Tips for Improving your Polymer sculpting experience. : eBay Guides

I have been sculpting with Super sculpy clay for many years.  When I started sculpting One of a kind baby dolls I encountered new issues with polymer clay which I have discovered many other artists have also encountered.  These issues include "moonies" that show up after the clay has been formed, stress cracks, returning the clay to its original coloring after sanding, white streaks in the clay, and that awful lint and dirt that gets on the clay while your sculpting.

The moonies are light colored crescents that show up in a polymer work after it has been baked.  It can be the result of several things. 

According the the makers of super sculpy clay it is the result of too much moisture in the clay. 

1. One way to tackle this problem is if you find the clay to be too soft or too moist you can roll it out into 1/4" sheets and lay it between plain white copy paper. Let it sit between the paper for 30 min or longer  (you will see the oil/moisture stains show up on the paper).  This will draw the extra moisture out and reduce the moonies that show up, but won't prevent them altogether. 
2. The next cause is overworking the clay.  Too much folding and kneading the clay will result in moonies.  You want your clay to be soft enough to work with but remember too that the process of shaping it, along with the warmth of your hands will soften the clay as well.  If you have been working and reworking the clay, sometimes the best thing to do is put that clay aside and start with a fresh piece of clay.  You can use the piece you set down at a later time, it seems just sitting for awhile and firming up helps an overworked piece of clay to not result in a lot of moonies after baking.
3. Finally moonies and white streaks in the clay can be the result of trapped air pockets.  If you see a moonie or white streak before baking the clay, press gently on that area...if it is less firm than the clay around it, it is likely a trapped air pocket.  The only way to resolve this is to gently press/rub the clay in this area until you get down to the air pocket and release the air....to avoid trapping more air when you build up this depressed area is to make sure NOT to fold the clay over itself to fill the depressed area (hole).  The best way is topress the clay aside as you go down then gently press that same clay that has been pushed up, back down....then once the surface is even with itself, blend the edges together.

Cracks are another problem many sculptor's encounter.  There are a lot of causes for cracks. 

1. Know that when polymer clay bakes it soften's and then hardens back up while it cools.  The combination of it softening while baking and gravity can cause stress on the clay.  Provide support for your worked piece.  A soft white cloth laid in the bottom of your pan (with no part of it hanging off the side and actually touching the oven) and then placing your piece on top of this cloth can help. 
2. Fold or create rolls in the cloth or use a paper towel, to support the neck of a head, a wrist, whatever.  Picture your piece softening, and where it is vulnerable to bend or crack when it softens.  Provide extra support in these places. 
3. My experience had been that a piece that is more than an inch thick is more vulnerable to cracks.  Create an armature (or skelton) to build the clay around.  Aluminum foil, wrapped with white floral tape or taped over with with brown masking paper tape is a good armature or skeliton medium.  The brown masking paper tape and white floral tape (what florists use to wrap the stems of satin flowers and available in most craft stores) helps to hide the aluminum foil from showing through the clay and prevents black stuff getting into your clay from the aluminum.  For a head, create a foil armature, wrap it with the white floral tape, and if you choose, then put a thin layer of clay over this and then bake it, you will now have an armature that is easier to work with and will also help reduce cracks. When you go to add clay to the now baked surface put a very thin coat of liquid sculpy or similiar product of the polymer clay you are using, doing this will help the baked clay adhere to the unbaked clay. 
4. Some artists use styrofoam for their armature/skelton.  Styrofoam does work but know that it can shrink in the baking process which can result in cracks, if you do use styrofoam get the dense styrofoam that is solid white, not the styrofoam used most often for silk flowers.  Be sure to cover the syrofoam with aluminum foil too; this way if the styrofoam shrinks the aluminum foil is in place to prevent the clay from being pulled in by the shrinking styrofoam.When you have something like a doll head that your baking I have found for mine that if I set them up on their necks (upright) on a towel, or bunch of polyfiber (so it does not stick to the pan) it reduces cracks and stress to the clay.  Don't use too much polyfiber though because the area around the polyfiber does not get as hot as the rest of the clay surface and this can result in an undercooked area on your sculpt.
5. The polymer clay company suggest that for large pieces of work to build it in layers, sculpt a layer, bake it, then build on that layer and bake again until it's the size you want.  This works as well.  Be sure if you work in layers that you plan to cover the entire piece each time.  If you add clay to parts of your piece you risk the clay not baking to the same degree as the clay below it and it could leave a defining line between the layer below and the new clay added.  REMEMBER to put that thin coat of liquid sculpy (or similiar product per the polymer clay your are using) onto the baked clay to help the unbaked clay adhere properly.
6. Lastly, when you take your piece out of the oven allow it to cool slowly.  Cover it with a towel or potholder so it cools slowly (for pieces smaller than 10").  If you have a large sculpted piece (such as limbs or head for a lifesize sculpt) it is better to turn the oven off, open and close the door 1 or 2  times, LEAVE your piece IN the oven, close the oven door and let the piece completely cool in the oven before taking it out.  *Remember, although your piece is soft when it comes out of the oven it is not malleable (moldable), try not to do anything to it at this stage as it will break or crack VERY easily. Mini babies up to 10 should not be left in the oven to cool as the mini babies are more likely to overbake when left in a turned off oven.

