my clay won’t brake. I am using Fimo clay and an off the shelve heat gun. Instead of breaking my clay get a rubbery texture and it wont break. Do you have any suggestions?

I got very excited with these beads and I would like very much to be able to make some :).

Best,

Ileana

@Jocelyn: Good idea!

@Ileana: The reason why your clay won't break is because you have cured it too far. Practice on some scrap clay and cure for less time until you get a feel for it. Each brand behaves a little differently. Read Sue's comment above for how Kato clay needs only a few seconds to cure. Fimo may be the same sort of thing. If you need more help, let me know.

Hi Cindy, I just watched your video on crackle Faux Raku
beads. I have a Question ,could you use a blow dryer to heat the clay ? It seems like it would do the same job.
I'm all for the correct tools to do the job ,but sometimes it's nice to improvise a little. I'm enjoying the video's i have purchased so far, this is addicting.
Thanks for making it easy.
Mary

Hi Mary, great question! I'm not sure that your blow dryer will be hot enough. Most heat guns are a lot hotter than blow dryers are. But as always it never hurts to try. You can always pop it in the oven for a couple minutes if the blow dryer doesn't work. Let me know if it works for you and if you have any more questions.

Hi, Cindy–thought you should know I taught your faux crackle raku technique to my local guild. Of course I gave you credit and mentioned your blog and e-newletter.
Amazing all the different effects we got. There's a lot of difference between using a heavy-duty paint peeling heat gun (like I have) vs. a craft heat gun. As expected, much faster with the heavy-duty model, but easier to control with the craft version. Since I am used to the heavy-duty one, I quit too soon w/ the craft version and didn't get much crackle, but still had nice results.

Forgot to mention that one member used her acrylic roller instead of the pasta machine. That might be a way to control the crackle a bit more, if you're not up for random chance! Personally, I like random AND chance :-)

Wow that is great PLaneFancies! I bet you all had a great time. Thank you so much for giving me credit when sharing the idea with the Guild. I am pleased that your guild members will now be part of our community.

Thanks for letting us know the differences between using the different types of heat guns. Sounds like there are advantages and disadvantages to both, which is good to know.

I'd love to see some photos of what you guys made. Email them to me if you can. We'd all love to see what you all made!

I'm sorry I didn't bring a camera to the meeting. I'll try to get some
shots of the pieces I have made and will make. As I said, I didn't heat
mine enough w/ the craft heat gun, so they barely crackled at all. But a
piece I did at home with the big heat gun crackled beautifully. Will send
to you soon.