![\"Polymer](\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/2008-10\/12-polymer-clay-texture-ideas-2007-11-23-011.jpg\")
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Six Unique Tips for Texturing Your Sculpey and Fimo Beads:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Today’s inspirational photo is of the frost covered grass in the field next to my home. What I love about this picture is its textural qualities. The fine and coarse lines of the aged yellowed grass<\/span> and the way the light hits the blades making the background dark and dramatic!<\/span><\/p>\n This Fall image got me to thinking about all kinds of techniques for adding texture to polymer clay surfaces. Here’s 6 of them…<\/span><\/p>\n 1)<\/strong><\/span> Press leaves, bark, stones or the seed heads of grasses into the surface of Fimo, Premo or Sculpey clay to give a natural texture to your clay. If you are concerned with the item sticking to your clay, spritz the clay with water or dust with cornstarch as a release agent.<\/span><\/p>\n 2)<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Try using lace. I have been able to create some very interesting textures on clay by pressing a piece of lace into the surface. Using an ink pad to color the lace before pressing it into the polymer clay makes for an interesting effect. The color goes deep into the grooves of the pattern. Or an alternative would be to antique the clay with paint after it has baked to make the features of the lace show up better.<\/span><\/p>\n 3)<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Sandpaper can give an interesting look that mimics stone and other rough surfaces like that of an orange peel. Try all the grits for different textures, even drywall mesh sandpaper for a totally different, geometric effect.<\/span><\/p>\n 4)<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Miscellaneous junk is fun to play around with too. Route around in your junk drawer for creative ideas on adding texture to polymer clay. Screws, safety pins, old tooth brushes, combs, onion mesh bags, scrunched up tinfoil, screwdriver tips, washers, buttons, chain, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n 5)<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Rock salt. You can make the coolest lava rock beads by pressing chunks of rock salt into some black, brown or terra cotta clay. After the beads are baked they are soaked in water to remove the salt. It kind of reminds me of the candles we made in the 70’s with the ice cubes in them.<\/span><\/p>\n 6)<\/strong><\/span><\/span> Sea shells. Seashells make great molds for polymer clay beads with wonderful textures and shapes. Just ask Heather Powers and Tina Holden! Here’s a couple of links where you can see examples of their beads: Making Polymer Clay Molds<\/a> and Scallop Shell Pendant Jewelry<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n What is the coolest thing you’ve ever pushed into clay to get a texture on it? I’d love to hear some of your ideas!<\/span> Six Unique Tips for Texturing Your Sculpey and Fimo Beads: Today’s inspirational photo is of the frost covered grass in the field next… 17<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,21,18],"tags":[2597,2602,2608,2688,1761,2596],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature-guests","category-techniques","category-tools","tag-faux-bone-shells-pearls","tag-faux-ceramics-pottery-glass-surfaces","tag-faux-textiles-fabrics-patterns","tag-natural-flowers-flora-inspiration","tag-releases-cornstarch-baking-soda-water","tag-wood-bark-cork"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","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=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Cindy](\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/cindy-sig.jpg\")
![\"Polymer](\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutor.jpg\")
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