How To Sand Polymer Clay Beads Using Drywall Sandpaper

Tip #61: Drywall sandpaper works best for aggressive bead sanding jobs:

You may not have thought to look in the drywall and painting section of your local home improvement store for polymer clay bead sanding supplies. But now you will…

Drywall sandpaper has an open weave that can be used as the first stage in sanding beads that need something a little more aggressive than a 320 or 400 grit sandpaper.

Sometimes you need to remove more surface of your bead or pendant but don't want the deep scratches that a regular coarse sandpaper would give you.

For example, you may need to 'square up' the edges of a pendant. Or you might want to smooth out the deep groove lines that often show up in between cane slices added to a bead surface. Or perhaps you made some mica shift or hidden magic beads and want to sand off the raised edges instead of slicing them off with a blade.

If you use regular coarse grit sandpaper (i.e.120 grit) to remove the top layer of clay, you'll be creating some deep scratches that you will also have to remove.

With drywall sandpaper (sometimes called mesh), the weave is flat and open which allows for efficient clay removal without the deep scratches… resulting in a lot less sanding for you!

After you're finished using the drywall mesh to do the aggressive sanding, you can continue on with wet/dry sandpaper ranging from 320 grit to 400/600/800/1200. Then finish up with a final buff and sealer coat if desired.

So go on, head off to the home improvement store and pick up some drywall supplies to add to your sanding kit… you'll be glad you did!

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"Using Drywall Sandpaper" Video Description: The full version of this tutorial is currently posted in the VIP backstage members area. In it I demonstrate some aggressive sanding techniques using drywall mesh on polymer clay beads and pendants.