Rubbing Alcohol – A Must Have Item For Any Polymer Clay Bead Studio
Perfect For Cleaning All Kinds of Polymer Clay Supplies and Crafting Tools:
One very useful item that should always be included with your polymer clay supplies is a bottle of isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Outlined below are 6 ways to use rubbing alcohol with your clay bead making projects. But first a few quick sourcing and handling tips…
- Rubbing alcohol can easily be found in grocery stores and pharmacies, often in the first aid section.
- Look for the higher concentrations – 75% and above for the best effectiveness.
- Keep away from high heat and open flames like ovens, heaters, candles and torches because isopropyl alcohol is a highly flammable liquid.
- Always keep a tight lid on the bottle because rubbing alcohol evaporates very quickly.
Six Uses For Rubbing Alcohol
With Polymer Clay…
1) Cleaning Pasta Machine Rollers and Tools: Use a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol to easily wipe away polymer clay residue from pasta machines, cutting blades, glass cutting boards and any other tool that comes into contact with your clay.
2) Removing Unwanted Color Streaks From Clay: If a dirty pasta machine ends up getting unexpected streaks of other colors onto your fresh sheets of polymer clay, an alcohol soaked paper towel will easily wipe them away.
3) Removing Fingerprints: Use paper towel and rubbing alcohol to remove smudges and fingerprints from unbaked beads.
4) Removing Future Floor Polish And Other Finishes: Sometimes you mess up when applying a finishes to baked polymer clay pieces. Remove unwanted coatings by completely soaking beads in a dish of rubbing alcohol. Then wipe with a paper towel.
5) Making Homemade Alcohol Ink Recipes: Although it is not as strong as the commercially made alcohol inks, you can make your own version for use in many polymer clay bead projects.
6) Removing Excess Alcohol Ink Smears and Stains: If you get alcohol ink (either commercial or homemade) onto somewhere that it shouldn't be (i.e. on a bead, on a work surface, on tools), you can remove the color staining with an alcohol soaked paper towel.
Filed Under: 02: Tools, 03: Supplies by Comment. 
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Comments on Rubbing Alcohol – A Must Have Item For Any Polymer Clay Bead Studio
5:39 am
I use cotton or wool round cosmetic pads with my rubbing alcohol. I find a packs of 100 for about $1.00; these are sold to remove make up and are about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. i like the added thickness and absorbency and can often use than one time. I also like their compact size during use and for storage.
5:41 am
I meant to say I often use hem more than one time. I also don't have to soak them in alcohol because they absorb enough alcohol well right from the bottle.
8:31 am
Hi Cindy,
I use 91% alcohol which is readily available at Wal-Mart in the Pharmacy.
MJ
10:57 am
I always learn something more each time I come on your blog. I never miss coming and see each day.
I can honestly say you make my day!
2:28 pm
I add rubbing alcohol to inexpensive baby whipes. I buy a container of the baby whipes pour a good amount into the container so the whipes are saturated in the alcohol. I then use these whipes to clean my pasta machine, my work surfance, tools and hands. I can't remember when I read or got this hint from. Wish I could give credit.
2:21 pm
@Anna: Very handy tip! Thanks!
@MJ: Thanks for the info. I didn't think to look at Walmart. I ended up finding 4 bottles of the 99% for around $7 Canadian at Costco.
@Louise: Thank you for your sweet comment. You made my day!
@Vanessag: Good idea! Bet the 'power boosted' baby wipes are extra handy!
1:01 pm
I use the Kemper extruders…have one for white, one for black, one for translucent, and one for "all other colors…I clean them by using a bottle brush and alcohol. I dip the brush in alcohol and run the brush through the extruder a few times. No fuss, no muss, and all the clingy clay on the inside is gone…I'm sure this would work for any extruder.
1:03 pm
Awesome post Cindy! My pasta machine has been black streaking my sheets something fierce lately. I tried to find a way to easy fix that up and well here's my answer!
Although, I'd much prefer the machine to just stop making those black streaks in the first place!
2:04 pm
@Julie: Wow that is a lot of extruders! Thanks for sharing your great tip for cleaning them! Very helpful!
@Kelly: That streaking is most likely the cause of clay stuck behind the scrapers of your pasta machine. You can take apart your pasta machine to clean it. For more info on how to do that, click the link by my name.
12:56 pm
Thanks for your response Cindy. I had read that it might be some sort of chemical reaction with the clay and the pasta machine. It's a relatively new machine, but I suppose it won't hurt to take it apart for a cleaning (well unless I can't get it back together)!
10:51 am
I have read that too Kelly, but that doesn't make much sense to me. I could see it having a reaction to plastics and non stick coatings and such, but not so much with metals. They are different materials. I could be wrong though.
Watch the video on how to take apart and put back together your pasta machine and you won't have any problems at all!
Click the link by my name for info on getting that video.
4:53 pm
I use a cotton swab and rubbing alcohol to get rid of all the flecks of dust (my house is VERY dusty, even though I keep my clay area CLEAN!) by going over the entire piece before I bake it. :) Works every time!
7:14 pm
It also removes fingerprints. That is why your work looks so great Kimberly!
PS: You will want to come back to the blog tomorrow (May 30). I've got a surprise for the Mad Scientist of Polymer Clay that I know you'll want to see. That's all I'm gonna say today. See you tomorrow :)
9:33 pm
Ohhhhhhh! SURPRISES! :D I'm excited!
2:07 pm
See, pretty good surprise Eh Kimberly! Thanks for the article mention you made at Deviant Art I really appreciated it!
BTW in case anyone else is wondering, the "surprise" was a post I wrote about Kimberly and her Monster Kookies jewelry. Check it out by clicking the link by my name!
11:27 am
hmm, according to this blog I bought a bottle of spiritus (94% Ethylene)
and watched the effect at the surface (fingerprints for example), but the only effect I saw were made by the brush/q-tip I´d used.
The Ethylene just seemed to be an evaporating lubricant, but with no effect to the Super Sculpey.
Maybe I just translated "rubbing alcohol" wrong. May it be that rubbing alcohol is only isopropylene.
12:09 pm
Yes Faber Draconis, the translation was wrong. Rubbing Alcohol = Isopropyl Alcohol. (Language translators are tricky. :-)
Let me know if that helps.