Color Swatch Binder For Baked Polymer Clay Chips

Video #721: Plus a sneak peak of the new, printable PcT color recipe sheets and color recipe cards… coming soon to a binder near you!

In today’s video I am going to show you how to set up a polymer clay color swatch book.

Many creative industries have color swatch books of all the colors they have in their line, so that you can see how the color or texture of the material look in different situations and lighting conditions. You have probably seen swatch books of fabric, paints, wallpaper, counter tops, glitters, that kind of thing. Well you can do the same thing with polymer clay.

Now in some past videos I have shown you the difference between samples of raw polymer clay next to baked polymer clay, and the way the colors can shift or look quite different when baked. This kind of information can be quite useful when planning polymer clay projects, or making up new color palettes.

What is also useful, is to make up baked polymer clay swatches of the different brands of polymer clay… your different color recipes… and different finishes (ie. Pearl Ex Powders on light vs dark backgrounds).

I decided to put together a swatch book of the different color chips that I have baked so far. It is a big project, so my book is still a work in progress. But so far, I have a complete set of Premo Sculpey and Sculpey Souffle color chips… and the beginnings of Fimo Professional True Colors, PV Clay, Pearlex Powdered Pigments and Perfect Pearls color samples in my swatch book.

The system I am using is actually an adaptation of Jennifer McGuire’s Ink Swatch System. She has color swatch printable sheets for the different brands and colors of inks that are on the market. I am using the editable version that Jennifer has made available as a free download (see link just below the video on this page). But instead of doing ink colors, I typed in color names and brands of the different polymer clay’s I work with.

I display my chips in 2″ x 2″ pocket pages. The pages themselves are 6″ x 8″ binder size, which fit nicely into my A5 planner. But there are several pocket page options and configurations in the market, including the larger 8 1/2″ x 11″ three ring binder style, also known as Coin Pocket Pages (see links below video).

Besides the swatch book shown in this video, I also show a sneak peek of the new version of color recipe sheets and color recipe cards that we are working on. So stay tuned for that!

Although it can take some time to put together a polymer clay color swatch book like this, I think it is not only a helpful tool to have in your polymer clay studio, but it is also a great kickstarter project to get you inspired to working with your polymer clay, should you be feeling stuck and need a new spark of inspiration.

So I do hope that this idea gets those creative juices flowing and gets you a little more organized for your future polymer clay projects!

• Related Video: Paper Planner For Tracking Your Studio Supplies
• Related Video: Carpe Diem Polymer Clay Tutor Paper Planner
• Related Video: Raw vs Baked Premo Color Shifts
• Related Video: Sculpey Souffle Raw Vs Baked Color Shifts
• Related Video: The FIMO Professional True Color Mixing System
• Related Video: PV Clay Brand Polymer Clay from Brazil
• Related Video: Applying Pearl Ex Pigments Onto Polymer Clay
• Related Resource: Jennifer McGuire Ink Swatch Downloadable Sheets
• Related Resource: Simple Stories 2×2 Pocket Pages (6×8 size) on Amazon
• Related Resource: 2″ x 2″ Coin Pocket Pages (3 ring binder) on Amazon

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Do you have any suggestions for videos on tips, techniques or products you would like to learn more about? Let me know in the comments section below!

My goal is to help you to learn quicker and easier ways to bring up the professionalism in your polymer clay art.

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Looking forward to hearing from you!