How to Use a Mold to Sculpt a Polymer Clay Baby

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Polymer clay is a blazon of modeling dirt that's made out of PVC. It'south pop with kids and adults alike, and it'due south fun to utilize for big and small projects. All you need to begin sculpting with polymer clay are some sculpting tools that you can find around your habitation and access to an oven. To go started, warm up the dirt in your hands and utilise your fingers and the tools to sculpt the clay into shape. Then broil your model in the oven and decorate information technology with acrylic paint.

1. 1

   Get out some polymer clay and a few bones tools. 1 of the best things about polymer clay is that it doesn't require expensive equipment to become started. Caput to a department or craft store and pick out some polymer clay and a few sculpting tools. Alternatively, choose a beginner sculpting gear up for a user-friendly way to become everything yous need.^[one]

   • To beginning, make sure you have a roller, clay blade, and a few sculpting tools, like those with assurance or condom tips at the end to create various shapes.
   • You can also apply items that y'all find around your home as sculpting tools. Look for annihilation that can be used to make interesting details on the clay. Popular choices include sewing needles, knitting needles, craft knives, dental tools, pens, pencils, and toothpicks.
   • Polymer clay comes in a variety of colors and consistencies. Choose business firm polymer clay if you desire to work with dirt that holds its shape improve. Alternatively, option soft polymer clay if you are after a type that is easier to shape and stretch.^[2]
   • Cover your work surface with a not-porous material like a plastic placemat to keep the oil in the clay from leaching into your table or desk.

2. 

   2

   Accept the clay out of the packaging and warm it up with your easily. Depending on how much clay you desire to use, either cut off a modest section to work with or use the whole cake. Press the clay in your fingers and massage information technology in your palms to begin warming it upwards. Curlicue the dirt into a brawl and don't be afraid to break it into smaller pieces that are easier to work with. Keep bending and rolling the clay until it feels soft plenty to mold.^[iii]

   • Aim for the clay to reach a stretchy, malleable consistency.

   Tip: If the clay is too firm and won't soften in your hands, simply identify information technology into a resealable plastic bag and keep the pocketbook in your pocket for approximately 30 minutes. Alternatively, run the plastic purse full of dirt under hot h2o for ii-3 minutes or until it feels soft.

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3. 

   iii

   Make each individual feature of your model separately so join them together. Use your fingers to interruption off smaller sections of clay and to shape them. Consummate each characteristic individually and so residue it on a flat surface while you lot piece of work on the next. Then, join the pieces together to brand your model.^[four]

   • For instance, if yous want to make a model of a head, shape the face up, eyes, eyebrows, ears, nose, and mouth separately kickoff. Then, put them all together by gently pressing the pieces of dirt into each other.
   • Retrieve that if you make a mistake, you tin simply remold the clay.

4. 

   4

   Use your hands to mold the clay. Beginning sculpting the dirt into whatever design you have in mind. Pull the clay to stretch it out and pinch it into shape with your fingers. You can fifty-fifty make basic clay sculptures, such as a "pinch pot," or pocket-size bowl, using simply your hands.

   • Gyre the dirt to create spherical shapes similar assurance and chaplet.^[5]
   • Put more pressure on 1 side of the ball while rolling the dirt in your hands to plow it into a cone shape.

5. 

   5

   Add together small details to your model with tools. Tools are great for creating small, intricate details that are too hard to make with your fingers. Try out a multifariousness of unlike tools to encounter the shapes that each tool can make. Become creative and use the tools past pressing, dragging, or rolling them into the clay. If you don't like the outcome, merely smooth the expanse out with your fingers and try a unlike way or tool.^[six]

   • Flatten the clay with a rolling pin or ruler. You can create apartment, sparse pieces or shapes with apartment sides like squares or rectangles.^[7]
   • Sewing needles are bully for making small indents, while knitting needles are ideal for larger impressions. Wire loop-shaped tools are peachy for creating circular patterns and craft knives are perfect for making intricate markings and lines.
   • If a tool sticks or doesn't glide easily, dip it into h2o starting time and and then try using it again.^[8]

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1. 

   one

   Smooth the surface of your model with mineral spirits. Information technology's easy for your model to become covered in fingerprints as you sculpt it. Pour mineral spirits into a bowl or a glass and get out a small, clean paintbrush. Dip the paintbrush into the bowl and then apply a thin coating of mineral spirits over any fingerprints you tin can run across on the polymer clay. Let the clay dry completely before baking information technology.^[nine]

   • Just apply very minor amounts of mineral spirits at a time.
   • The mineral spirits will brand the dirt soft enough so that you lot tin can use the paintbrush to further sculpt your model.
   • Always employ mineral spirits to shine and sculpt the clay last, as it will exist more difficult to work with afterward.^[10]

2. 2

   Preheat the oven to the required temperature before y'all bake the clay. Read the label on the packaging for the polymer clay advisedly to find the recommended temperature and oven setting for curing the clay. Always follow the recommended temperature setting for your particular polymer dirt, equally it can differ betwixt types and brands.^{[11] [12]}

   • Don't utilize a temperature that's lower or higher than the recommended, as the dirt won't cure properly.
   • While most polymer dirt needs to exist baked in the oven to cure, you tin can get specific types that are labeled as "air-dry" that don't need estrus to cure.

