Polymer Clay glaze comparison

;The glazes I'll be covering in this review are varathane gloss, sculpey glaze, Modge podge, and clear nail polish. Now I know (for some of you more professional crafters) there are a couple other options for glaze which I did not metion. This is because I have very certain standards of which i do not post informational reviews that are not based on fist hand experience. So then, I will only be posting techniques I've tried, and with dedicated research I can state that what I recommend is very popular in the clay community and can be backed up by many other artists.

I've decided to start from the worst and build my way up to the best. So here goes nothing; #1 Modge podge. The best way to review Modge podge is to tell you my whole experience with it, beginning to end. I first tried using Modge podge as a glaze when i had run out of my normal glaze at the time. A friend had made a clay project while visiting and she asked me to glaze it for her. I, clueless complied, only to find I had none. I had read somewhere that Modge podge (a glossy crafting liquid glue) makes a good polymer clay glaze. Testing out the theory, I brushed the glue onto my friends project. I was very worried about all the bubble that appeared on the piece, but I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The next day I found the project; bubbles still ominously protruding. I was very unhappy with the results. Along with bubbles, streak lines from the paint brush boldly stood out, along with cloudy white lines where the glaze was laid on ever so thicker. Modge podge was a desperate test and an absolute failure. Unless you're looking for a "streaked with bubble look", I highly do not recommend using this product for a polymer clay glaze, despite its many other wonderful uses!

Thankfully my friend was not bothered by how her project turned out and only thanked me for introducing her to polymer clay.

Next on the list is clear nail polish. Now thankfully for your sake, I don't not have quite as a lengthy story for this product as I do for Modge podge. What I will state though is the surprising minority of its users. Defidently not the most popular by far, the clear nail polish glazers defidently hold their own, but much more in the "kawaii charm making community" ( a style of polymer clay sculpting, though not nearly as technical as most). Clear nail polish'a convenience can be very appealing to many. Its cheap, you can probably find it around the house, and logically looks like it will do the job. In some ways it does, most it doesn't. Because of the small size of the nail polish brush, glazing can become an extreamly time consuming project (As it it is with any sort of brush glaze technique- which I will further explain in another post). Along with that, nail polish goes bad or dries out easily and quickly, resulting in an undrying, thick, goopy mess. Even if the polish is in sublime condition, you will find your projects feeling rather tacky, even after a day of curing. From some research I did, (which I can't prove is 100% true) I learned that most nail polishes contain chemicals which break down polymer clay. If tacky clay creations weren't enough for you, you probably don't won't want to hear about heats effect on nail polish. Maybe you've noticed ( if you wear nail polish) that on a hot summer day, you're nail polish might start to feel a little sticky, and if you touch your nails, you leave little finger print marks. The same goes for nail polish glazed clay projects. This can be really bad if you're making jewelry you plan to wear out in the summer. Either way, nail polish glaze has just too many repercucusions, though not always apparent at first. I would defidently recomend using this stuff for manis, and not for clay glaze.

Sculpey gloss glaze was my first introduction into clay glazing, and before I start, I'll let you know that this glaze also has its fair share of ups and downs. Discredited by many in the "clay community", the positives of sculpey gloss glaze are defidently overlooked. This glaze for one, is quite strong, looks fairly nice (depending on how well you apply it), and provides a good amount for those wanting to test its capabilities for themselves. An asked for birthday present, sculpey glaze originally became my go to gloss. Creating an extra glossy coat of protection on all my old creations, fulfilling a rather "finnished" look, I took to using this product at an alarming rate, soon using up the small overpriced bottle in which it came. After finnishing the bottle I went on to try more glazes, and sculpey's gloss glaze quality became prevalent. For one, this glaze (thick as it is) has to be applied with brush. As I mentioned Earliar, this is a time consuming process, not suited for mass producers as I am. Also, when the glaze is not applied evenly, cloudy areas will appear. Later on, when I had had the glaze for a while, bubbles started to form, especially in hard to get places or cracks. I would also recomend to be wary when making jewelry with scupey glaze covered creations. Sharp wires and eye screws can crack the glaze and ruin the look of the piece. 

Overall this isn't too bad of a brand, compared to that of the previous options. I really just depends on what you plan to make, how much you're making, and how you plan to use it.

Defidently the most fantastic of all glazes (which many can back up) is varathane polyurethane crystal clear gloss. Super shiny, thin, durable , and easy to use, I label this product as number one! Creations can be easilly dipped in this glaze (faster and effortless), looks super even, and dries within roughly an hour or two. I use this stuff on everything now. The only draw back really is the cost. 15 dollars on amazing for roughly two cups of this stuff!!! Don't even let me get into the gallon sizes! I've seen this product prices at 9 dollars in Canada, but that's nowhere local for me. So if you're at the stage where you've become a one man clay factory or a very serious artist, I would very much recomend this to you. They don't label this stuff crystal clear for nothing (which is better than most urathanes can say for themselves)! Now if you're only starting out with polymer clay in an art form where you need glaze, just go ahead and get sculpey's, just to get the hang of glazing and to see if you like the results in small quantities.

