Scrapbook expert Wendy Weixler, shares a tip about using die cutter machines with Fimo Clay:
Awhile back I was over at the Wendy’s scrap booking blog called ‘Wickedly Wonderful Creations’. She had made these cute little bird earrings from shrink plastic and a Spellbinders Nestabilities nesting die cutter. I asked her if she thought the same thing could be done in polymer clay. This was her response…
Hi Cindy,
You CAN use polymer clay (FIMO) with these dies. You just need to roll it out before you try to run it through your diecut machine. I’ve done fimo stuff for years, so I can totally appreciate your love of it. I used to make earrings for someone for about 4 years… hundreds of pairs per month. It was crazy, but introduced me to a whole new medium!!
~~Wendy Weixler :)
One of the things I love about polymer clay is how you can cross over the tools and materials from many different mediums. In fact scrapbooking supplies are often used in polymer clay projects.
Inks, papers, rubber stamps, die cutting machines, grommets, glitters embossing powders, heat guns and glues can be used with Fimo, Premo and Sculpey clays to create wonderful results!
If you would like to see a couple of different posts where I have used rubber stamp techniques with polymer clay, check out Rubber Stamping Polymer Clay and Dragonfly Pendant Jewelry.
Thank you Wendy for your excellent feedback! Now I will have to get myself some Spellbinders die cut scrapbooking tools and see if I can come up with some fun polymer clay projects for them!
Hi Cindy,
Just wanted to say HI. We just drove from Illinois to
Nevada. I have a few days to try and catch up with
things, I still haven’t finished your course. I need
to watch it when I can concentrate and that hasn’t been
easy. Time just flies.
Anyway, what a great idea. I am not sure how a die cut machine works, but I think I will look into it.
Marianne
Nice to hear from you Marianne… Hope you are having a nice time!
I love your faux carved and stamped beads. They look like beautiful artifacts or hand carved ivory. Polymer clay is such a versatile and artistic medium.
Question: After you apply the acrylic paint and rub it off, do you need to seal the bead in any way? Do we need to protect the paint so it doesn’t some how come off?
Question: I have never done any scrapbooking. What exactly are die cutting machines? Are they similar to some kind of cookie cutter? The word machine fascinates me.
DM
Good Questions Debbie! After applying paint it is not necessary to seal it with anything. The acrylic in the paint is similar to the plastics in the clay and they bond very well to each other.
As far as what die cutting is, it is sort of like cookie cutters for paper or other craft materials. There is a folder that has the shape cutter inside called the die. You put a piece of paper inside and close the folder. The folder is put into the machine to squeeze the folder and cut the paper.
You can cut out wonderful shapes and emboss them with embossing dies. There are lots of machines and dies to choose form. The Spellbinders machine is large and can cut a variety of materials. Basically a Crafter’s Dream!
Thanks Cindy = I better look into Scrapbooking and the die cutters. It all sounds very intriguing!
DM
Ok, this excites me… I have a Sizzix die cutting system (I have the old “original” and a “big kick”) for my paper crafting… Do you cut the clay raw? Do you put the clay between sheets of paper?
Oh boy, this might be fun…
~Lisa
Hi Lisa! Now I haven’t yet tried this myself so I’m not positive what would be the best way to use a die cut machine with clay. But you could try cutting a thin sheet of baked clay. Thin baked sheets cut easily with scissors, so this should work, but it could crack the clay. Or you could try a thin sheet of raw clay between two sheets of parchment paper. I wouldn’t use raw without paper or at least a lot of cornstarch, otherwise it might get all stuck to your dies.
I’ve been dying to try this but haven’t bought a machine yet. If you try it, please come back and tell us how it worked. I need a good excuse to buy a die cut machine!
Hi Cindy; What a fantastic website you have! I’ve already mentioned it to a number of clayers who are looking for more and more information. I’ve worked with polymer clay for over twenty years now. (egad, I’m getting old!).
For quite some time I’ve been working with cutting the clay with a cutting machine. The one that works pretty well is my Silhouette Portrait. But I’m not totally happy with the results. So I’m ordering a Sizzix Big Shot which I felt would work better. And then I found your wonderful die cutting tutorial on your site and was so pleased to see how well it does work.
My only problem is finding good dies. Can you possibly tell me where you purchase yours? I haven’t found many that I really like and yours look much better. I do like some of Tim Holtz but the cost on the ones I like is way out of my budget right now. I met Tim years ago at the CHA shows. He’s come a long way since then. And I am so impressed with the variety of techniques you have done and are doing on your site. Wow!
I am a writer by trade, but the clay keeps calling me. I’m sorry to go on so long, but I was so happy to see your work, and would love to find a good place to look for the right size dies to cut the clay.
Thanks for any help you can give me. It will be greatly appreciated.
Best, Dotty McMillan, Riverside, CA
Hi Dotty, thanks for your kind words! Glad you are enjoying it here. The Big Kick works great for cutting polymer especially when you use the steel rule dies. I have bought most of my dies on an online site called CreateForLess. I’ve listed the most of the ones I use over at this post.
I have also picked them up at Michaels. Mixed media jewelry making has become so big that I am starting to see a lot more new product lines, including the dies, that are sized for the jewelry market. I am sure that you will begin to find dies that you like becoming more and more available in the next little while. Thanks for commenting!