How To Use Glitter With Fimo, Premo Sculpey and Other Brands of Polyclay:
Need some sparkly tips for adding a little bling to your polymer clay bead making and jewelry projects? Today’s article will provide you with some ideas on how to use craft glitter. Here are 6 types that can be added to polymer clay in a variety of ways:
1) Glass Glitter:
- Can be added to translucent or opaque clay as an inclusion.
- Mixed into liquid polymer clay (TLS Translucent Liquid Sculpey).
- Can be rubbed on the outside of raw clay.
2) Large Flaked Glitter:
- Sometimes known as Buffalo Snow or Arnold Grummer’s Flakes.
- Added to TLS and spread on tile to bake. Peel off and turn over to get a smooth iridescent sheet for creating faux opals.
- Mixed into translucent clay to make beads. Because the large flakes tend to protrude, cover bead with thin layer of translucent clay to protect.
3) Craft Glitter:
- Cheap stuff tends to curl, melt and/or discolor with heat. Experiment to get desired result.
- Can be used same as other glitters.
- Tends to have a mixture of particle sizes.
4) Shaped Confetti Glitter:
- Some plastic confetti works well in polymer clay. Often this type of glitter confetti will curl though. So experiment to get desired effect.
5) Mica Powders:
- Ultra fine glitter and metallic powders.
- Can be mixed into clay or added onto surface of clay.
- Works well on rubber stamps as a resist.
- Can be mixed with liquid clay or Future Floor Finish.
6) Make Up and Body Glitter:
- Loose Powdered Eye Shadow and Bronzers.
- Can find these products cheap at dollar stores.
- Can be worked into solids as well as into liquid polymer clays.
And Here’s Some Additional Tips for Using Glitter Clays:
- Some glitters are made of colored foil. The color used in these glitter foils will often sand or buff away if you are not careful. To protect the color, wse a super thin sheet of translucent Premo or Fimo clay to cover the glitter before sanding and buffing.
- Some glass glitters are very gritty and may be hard on your pasta machine. The grit can potentially scratch the rollers which is not a good thing.
- Some real glass glitters can be sharp so be careful when mixing.
- Some glitters will discolor while baking so test, test, test! And when you discover something… either good or bad, please do share your results back here at the blog.
- Light iridescent glass glitter looks very cool on dark clays.
- Try mixing a variety of colors, sizes and types of glitter for an interesting and sparkly effect.
If you would like to see a funny video of how comedian Ellen Degeneres attemped to have Glitter Banned in Congress, and how the Crafty Chica campaigned to stop her, here’s the link: Polymer Clay Glitter (you’ll get a laugh plus pick up a few more tips not discussed in today’s “Glitter How To” article).
How fun! Thanks for stopping by my blog, glad to have found yours!
I’ve had some good luck through trial and error with adding Hello Kitty roll-on body glitter to my polymer clay. I didn’t want to roll it on and mess up the roller, so I tapped it, and got a nice light dusting. I sealed it under embossing powder. I considered it a success because it worked, but I much prefer the look of leaf.
Also tried it as an inclusion with solid clay (non-translucent). It gave a bit of a sparkly surface to the clay, but it might be even better with translucent.
@Lindsay: It is nice to have you here! I enjoyed your blog as well!
@Kimberlee: That sounds great! Yeah I bet it would mess up the roller ball if you rolled it on the clay! For embossing powder, are you using UTEE? (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel)
Hi Cindy, How to make a piece that looks like rock by using embossing powder and translucent polymer clay, or any other color clay you know, and Where do I buy embossing powder that is not too refined. Thanks.
Hi Rezvan! A great embossing powder to use for making pieces that look like rock or faux stone, is the Distress Embossing Powder from Tim Holtz. You can get it online or at stores like Michaels.
Just mix a little into the clay like you would make spice beads polymer clay inclusions and the embossing powder will melt inside the clay as it bakes. You can even use more than one color of embossing powder.
Thanks Cindy I appreciate the info.
Rezvan
One site said To Never using embossing powders before the curing process and to wait till after and use a heat gun.
is it unsafe or what?
multiple sites say it’s ok to use it in your oven but that one didn’t
@margaret: I’ve seen sites where they warn about this, but they are just talking about using them on the outside of beads before curing because they get sticky and sometimes smear and/or mess-up other beads. If you take precautions, or use the powders on the inside of the bead, it works just fine. In fact, it’s a very commonly-used technique!
Thanks for your question Margaret! I doubt there is any problem to use embossing powders in the oven since one of the companies that makes embossing powders (Ranger) has a project on their website, baking it into translucent polymer clay.
