{"id":1364,"date":"2008-11-23T16:59:21","date_gmt":"2008-11-23T23:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=1364"},"modified":"2013-05-30T16:47:33","modified_gmt":"2013-05-30T23:47:33","slug":"how-to-make-beads-basic-polymer-clay-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/how-to-make-beads-basic-polymer-clay-tools\/1364\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make Beads | Basic Tool Kit for Working with Polymer Clay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Polymer Clay Starter Tools\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/2008-03\/01-polymer-clay-starter-tools-90012-00.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Making Beads With Fimo or Sculpey Requires Very Little To Get Started:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">One of the most common polymer clay beginner questions is:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> <em>&#8220;I don&#8217;t want to buy a lot of unnecessary stuff. What is<\/em><\/span><!--more--><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><em> the minimum amount of tools I&#8217;ll need to get started with polymer clay?&#8221;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Well, here is a &#8220;bare bones&#8221; list of tools and supplies you&#8217;ll need for clay bead making:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Clay<\/strong> &#8211; Cheapest is not always the best. Premo Sculpey or Fimo Classic are great polymer clays to start with. Get a few in the primary colors, plus black, white and translucent. Avoid Sculpey III because it is the lowest quality and will probably leave you frustrated.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Oven or Toaster Oven<\/strong> &#8211; Polymer clay must be baked in the oven to be cured.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Oven Thermometer<\/strong> &#8211; Very important. Most ovens have a range in temperature and their dials are rarely right. Burning clay can release toxic fumes and should be avoided at all times. Test your oven with a thermometer first to make sure there are no hot spots.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Smooth Glass or Tile Work Surface<\/strong> &#8211; I use a glass cutting board. It won&#8217;t scratch and won&#8217;t leave textures or marks on clay. Clay doesn&#8217;t stick to it and it is easy to clean.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Ceramic Tile for Baking On<\/strong> &#8211; Ceramic tile with a smooth surface is perfect for baking pendants and beads on. It&#8217;s insulating qualities help with evening out the oven&#8217;s temperature and it won&#8217;t leave shiny spots on your clay. Avoid using metal which conducts the heat causing hot spots and burning as well as leaving shiny spots on your clay.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Clay Blade<\/strong> &#8211; These are way better for cutting clay and canes than a regular knife. They have straight edges, are thin and cut the clay and canes cleanly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong>Acrylic Rod<\/strong> &#8211; You will find these in the clay section of your craft store. There are wide, smooth, heavy and roll out the clay quite nicely. Because they are made of acrylic they won&#8217;t bond with clay and they clean up easily.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The above list of polymer clay tools and supplies is very basic. As you get more involved with polymer clay bead making, there are several other things that you will want to purchase too. One step at a time, though.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"background-color: #f2ecd8; width: 512px;\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>**************************************************************************************************<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large; color: #ff0000;\"><em><strong>BY THE WAY&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/span> all the above information and much more, about basic polymer clay tools, is covered in Video #7 of my 39 Part Polymer Clay Basics Course. If you would like to see a sneak preview clip for this course video, here is the link:<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/starter-tools-for-basic-polymer-clay-projects\/10\/#video\">Starter Tools for Basic Polymer Clay Projects<\/a><em><strong><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Or if you want to go straight to the the course order page, here is that link: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/crse\/01-more.html\">Polymer Clay Bead Making Fundamentals<br \/>\n<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>**************************************************************************************************<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cindy Lietz Signature\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/cindy-sig.jpg\" width=\"114\" height=\"99\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Polymer Clay Tutor\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutor.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"26\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making Beads With Fimo or Sculpey Requires Very Little To Get Started: One of the most common polymer clay beginner questions is: &#8220;I&#8230;&nbsp;<span class=\"cmtcnt\">15<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2633,301,2740],"class_list":["post-1364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools","tag-baking-polymer-clay","tag-cutting-blade","tag-polymer-clay-tools-supplies-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}