{"id":19376,"date":"2015-01-12T03:05:01","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T11:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=19376"},"modified":"2015-01-15T09:38:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T17:38:55","slug":"drilling-holes-in-raw-polymer-clay-vs-baked-clay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/drilling-holes-in-raw-polymer-clay-vs-baked-clay\/19376\/","title":{"rendered":"Drilling Holes in Raw Polymer Clay Vs Baked Clay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=19376#video\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"margin: 0px; border: 0pt none;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/2015-01\/12-90617-drilling-holes-raw-vs-baked.jpg\" alt=\"Drilling Holes in Raw Vs Baked Clay - Polymer Clay Tutor\" width=\"255\" height=\"146\" \/><\/a><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Video #617:<\/span> If you want your beads to look professional, then it is usually best to drill holes after your polymer has been baked.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #808080; font-size: large;\"><strong>Topics Covered In This Video:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I&#8217;m going to show you the difference between drilling holes in polymer clay when the clay is raw versus when it is baked.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Often you will see on the internet where someone who is making a polymer clay pendant or flat charm, just take a skewer and make a hole in the clay when it is raw.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">There are several problems that can happen when piercing holes in raw polymer clay.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">First is that the piece will tend to distort&#8230; the clay gets pushed to the sides of the hole and can distort the piece out of shape.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The hole gets uneven and puckered up around the edges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">A hole made in clay by swirling a pointed tool generally looks very unprofessional.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">A much cleaner and better looking hole can be made after the polymer clay has been baked, using a drill bit.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Drilling in baked polymer clay is super easy to do.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">By holding off on adding holes to your polymer clay beads until after they are baked&#8230; gives you more options.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">You may change your mind on where you want to drill the hole, how many holes you want to add or if you want to add a bail instead. If the hole is already there, you can&#8217;t do much about it.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">All you need is some inexpensive drill bits made for wood, since polymer clay is soft and easy to drill through.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">You can find drill bits in the hardware store or even the dollar store.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Purchases the sizes of drill bits that you will need.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Support your polymer clay piece from behind, using scrap wood or a plastic block.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I used to make a polymer clay handle for my drill bits but found that the bits they came loose if the bit was not bent on the end (which is very difficult to do).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">So now I just use a pin vise to hold my drill bits.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">You can find single and double ended pin vises, which screw apart for adding any size of drill bit that is required.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Most Exacto Blade handles will accommodate small drill bits as well.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Press a small dent in the clay where you want to drill the hole, so the bit doesn&#8217;t slide around on the surface.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Using light pressure, drill into the polymer clay with a piece of wood behind it as a back stop, and you should get a pretty clean hole.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Drill from the back as well as the front, to clear any burrs along the edges of the hole.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Resin coated polymer clay pendants can also be drilled after baking. You will notice that thhey need a little more pressure and time, but it is easily done by hand.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I also like to use a tapered drill bit or a tapered burr bit (made for Dremel Tools), for getting holes started or cleaning burrs around the edge of holes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Drilling your polymer clay after it is baked will give you a nice clean professional looking hole&#8230; much better than the dorky, puckered up, uneven holes that you squish in when the clay was raw! :)<a name=\"video\"><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xjn2bYSxo6A?rel=0\" width=\"575\" height=\"323\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Related Video: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=17074#video\">Drilling Holes In Your Polymer Clay Beads<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Related Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=5413\">Polymer Clay Bead Holes<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Related Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=3304\">How To Make Pretty Handles for Your Drill Bits<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Related Video: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=19269#video\">Applying Ultradome UV Epoxy Resin To Polymer Clay<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\">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!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">My goal is to help you to learn quicker and easier ways to bring up the professionalism in your polymer clay art.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium; color: #808080;\">Oh and don&#8217;t forget to give these videos a<em> Thumbs Up<\/em> click at YouTube if you are enjoying them. The more <em>Likes<\/em> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Also, by subscribing to our YouTube Channel directly, you will receive notifications as soon as new videos are uploaded. To subscribe, click here&#8230; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xjn2bYSxo6A\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external external_icon\">Drilling or Piercing Holes in Polymer Clay (Raw Vs Baked)<\/a><span style=\"color: #808080;\"> &#8230; the Subscribe Button is right near the top of that YouTube page.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Looking forward to hearing from you!<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 575px;\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 200px;\"><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/cindy-sig.jpg\" alt=\"Cindy Lietz Signature\" width=\"114\" height=\"99\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutor.jpg\" alt=\"Polymer Clay Tutor\" width=\"200\" height=\"26\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video #617: If you want your beads to look professional, then it is usually best to drill holes after your polymer has been&#8230;&nbsp;<span class=\"cmtcnt\">19<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2662],"tags":[2740],"class_list":["post-19376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pct-studio-tips","tag-polymer-clay-tools-supplies-organization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19376","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19376\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}