Sutton Slice Polymer Clay Tips and Techniques

Hi Cindy,
Really enjoyed the video and loved how you explained why certain stamps wouldn’t work well.

Thank you Cindy!!! I have tried the sutton slice before and it was very difficult. You showed me much easier way. All your tips make my clay better.

Hi Cindy,

Are you familiar with Magic Transfer Paper from polymerclaytv.com? They have a YouTube video on this product. The transfers have to be printed with a laser printer. I tried a few sheets for a magnet project using Zentangle tiles that I drew, scanned, and shrank to fit the size of the magnets made with white clay. The results were pretty good, and there is supposed to be a “cling” version of this paper, but I haven’t been able to find it. You can use colored pencils to color the transfers before applying them to the raw clay, but I have not tried that yet.

If you’ve tried this product, I would like to hear your thoughts on it and any tips you might have.

Thanks,
Cathy

I had never seen this before, very interesting, thanks a million!!!

Love this technique! I tried it but need to do over, oh well, but it was fun to practice! I had trouble scraping if off & some of it didn’t lay right on the background. I used regular Premo clay so not sure if that’s why I had some trouble. I am going shopping for some Souffle clay & will try it with that. Does anyone know what setting for conditioning the clay Cindy used for both the mold & background? She didn’t mention in the video so I used the thickest setting and wondered if that makes a difference or not as to how it works. Any comments would be appreciated!

Here is some updated info about the origin of the Sutton Slice Technique, that Lisa Pavelka graciously shared with me. With her permission, I am sharing her recent message to me, so that the info will get indexed in Google for everyone’s benefit.

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Hi Cindy, I’m writing you about an awkward exchange I had with a student in one of my classes. She pulled me aside to accuse me of falsely claiming credit for a technique wasn’t mine. I was teaching some advanced Sutton Slice methods when someone asked me about the origins of the technique.

The student who pulled me aside and said that she saw your video tutorial on the Sutton Slice and that you said Pete Sutton developed the technique. I very nicely explained to her that was incorrect, and that I am the sole developer of this technique. Nearly 20 years ago, I had introduced my friend Pete to polymer. I showed him some of the cool ways it could be used with texture stamps like the Mica Shift.

Soon after he got going, he tried a different way to do the Mica Shift that only resulted in his stamp being packed with clay. He asked me how to clean it out and I showed him how to use a piece of scrap clay how to remove it. When I saw a bit of patterning emerge on the surface, a light bulb went off in my head. Having seen the potential for a possible new technique, I spent the next couple of weeks working off and on until I developed a method that gave consistent results; especially larger sheets of clay. I didn’t feel it was necessary to name the technique after myself. I thought the slicing motion used to remove clay from the surface of the stamp and Pete’s last name had a nice ring to it when combines, so I dubbed it the “Sutton Slice,” in tribute to the person who lead me to my discovery.

Soon after, I debuted the technique on the Carol Duvall Show (HGTV), and at several tradeshows as well as other videos, magazine articles, my books and classes, which I continue to do today. Because the name typically garners questions about its origin, I usually give anywhere from a brief to a full description of how I came up with it. The origins as my being the developer of it are well documented in print and in numerous videos and I assumed it was commonly known in the polymer community that it was a technique I originated. Over the years I have further refined a technique to the one I currently use (which is even easier and offers more consistent results), as well as creating offshoot techniques like my Faux Batik info Textile Effects. Nearly a full chapter is devoted to the history and these techniques in my last book.

Please understand that I am not upset for being misinformed about who should be credited with its development and I am not expecting you to reshoot the entire tutorial. I would just appreciate it if you could take steps to correct that it is my technique. Perhaps you could re-edit it with an inserted graphic retraction at the point where you mention the techniques origins, or at lest post a comment immediately below your YouTube video that corrects this.

Please understand that this is not about my ego, but the ramifications to my reputation. The encounter with the misinformed student was quite uncomfortable for both of us, but especially my student. She was very apologetic and relieved that she didn’t call me out in from of class. I assured her I wasn’t angry and that it was water under the bridge. My concern is that this has happened in the past, and that anyone thinking I took credit for someone else’s development makes me a liar. I also have concerns about this continuing to happen in the future, whether someone confronts me about it or not (the latter being worse). My integrity as an artist is of critical importance to me as I’m sure yours is to you.

I appreciate it if you would take the time to correct this mistake as I also try to give credit where credit is due. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Clayfully Yours,
Lisa Pavelka

WOW.

Lisa’s fingers must be crippled by the amount of time she spends “defending her ownership” if she contacts everyone and everywhere I’ve seen this method credited to other peeps over the years.

PS She did NOT invent/perfect this technique historically. As Skinner did not invent her techniques.

Despite her protests to the contrary, she’s the supreme egotist.

As ever Cindy, you remain professional, and very very kind.

xxxooo

Jocelyn, having met Lisa Pavelka I am constrained to tell you that she is not a “supreme egotist”; quite the reverse in fact. Lisa is every bit as professional and very, very kind as is our dear Cindy.

Please consider that negative remarks of a personal nature may be hurtful. It’s the old Pollyanna thing really. I’m not picking a fight with you but I cannot and will not let an unkind remark be made when I know it to be inaccurate.

Cheers,
Chrissie

GOOGLE Search Results
FREE Polymer Clay Tutorials : Sutton Slice Technique – Lisa Pavelka
Aug 18, 2013 – Sutton Slice Technique – Lisa Pavelka … copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner.

Fine with me, Elfie. Just because you are an “artist” doesn’t mean you cannot pull a boner every now and again…..tons of different ways this could have been handled. Her letter to Cindy was inappropriate, in my opinion. And I’m just one of those gals who “calls it as I see it.”

Think we all need to adjust our big girl panties, yes?

Thank you Lillyjane for the wonderful compliments! We are both so pleased that you are getting so much out of the information that you are learning here. Thanks for commenting!

For Sutton Slice, the best kinds of stamps are the ones that are deep and have recessed areas that the clay can sit into. Lisa Pavelka, Christi Freisen and Cernit all have some good stamps that will work well.

Here is a great stamp from Lisa Pavelka that we have in our Amazon Shop if you want to check it out (affiliate Link).

Hi Mary, yeah it looks like Tonja isn’t selling those any more, but here is a collection of deep texture stamps (my Amazon Affiliate Link), that would work very well for the Sutton Slice Technique.