“My thanks to
you Cindy, for all the
helpful advice over the years
when it comes to all things
polymer.” ~Cyndi Lavin
Over the years I’ve received a ton of support from other bloggers who have helped to get the word out about the community here. And one of the ways I can show some appreciation is by linking back to them, so that you guys can check out their sites too.
Today I would like to give a big shout out to Cyndi Lavin from Beading Arts. She is such an innovative and creative artist, as you can see from the welcome message she has posted at her blog…
I have enjoyed writing Beading Arts since 2005! If you’re a new visitor, welcome! Come travel with me through a bead and jewelry wonderland, where no item is considered too strange to use in making something! Especially if that item has a hole in it. My constant cry as a young child was, “Please Mommy! Don’t throw that out. I can make something out of that!” No surprise that years later, it became the cry of my daughter as well. It’s wonderful having a kindred spirit to share with. I hope that you each have someone in your life to share your passions with, and I hope that you’ll come and share them with me as well. ~Cyndi Lavin
And here is an exceprt from the interview that Cyndi recently did with me… “You all know Cindy Lietz as the Polymer Clay Tutor. Well, Cindy has shared about her journey to artistry and mastery over this fabulous jewelry-making material! Way back about 15 years ago…” For full article, click here: Polymer Clay Artist: Cindy Lietz
When you are over at Cyndi’s Beading Arts blog, reading through her collection of wonderful posts, be sure to tell her I sentcha… :-)
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If you would like more information about my Polymer Clay Tutor Members Library, here are some direct links:
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Polymerspeak sounds again! I’m pretty sure we all echo Cyndi’s thoughts. And her site is now on my list of sites that get checked daily.
Hi Cindy,Can you tell me if the Sculpey Studio Glossy Glaze is hand washable. If not what would you use?
Nice article, Cindy! I left a post over there, and did a bit of poking around. I’m gonna check out more later…getting late!
@Melissa B: Hi Melissa, are you asking if objects glazed with Sculpey can be washed by hand…or if the glaze comes off your hands/clothing? I assume you mean the first, but thought I’d ask to be sure.
Finish choices depend on what you’re making. How it “holds up” to washing & more depends on the item, too. But you can do a “quick hand-wash” of polymer clay items glazed with Studio by Sculpey Gloss. I wouldn’t recommend soaking in water too long, though — especially really warm water. And if you’re talking glazing other types of material with the Sculpey gloss…they may not hold up as well — again, it depends…
You asked what Cindy would use…well, that depends on what you want to make. For most clay beads, Cindy recommends sanding & buffing to a shine…no glaze at all to worry about. If you make something with foils/powders/inks, etc. that need to be protected, you could do the job with Studio glaze (or one of the other clay-compatible finishes.) Or you could choose resin for really waterproof protection. Use the search function at the top of the page for more information about resins or the many popular finishes for polymer clay… :D
Welcome, Have fun! ~Kat
Wow! Thanks so much for the shout out, Cindy. Believe me, it has been a great help to me to know where to turn for accurate polymer clay advice over these years :-)
@Cyndi L: Thanks Cyndi! I have learned a lot from you and your blog as well. I thoroughly enjoyed your experiments with the silicone faux ice and polymer clay. Even though it didn’t end up working like we planned, it was interesting trying to come up with ways that it would work. Satisfied the Mad Scientist in me!
I have only bought one lesson (apparently i like wasting time, clay and money and prefer to make mistakes on my own), but i hope you will still answer my question. i am a beginner. do you think it is possible or safe to cook clay in a crock pot? altho it would take longer, it seems like it could be good for cooking with my kid or putting it in the garage because of the stinky smell. cheaper too. what are your thoughts? you are a fabulous artist, by the way. i can’t wait till i get good!
@Stephanie S: Thanks! You’ll get good quite quickly if you scour this blog when you have questions (use the search box) and watch as many tutorials as you can. Each skill builds on the other and before you know it, you will be making many beautiful creations
I’m am not sure if a crock pot will get hot enough to cure your polymer clay properly. The best way to check is to put an oven thermometer inside and see. If not, you could consider getting a electric turkey roaster. Others have had great success using them and the temperature can be controlled quite easily with them. Plus they have pretty much the same kind of design so it would be a safe way to use with kids. I have added a link by my name to a comment where one of members talks about using a roaster oven, that you may want to read.
Dear Cindy
Just wanted to say… you make Friday’s special. I shall miss your e-mails over the next 2 Fridays when I am on holidays. It’s not often that I am happy to get home again after a holiday, but this is definitely one time I will! I hope you are well and enjoying your projects. You are certainly bringing a lot of pleasure to one pensioner!
Best wishes
Marion
What is your feeling about using a toaster oven for baking polymer clay beads? I have been using my convention setting on my home oven but don’t want to use so much electricity if I can get away with using the toaster oven.
@Natalie Herbin: I used a toaster oven for a year to bake my clay and it drove me crazy. I couldn’t keep the temperature regulated and kept burning my beads. I finally decided to sacrifice my convection oven to my clay-making and I’ve never regretted it. I keep a separate oven thermomter in my convection oven and I can see that once the oven is heated up, the temperature never fluctuates. I haven’t burned one thing since I’ve been using my convection oven.
Does the convection oven use that much more electricity than the toaster oven?
@Natalie Herbin: It really depends on the toaster oven Natalie. I have been baking my polymer clay beads in a toaster oven for many years and do recommend it. But recently my brother gave me a nice stainless steel toaster oven that looked prettier than mine so I switched it with my old one. The bad thing though, it was inconsistent with its temperatures and because it had such a low profile, the element was too close to my beads it often burnt them. So… I went back to the old one.
A convection Oven like Linda suggests is usually bigger inside and the most consistent in temp, so is a good choice as well. If you want more info, click the link by my name for one article or type ‘toaster ovens’ into the search box at the top of the page for more .
@Linda K.: I don’t know… a convection oven probably does use a little more energy than a toaster oven because it uses a fan to move the heat around and they are usually a little larger inside than a regular toaster oven. But then again, maybe if it holds the heat more evenly, it doesn’t have to heat up as often and uses less energy that way? An appliance person might know. It would be better than a regular oven though for sure.