Also, in a previous post, one of my readers (Kimberlee) wrote about how she uses embossing powders on her clay. You can click the “Fimo Polymer Clay Ideas” link by my name above, to read her comment.
Hi, I have a Christmas ornament that I purchased last year. The white on the ornament is full of glitter front and back. I have been looking for this type of clay for several months and cannot find it. The entire color is glitter, its not translucent, it is actually white, just full of glitter. Do you have any idea what type of clay this would be?
Hi Beverly, nice to “meet” you! I’m pretty sure Fimo makes a white glitter clay, that may be what the ornament’s made with. I have Fimo Soft in red & blue glitter, & they’re just like you described (glitter throughout.) Fimo is now under the brand name “Staedtler,” and the glitter clays are in the “Fimo Effect’s” line. You should be able to find it; if not locally, then by mail order.
Good luck with this, and Happy Claying!
@Beverly Bullard: Hi Beverly, I found the Fimo White Glitter clay at JoAnn’s a couple weeks ago. I just saw ran across this page, so I thought I’d mention it…
Reading your question again, I realized that you could also use any white clay, and add glitter to it. It can be a bit messy, though. Mix the glitter into your clay little by little, being careful not to trap air in your clay. There are also less messy ways to do it. Let me know if you want more info on this~ :-D
I just bought stickles in 2 purty colors with polymer clay on my mind. Would the same method be used for inclusion – I’m thinking of mixing it into the clay. Thanks folks.
@Trudy M: Tim Holtz’ Stickles are ‘purdy’ aren’t they! I haven’t tried mixing them in clay yet, so you’ll have to experiment with that and let us know how it goes. Since they are a liquid, they may or may not bubble inside the clay when baked. I am guessing they would work nicely ontop a baked piece, but since I haven’t tried that either, it’s only a guess. Please do try it and let us know. Now you have me curious!
Will do, Chief Polymer Clay woman!
Okay, the stickles can be mixed with clay and baked. It didn’t bubble or explode. With the translucent, I wound up with something that looked like a rock with purple-ish glitter. Of course this is all new to me, so I think I’ll follow one of your videos now instead of completely going off on my own just yet.
By the way Cindy, your advice on baking is A-1. No problems at all and I followed the instructions to the letter. And I must say, Amaco makes a great polymer clay oven. Not one spike throughout the hour.
Hello there!
First I want to thank you for all the amazing tutorials and reviews on your YouTube channel! I am very new to polymer clay and have gained so much knowledge already from all the information in your videos! I can’t thank you enough and I love working with the clay as a means to compliment my jewelry designs, so I will definitely be sticking with it. My reason for writing is that I live in the mountains in California and we have a lot of Fool’s Gold in the soil and it flakes off into gorgeous bronze, black and copper flakes and I have been wanting to purchase mica to put in and on the polymer clay, so I thought I would experiment with the Fool’s gold in my transparent Premo clay. I made a small handful of the beads today, but then started to wonder if there are any chemicals in this mineral that would not be good to keep in the oven for any length of time? I tried to gather research about it online and haven’t really found much other than it contains iron sulfide and some other chemicals that they would use the pieces to help ignite fires back in the day, so I am a bit concerned and hope I didn’t waste some of my clay. Do you have any insights on this and is there a way you can find more info on this mineral? I would be very grateful! Thanks again!
Hi Jocelyn, Thank you for the compliments, that was lovely! As far as the flaked fools gold in your clay, I really doubt there would be an issue, but if you are worried, bake a tiny sample inside a pan with a foil lid (I have a video on it, if you want to check it out). and watch it closely to see if anything happens. The temp you bake clay at is really low and probably couldn’t ignite the chemicals/minerals, but it a smart thing to be cautious. Perhaps if you asked the question in a lapidary forum, you would get a more educated answer? Good luck!
Hello Cindy!
I tried the fool’s gold and it turned out pretty good, but it’s a bit harder to work with than most of the mica flakes I purchased a bit ago. I think I am in love with creating faux stones now! Thanks again for your advice and I will be keeping up on your new tutorials!
~ Jocelyn
Also I wanted to add glitter to a Christmas village piece without having the glitter come off on my hands. I use the glitter clay but I want more sparkle. any suggestions?
I love your youtube videos, they are so helpful. Thanks you and have a blessed week
At His Feet
Bev Bullard
Hi Beverly, thank you for the kind words. In addition to the glitter clay, you can add a layer of liquid clay and sprinkle the glitter onto that. It will really hold onto it well. Make sure the glitter can handle the oven first. Just put a little pile on your baking tray and test bake it to see if it will melt. If it doesn’t melt (most won’t) then you’re good to go. Good luck!