{"id":2122,"date":"2009-01-10T09:03:21","date_gmt":"2009-01-10T16:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=2122"},"modified":"2009-01-10T09:03:21","modified_gmt":"2009-01-10T16:03:21","slug":"polymer-clay-oven-dirty-discolored-beads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-oven-dirty-discolored-beads\/2122\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Polymer Clay Oven Making Your Beads All Dirty & Discolored?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Polymer<\/p>\n

Now There Is Simple Solution. Martha Aleo of Ornamento Says To Use Bleach:
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This morning while surfing (blog’s that is, not waves),<\/em> I came across a simple polymer clay technique that I’ve never seen before. So simple in fact that it falls under<\/span> the “Why-didn’t-I-think-of-that”<\/em> category. The basic idea is to use a bleach bath to brighten up clay beads and pendants that have darkened or become discolored during the baking process. Credit goes to the clever and talented Martha Aleo of Ornamento<\/a> for this idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I read Martha’s post, it made me think… What beginner to polymer clay hasn’t had the problem of light colored clays getting dark or discolored during baking?! This is something we all should know and it must<\/em> be passed on to you!<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you end up with a polymer clay bead or project where the color has darkened or gone funny, you can plop it into a container of bleach. Put the lid on and let it sit! After a while, the piece will be restored to it’s original glory!<\/span><\/p>\n

Since I just found out about this technique today, I have not had a chance to try it out myself. So the photo above displays the before and after pics from Martha Aleo’s polymer clay bleaching experiment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cool thing is that the bleach doesn’t actually remove or change any of the actual polymer clay colors. What I mean is, after bleaching, black is still black and red is still red. Which leads me to believe the bleach is only affecting the ‘film’ that has come from the dirty air in the oven.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is probably why a cleaner oven causes less discoloration on light colored clays. As well as tenting your beads with a sheet of parchment paper or completely burying them in a layer of cornstarch keeps them brighter. Additional Resource: How to Bake Polymer Clay so that Your Whites Stay White<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you have some polymer clay beads, pendants or other small projects that came out of the oven darker than they went in, give Martha Aleo’s idea a try and soak them in some bleach!<\/span><\/p>\n

Just one more reason why you should never throw out your polymer clay mistakes<\/a>. Cause you never know when a new idea will come along on how you can fix them! Thank you Martha!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cindy\"Polymer<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now There Is Simple Solution. Martha Aleo of Ornamento Says To Use Bleach: This morning while surfing (blog’s that is, not waves), I… 22<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,26],"tags":[2633,1492,1490,251,1494,1761,2740,1908,405],"class_list":["post-2122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature-guests","category-finishing","tag-baking-polymer-clay","tag-bleaching","tag-dirty","tag-mistakes","tag-ornamento","tag-releases-cornstarch-baking-soda-water","tag-polymer-clay-tools-supplies-organization","tag-watercolor-beads","tag-white-clay-dirty-clean-wipes-pet-hair-lint-fuzz-dust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122","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=2122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}