Polymer clay can be sanded after baked and cool.  Try to use the finer sand papers. The rougher sand paper tend to leave grooves in your work that are hard to get rid of.  I have found that the fine and very fine sand paper works the best.  Once sanded you piece will be whiter where you have sanded it.  Jack Johnston suggests using acetone (like nail polish remover) to return it to it's original coloring.  This does work.  I have found that baby oil also works very well.  You put it on and then gently wipe off all the excess with a towel.  Any baby oil works, generic works just as well as name brand.  You can also polish it back to it's original color with certain types of cloth such as soft jean material. Do the polish technique gently so you don't break your piece!

It's inevitable that while sculpting that your clay will get a bit dirty with the oils from your hand and the lint in the air. 

1. Be sure to clean your hands well!  The hand sanitizer (the alcohol wipes) you get that you can carry with you in your pocket works well to get the dirty oils off your hands.  frequent cleaning of your hands with hand sanitizer or alcohol (to reduce your natural skin oils on your hands) is best.
2. Always wipe down your work area.  I keep a tweezers and scraper close by to scrape off the extra lint or dirty areas.  You can sand off lint and dirt after baking but I have lost a couple of pieces where the dirt was too deep to sand off. 
3. Some sculptors have found that if they gently wipe their sculpt down with an alcohol dipped cloth or wipe that this will get the dirt off too.
4. Keep your work covered when your not working with it, saran wrap works well.  Try not to use wax paper as the wax can get on the clay and leave a discoloring that shows up after baking.

White streaks are another common problem with polymer clays!  Those white streaks you see in your clay (before and after baking) are the result of air pockets.  Also if you stretch your clay out without some kneading you will find white steaks AFTER baking.

1. Try to knead the clay a bit before forming or shaping it to prevent those awful white stretch lines in the clay after the baking or curing process. 
2. Be sure when you are kneading your clay that you don't fold it over itself a lot as this can create air pockets within the clay. 
3. While working with your clay, if you see white spots in the clay you can 'rub' the area until you get down to the air pocket, then push and rub the clay to get it back to where it was before you got rid of the air pocket.  It can be a tedious job to rub out those air pockets but it does ensure a better looking baked piece!
4. Do not put your clay in a food processor to "grind" it up and make it soft...this will trap so much air in the clay that the finished piece will be covered in white spots and moonies.  If your clay is really hard try wrapping a heating/heated pad around it to help soften it up (unless you have very warm hands...then just hold it in your hands a bit until it warms up.
5. The opposite can be true too...too warm clay...terrible to work with at this point.  You can place it in the freezer a few minutes to get it firmed up OR you can dip it into some clean ice water...this will firm it up too.
6. FINALLY...what if your sculpting a tiny piece that is too tiny to buy eyes for?? Roll out tiny balls that are about the size of the eyes for your piece, boil up a 1/4 cup of water in microwave or stove top...drop your rolled balls into this hot water...wait 30 seconds to a minute...carefully pour out the water (don't burn yourself!) and you will find that your tiny little balls of clay are now hard!  You can now place them into the face of your piece and thus be able to sculpt the eye area easily.  Once the entire piece has been baked you can now paint the eyes (those tiny balls you pre-made for the eyes).  You can use this same trick if you need 'cured'tiny balls or clay pieces so you can sculpt the area easily.

I hope this helps all you artists and sculptor's out there working with polymer clays.  You can visit my web site for pics of my past dolls AND doll related resources; Elizabethtownsley.com

Good luck!!

Elizabeth of byebyebabies

lizlvsdolls