3. 3

   Identify your model into a covered, oven-rubber dish. Become either a ceramic, glass, or metal dish and identify your model in the center. Then identify the lid on the dish and make sure that it's fitted properly to protect your model from colour changes and browning due to the heat. Never bake polymer clay uncovered.^[13]

   • If your oven-safe dish doesn't have a roofing, simply cover it using aluminum foil.

   Tip: Put parchment paper in the bottom of the dish before setting your clay on top to foreclose information technology from sticking or transferring color to the dish.

4. four

   Bake your polymer clay model for the recommended corporeality of time. Check the instructions on the clay packaging carefully to decide how long your model needs to be baked. Generally, the thicker your polymer clay model is, the longer it volition take to cure. You may demand to measure your polymer clay to decide how long to go out information technology in the oven for.^{[14] [xv]}

   • For example, some types of polymer dirt specify that your model requires 10 minutes of baking time for every ¹⁄_iv  in (0.64 cm) of thickness.
   • When the fourth dimension is upward, advisedly remove the dish from the oven using pot holders and allow the clay to cool.

5. 5

   Pigment your cured model with acrylic pigment once information technology'south cool. Utilize a paintbrush to apply a base glaze of the most dominant color that you will be using. Let the base coat dry and then use a smaller paintbrush to add details to your model with other colors.^[xvi]

   • It's always recommended to paint polymer clay after it has cured rather than before.
   • If y'all make a mistake with the acrylic paint, simply wait for it to dry out and then paint over it.

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Add New Question

• Question

  Do I need a slip for this dirt? If so, how do I get in?

  

  You do not need a slip. You just take the clay out of the bundle, condition it in your hands, and sculpt.

• Question

  I want to exercise my sculpture in sections, blistering as I go and so standing. How would I do that?

  

  The clay should re-bake perfectly fine if yous bake at a slightly libation temperature (say, perchance 260 if the recommended is 275, as it is for most polymer dirt).

• Question

  I see sculptors brushing a liquid on their polymer clay work as they go. What is it?

  

  The liquid is probable isopropyl alcohol (likewise known as rubbing alcohol). This partially melts the clay and aids with smoothing its surface. It evaporates quickly and the clay will and then return to its original consistency.

• Question

  I desire to brand a large sculpture, 2' x 2' x iii'. Would polymer clay be too expensive? Could I apply polymer only for the outer layer?

  

  Polymer dirt would probable be too expensive for a solid sculpture that large (also, the baking time would be very long and likely crusade cracks on the exterior), but information technology would be suitable for the outer layer (4 to ten mm thick, depending on the intricacy of and accuracy of your inner layer). Acquit in mind that yous will demand to bake the sculpture in an oven, so you may adopt to make it from smaller sections and bake them separately.

• Question

  Practise I demand anything else to brand things with polymer clay besides my easily?

  

  You lot will most likely demand dirt tools to help create details on your project, only that's all.

• Question

  If I want to make a big sculpture, would polymer clay exist too expensive?

  

  It may not exist too expensive, just it wouldn't be the easiest option to use.

• Question

  How do I broil my sculpture if it has multiple parts without overbaking some parts and underbaking others?

  

  Yous tin put multiple plates in the oven and as the smaller parts gets finished, you can have their plates out of the oven, shut it once more and expect for the residuum to terminate.

• Question

  My clay has actually hardened. Would h2o or rubbing alcohol help with that?

  

  Alila Insana

  Community Answer

  Y'all could knead or warm the clay to soften it, or simply mix it with newer clay.

• Question

  I want to disfigure a fired ceramic pot by encasing it in polymer clay. Should I put it in the oven or do I need a higher temperature?

  

  Since the ceramic pot is already fired, the oven should be fine. Polymer clay baking temperatures are normally around 275ºF (check the instructions for your particular make), which most ovens can see. What I would worry about in this instance though, is the fact that the polymer (after baking) might not stick to the ceramic. A solution might be to bring some rough sandpaper to your pot.

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VideoRead Video Transcript

• One time y'all open a package of polymer clay, shop information technology wrapped in wax paper or in a plastic pocketbook to go on it lint and dust-free.^[17]

• Always keep uncured polymer clay in a cool, dark identify out of direct sunlight.

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• Don't store cured and uncured polymer clay together—the uncured clay tin crusade the cured clay to weaken.^[eighteen]

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Things You'll Need

• Polymer clay
• Sculpting tools
• Mineral spirits
• Small bowl
• Paintbrushes
• Oven-safe dish with chapeau
• Parchment paper
• Wax paper

About This Article

Article Summary X

You can sculpt polymer clay super hands using your easily and a few basic tools. While yous could use actual dirt sculpting tools, at that place are lots of things y'all probably have around the house that will piece of work too, similar pens, pencils, toothpicks, and knitting needles. Earlier you sculpt your clay, take it out of the packaging and rub it between your hands to warm it upward. And then, apply your hands to outset sculpting the clay into any shape yous'd similar. Sculpt the individual features of your design using separate pieces of clay, then press the pieces together. Utilise your tools to add any small details. To smooth out any fingerprints when you're finished, brush some mineral spirits onto the clay with a paintbrush and let it dry. Finally, bake your dirt per the instructions that came with it, and you're finished! To learn how to paint a polymer clay sculpture after baking it, keep reading!

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