Video #508: Slicing your polymer clay canes and flat sheets requires the right tools… here are some options and ideas for you.
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Polymer clay cutting blades.
- Sharp kitchen knife can work, but the top edge of the steel blade makes it more difficult for cutting canes.
- Exacto knives are good for cutting and carving intricate pieces, but not so good for slicing canes. Most Xacto blades are too short.
- Polymer Clay Blades are best suited for working with clay. Go figure.
- Amaco Clay Blade: Available at craft stores like Michaels. Inexpensive. Fairly sharp. Stiff. Good for cutting canes. Great for removing sheets of clay from work surfaces.
- Sculpey Super Slicer Set. Readily available. Reasonable priced. Very thin, fairly sharp blades. Several blades in set (stiff, flexible, large ripple, small ripple). Two interchangeable snap on handles. Good for cutting canes and curved pendants. Great for removing sheets of clay from work surfaces.
- PVClay Blade (polymer clay product from Brazil). Must order from Brazil. Plastic/metal type material. Won’t cut skin. Very thin blade so it cuts clay and canes nicely. Best choice for kids to use.
- Tissue Blades (medical grade). Incredibly sharp – not for kids! Not readily available. Steal blade can rust. Many professional clayers swear by them.
- Related Video: How To Slice Round Polymer Canes Without Distortion
- Related Video: Sugru Hack for the Amaco Bead Rack
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!
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I work full-time. And I also am trying to start a jewelry business. I like to make up Skinner blends or sheets with my canes on them. I do this one day and then use them later. My question is how do you warm up the clay so you can use it to wraparound something and the clay does not crack. Also how do you store them so they do not leech. I have tried Wax paper, I’ve tried cellophane and I always seem to issue there
Hi Paula, the answer to these questions can be found by using the search box at the top of the blog. Use words like ‘storing clay sheets’ and ‘cellophane’ or ‘plastic wrap’ and you will find some interesting videos, posts and comments that will help you greatly!
Hi Paula,
Welcome! A good starting point for questions is the search box under the menu bar above. This blog goes back years and just about everything has been discussed at least once.
I can give you some suggestions for warming up your canes. First try using body heat. Try tucking the cane against a warm spot on your body (usually while sitting :-) ). Some people use other sources of warm (but not too hot!) heat but I am always afraid of partially cooking the clay. If my body heat goes above 100 degrees I’m probably feeling too awful to clay anyway!
Once a little warm, try “moving” the clay. Gently pound it against your table, turning as you go. Hold both ends and gently twist and shake. Run your fingers along the clay as if reducing but gently enough that you don’t actually start reducing. If the clay has been sitting a while you may have to be very patient to get the results you want. Good thing to do while watching TV.
Not all wraps and plastics are created equal. Some brands contain plasticizers that can react with the clay. I use a plastic cling film that I got at a natural foods store, and I believe the important feature with it is that it does not contain polyethylene. I also use a type of paper called deli wrap. It’s the type of wrap that they use use at delis and butchers to separate meats and cheese. Usually found at restaurant supply retailers, my local clay guild buys it in bulk to sell to members. And I have used baking parchment paper as that is also useful sometimes as a temporary work surface. (I wonder from the time you posted if you are outside the US? That’s why I described the materials rather than gave brand names.)
Also, if you use the Type 5 recyclable plastics box, you can store the canes without having to wrap them individually. (Look for the number 5 in a triangle or circle on the bottom of the box. I think several countries use the same numbering system for plastic recycling.) You can just put a small piece of cling wrap, deli wrap or parchment paper between the canes.
Hope this helps.
Oops I answered Paula without reading further… You did a much better job at helping her out Bertha! Thank you so much for steeping in to help. I am getting swamped with questions these days, and love getting the support from you and the other kind people who step in when I am slow to respond. Thanks again for all your support!
Hi Cindy, glad to help when it’s a question I can answer. I see how many questions you get here and on YouTube and I am amazed you even have time to test ideas, techniques, and tools and still make videos! Thanks for the great work you do!
Sorry, I realized belatedly that I need to make a correction. Polyethylene is not the worst plastic: polyvinylchloride (PVC) is often the culprit in plastics that are bad for polymer clay. It is recycling #3, found in some food containers and plastic wraps. It usually contains plasticizers, which is the stuff some clayers mix into hard unworkable unbaked polymer clay to soften it up, so of course good clay would get too soft if in contact with them.
So the plastics to definitely avoid are PVC and others that leech plasticizers. Again, the safest containers are recycling code #5, i.e. polypropylene. For example, Cindy suggests using sheet protectors to store sheets of clay blends and the ones I have are all polypropylene. If unsure, test the plastic as she describes in other posts/videos.
(This is why I shouldn’t try to help when my brain is feeling the combined effects of pollen season with the disorientation from lots of business travel! ;-) )
Hi Cindy
I have lately seen almost all of your 400 videos and I couldnt find one that would tell me what type of gold should we use with polymeric clay. Has it got to be 12 k or 24 k or can we use the fake gold leaves.
I am writing from Argentina .
Tanks for all your information in the net
Love
Ainka
Hi Ainka, thank you for your comment. Hello to Argentina from Canada! I am happy that you have watched so many videos!! You can use fake gold leaf. It looks just as pretty and is not as expensive. Use the 12K or 24K when you become a professional selling very high priced jewelry! ;)
Cindy,
I recently viewed your video on clay blades. The PVClay blade looks perfect for a special needs group (Advocates for the Rights of the Challenged*) that I volunteer with. I have been teaching them to make beaded jewelry, which they sell to raise money for their programs. Yesterday for the first time they saw some of my polymer clay pieces I asked me to teach them some of those techniques.
Do you have any additional information on buying the flexible blades from Bozzi/PVClay? I have searched online but can’t find a vendor for them.
Thanks,
Janie
Hi Janie, I heard from Edinho Juliotti. This is what he said:
“Hi Cindy Lietz, you already know that I’m big fan of yours. I greatly admire your work and your ability to explain issues that apparently are difficult, and you make them so easy to understand. Of course, I can not forget the support of your husband Doug. I will always recommend your videos. In the fanpage PVClay-Polymer Clay exists “Estimate” tab, which should be used by people who are interested in buying the product PVClay. For this, they should fill out the form to then be informed by email.”
Let me know how it all turns out.
Cindy, Thanks for the information. But, I had a problem with Facebook and I closed my account. Do you have any method other than FB to contact Edinho about the cutter?
Hi Janie, here is a link that goes directly to his website where he is selling the flex blades. It looks like he has it up and running again.
Cindy,
Thanks for the information. However, I am not sure it is the blade you showed on your video. The blade on that Web site is steel with a warning about injuries. Didn’t you say the one you showed was a plastic material?
Thanks for your dedication to helping me find a safe blade for my students.
Janie
Hmmm, I thought that was the right blade. Maybe you better see if you can ask Edinho yourself? He should have some contact info there somewhere. I am afraid that if I try and get in the middle of the conversation, something might get ‘lost in translation’. Good luck! Let us know how it goes!
Can you confirm that the PVClay blade you showed was not metal?
Hi Janie, all I can confirm is that it looks like metal and seems like plastic. I don’t know if it is a super thin piece of metal with a plastic coating of some sort, or a plastic that looks like metal. Edinho has never confirmed this to me. It is just a guess.