{"id":3707,"date":"2009-04-17T03:02:46","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T10:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=3707"},"modified":"2009-10-12T10:08:01","modified_gmt":"2009-10-12T17:08:01","slug":"polymer-clay-techniques-conditioning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-techniques-conditioning\/3707\/","title":{"rendered":"Polymer Clay Techniques | Is Conditioning Really that Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/2009-04\/17-conditioning-polymer-clay-2008-06-08-013.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Conditioning Polymer Clay\" hspace=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Hmmmm&#8230; Let Me See&#8230; YESSSSS!!!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">When you work with polymer clay, especially when making canes, it is very important that you first condition all of your clay to the same consistency. If one of your pieces is soft and mushy,<\/span><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> while another is hard and crumbly, you are going to run into a whole bunch of frustrating problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">There are so many things that can affect the condition of polymer clay at any given time&#8230; including:<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Brand (formulas vary widely)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Manufacturers Date (consistency can vary from batch to batch)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Color (pigments all behave differently)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Age (plasticizers leach out over time)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Temperature (cooler clay will always be firmer than warm clay)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> How the Clay Was Stored (cool, warm, dark, damp, dry)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Was Clay Wrapped In Plastic (&#8230;properly wrapped?)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Last Time the Clay was Worked (brand new vs used)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> Whether You Live On Top of Mountain or at Sea Level <em>(OK maybe this last point is a stretch&#8230; but hey, you never know!)<\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>Anywho&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/em> here are a few tips on conditioning polymer clay that may be helpful for you:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>1) <\/strong><\/span>You can tell if your clay is conditioned, when it comes out as a nice smooth sheet from your pasta machine. Little or no cracking along the edges. Note that some super firm brands like Fimo Classic and Kato Polyclay may still have a bit of cracking along the edges&#8230; but the main surface will be shiny, flexible and smooth. A rolled up ball of well conditioned clay should feel about the same as when you push your right thumb into the palm of your left hand. Firm but still with a bit of give.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>2) <\/strong><\/span>If your clay is quite firm, cut thin slices from your block and run them through your pasta machine one at a time to get started. If the clay remains crumbly after repeated passes, you may need to add a softener such as Fimo Mix Quick, Sculpey Diluent, mineral oil or baby oil.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>3) <\/strong><\/span>Food processors work great for doing the initial conditioning of really tough pieces of clay. Here&#8217;s a separate article on this topic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-tools-soften-clay\/106\/\">Polymer Clay Tools for Softening Clay Quickly <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>4) <\/strong><\/span>If the clay is very soft and sticky than there may be too much plasticizer in it. You can leach some of these plasticizers out by setting the clay on a piece of office paper or by using the technique described in this article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-pasta-machine-how-to-firm-up-soft-clay\/14\/\">Polymer Clay Pasta Machine &#8211; How To Firm Up Soft Clay<\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>5) <\/strong><\/span>Be careful not to trap air pockets in your clay while conditioning it. The bubbles can surface later during the baking process and ruin your piece. When using a pasta machine, the best way to avoid trapping air is to feed your clay into the rollers with the folded edge going in first. More on this in the following article: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/conditioning-polymer-clay\/90\/\">Conditioning Polymer Clay without Trapping Air Bubbles<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/cindy-sig.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Cindy Lietz Signature\" width=\"114\" height=\"99\" align=\"right\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutor.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Polymer Clay Tutor\" width=\"200\" height=\"26\" align=\"right\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hmmmm&#8230; Let Me See&#8230; YESSSSS!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,18],"tags":[386,2726,2671,2701],"class_list":["post-3707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-handling","category-tools","tag-bubbles","tag-conditioning-polymer-clay","tag-miniatures-foodies-sculpted-figures-dolls-fairies-trolls","tag-pasta-machines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707","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=3707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}