Video #751: This video will give you a quick glimpse into what I do behind the scenes in our Studio Cam membership videos.
This Studio Cam video is raw, unpolished and a little rant-y… but I think you’re going to love it!
In it I discuss the most common polymer clay baking question I get over and over again.
“But Cindy you’re wrong… the packaging says to bake for only 10 minutes! If I bake an hour my clay will burn!”
The video goes into the frustrating world of baking polymer clay… and it addresses all of the misinformation that is out there.
On the packaging labels, the manufacturers let you know what the correct baking temperature should be… but the suggested baking time they recommend, is not really helpful at all. It means that there is either a whole lot of polymer clay that is either breaking (under baked) or burning (over baked).
This confusion happens for two reasons… one, there just isn’t enough room on those tiny little packages to put very much information about the proper way to bake your polymer clay pieces. And two, the companies want to avoid complaints, so they do the safest thing… recommending short baking times to avoid burning the clay.
In this video I explain why polymer clay needs to bake at the right temperature, for the right amount of time, in order to “melt” the plastic particles in the clay to properly cure your pieces all the way through.
The issue is that most oven thermostats are not accurate… which means that you are often not baking at the right temperature.
The short answer to this problem is actually simple… use an oven thermometer… and bake longer.
- Related Video: Ten Minutes NOT Long Enough to Bake Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Essential Polymer Clay Tools – Oven Thermometer
- Related Video: Should Polymer Clay Still Bend After It’s Been Baked?
- Related Video: Using Foil Pan Lids To Protect Your Polymer Clay In The Oven
- Related Video: Using a Convection Oven to Bake Your Polymer Clay
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 to your polymer clay art.
Oh and don’t forget to give these videos a Thumbs Up click at YouTube if you are enjoying them. The more Likes a video gets, the higher it rises in the searches. And that means even more people will be able to join in on this polymer clay journey of a lifetime.
Also, by subscribing to our YouTube Channel directly, you will receive notifications as soon as new videos are uploaded. To subscribe, click here… Most Common Polymer Clay Baking Questions … the Subscribe Button is right near the top of that YouTube page.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
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Hi Cindy and Doug,
Having problems viewing the video PCT 751 it keeps saying “This video is private”
Hi Cindy and Doug, Dont know what you have done but it’s fixed nowed
Hi Marie, you were probably trying to acess the video before it went ‘Live’. (Being from the UK you are likely up hours before we are here in North America, and since we scheldule the videos and posts to be live at a certain date and time, you were trying to see it before it was ready.) Glad you were finally able to watch it though. Hope you liked it! :)
Thanks again for your great tips. You are time saver and teacher AAAAAAAAA
hello i am a newbie to clay but having great fun i also am not to good at computers but am learning
i have watched your vidieo on bakeing but still have a question or two
i am makeing fairy houses on jars i bake them for a 1/2 in my kitchen oven i use a temp gauge
when the timer goes off i leave them in oven untill it is completely cooled
most bakeing tips are for small items that you can cover
these are really to large so
#1 what do i cover them with ?
#2 do i really need to cover it
and the other problem i have is the little vines and leaves break and fall off and dont seem to be sticking to project am i suppose to use the bond and bake for all of those?
i thought if they were pressed to item they bonded by baking
i usually do one baking straight through so clay sits on my table until it is completed
i love your viedos and am going to get my son to help me sign up so i can stay current
thank you for your time
Hi Joan, Do you have my tutorial on making the Glass Ball Mistletoe Ornaments? It answers the bulk of your questions as far as baking on glass and getting everything properly cured and sticking without breaking. If you don’t have it, I would recommend you purchasing it, because it will really help you with your fairy doors on the jars.
As far as the tenting of your larger objects in a regular stove… yes that is still necessary. What you can do is put your piece for baking on the middle rack and place a empty cookie sheet on the top rack above your piece. That will protect your piece from the top element. Or you can build a tinfoil tent to cover your piece, but make sure it doesn’t touch your piece or you may get little scorch marks on your clay.
Good luck!
thank you for your reply
can you help me a little more please
is there a link to the draws that you store your clay in?
like the ones on your table
the ones i have seen the draws are to small for the full pack of clay
they dont seem to give the size of the draw just the size of the over all case
thanks joan
Hi Joan, I got mine in Canada but I found one on Amazon that is the same. Here is my affiliate link, if you’re interested…
Stack-On DS-60 60 Drawer Storage Cabinet
Hope that helps!
Hi Cindy,
Thank you for your tutorials. i’ve got a questions about bubbles forming during baking. How can I prevent that from happening? They look smooth when I put them in the oven. Please help! :)
Hi Nancy, if you type the word bubbles into the search box at the top of the page you will find a list (under the Google ads) of all the articles to do with bubbles in your polymer clay. If you still have questions after going through those posts, then feel free to ask again. Hope that helps!
Hi Cindy, thank you for pointing to the bubbles tutorials. Problem is, my items are not flat. It would be difficult to find the same shape to re-heat and squash them ;). I will try stretching. I do put the clay through the pasta machine fold first. Back to the drawing board! Also, this one was slightly burned. I will try tenting/ covering next time I bake. Thank you for all your great tutorials!
hi dears
i have seen your video about polymer clay baking tutorial,and i am an artist and i try to use polymer clay in my project and need your advice,
i use sculpy clay
i have baked one piece ,and its burned,and its color converted,
as i think my piece is thick i work with sculpting maybe it is be 7 cm ,how can i deal with this thickness,it need low temperature and long time?
thank you so much
best regards
saddam jumaily
Hi Suddam, Sculpey clay is very vulnerable to discoloring when it is baked. A better clay to use is Premo, Fimo, Kato, Pardo or Cernit. But if you have to use Sculpey, then bake in stages, so that you can be sure that it is baked fully inside. You also may want to use an armature of wire and foil so that your clay is not so thick. Also make sure to watch all of my baking videos. They will help. Good luck!
thank you so much dear