I really hope this review was useful. If you agree or disagree with any of my opinions, feel free to share below! If you have any questions about any of the glazing techniques I've presented, just comment and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!

Pearlescent Clay

A beautiful accent to all your sculpted projects can be accomplished with pearlescence. It adds lightness, shimmer, and a hint of glitz, depending on how you use it. I use it for making shimmery, satin like clothing for human sculptures and lifelike shimmering flowers. Pearl is great for delicate feminine projects as well as interesting cabochons. Now, there's a few methods at which you can accomplish this look.

Pearl clay is great for big projects. It comes in lots of Colors and plenty of brands carry it (Fimo, Sculpey III, Premo!) Its extremely shimmery. It is also great for accents on regular clay projects and easy to control.

Pearl Powers are also wonderful products! They come in ton s of colors and are created by a couple brands. Pearl Ex is my personal favorite. Pearl Ex comes in a fairly big container and the company carries TONS of colors! If this brand isn't for you, or you're looking for a smaller container,  I've seen combo packs at Hobby Lobby. Each combo pack contains about 4 coordinating pearl pigments and 3 glitters, all in small interlocking circle canisters. Either way you can't go wrong. You can dip small projects in pearl powder or you can easily brush it on. There's tons of techniques you can use with this product, each giving a completely unique look to your project. My advice? Experiment.

 

Along with pearl power, shimmery eye shadow or makeup can be used with great effect. Either break up the makeup or brush from the cake directly. It's cheap, convienient, and looks good on the clay as well as your face! This can be used with pretty much the same techniques as pearl powder. The brand I've tried is Lip Smacker's Dazzle Dust, but don't be afraid to try out different shades of dazzling eye shadow. It comes in a small compact and comes in two colors: pale pink and white. 

Despite the colors, this stuff is fairly transparent and works good on any color clay, the same being said for pearl ex (White). If you don't want to buy all the colors (Trust me, it's gets expensive), just get white. It doesn't actually show up stark white, so it looks good on everything, letting most of the clay's color to show through. 

Another great technique to use with shimmer makeup or pearl powder is directly mixing it into the clay. The pearl effect does become much more subtle, but it creates the look of actually pearl clay.

How To Get Started In the Polymer Clay Art Form

Maybe you have never heard of polymer clay and just happened to stumble upon my blog. Or maybe you've been researching what polymer clay is and want to learn more. Maybe you've wanted to try out polymer clay, but don't know where to start. In this post I want to introduce the polymer clay art form to anyone who fits in one these categories.

Polymer clay is a super fun art form. Different from a normal grey, heavy, sculpting clay, polymer clay is colorful, firm, and doesn't need water. It's super easy to use and super fun. There's so much you can do with it! You can also simply cook it in the oven! No high heat kiln required! User friendly and fairly priced, polymer clay is a wonderful craft worth your time. Now the only question is where to start?

Unless you're only buying clay for a certain project, I would recommend at the least buying the following colors to start:

Primary Colors: Blue, Red, and yellow.

These colors are the base of almost all colors. On a cost efficient scale, these clays can be mixed together to form your own coustom desired color. If you're looking for a more definite color, go a head and buy it, but at the least, you should purchase these base ones. It would be smart next to purchase the base colors of the rainbow

Black and white

After the primary colors, black and white are the most important. These can be mixed with the     other colors to either lighten them or darken them which is a high necessity.


After clay comes tools. Basic tool sets can be purchased easily and cheaply online. Much more cost effective than from a craft store. Wax carving tools work as well as are nail dotting tools helpful. Along with basic tools, you will need an exacto knife, or something similar. This will be extremely helpful for cutting definite pieces out for your creations. Also, make sure to look around your house for helpful tools. Tinfoil, sandpaper, cloth and many other things are useful for adding texture to a creation. Straws, toothpicks, and old knives can also be useful. Warning: if you plan on using a tool associated with food for your clay, be certain never to use it for food again, as the tool will become contaminated by the clay.

Finally with basic polymer clay crafting, you will need something to cut on, and something to bake in. To cut on, tiles, thick plastic sheets, and cutting boards work well! Just make sure they are smooth! To bake on, stone tiles, aluminum foil, baking pans, and cookie sheets work well. Just make sure not to use pans for food, after using with clay because the clay will contaminate the pan. For baking, any oven or craft oven will do. Set oven for 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave in 20 minutes for every 1/4 inch of thickness your clay project is. If you have trouble figuring out what to make, many easy craft tutorials are available online and on youtube for free using basic clays and tools.

Clay softener

Clay Softener?

Clay softener is essentially what it looks to be: a clay or liquid that when mixed with another clay makes it softer. I have found a loophole around these cosiderably expensive products. Yep! Baby oil. Its super cheap and works just as well as any brandname product. You simply mix the two products together until you have the consistency you want, and viola! Softened clay! And with a lot of oil, one may mix the clay into a lovely faux frosting or sauce, replacing also expensive liquid clay. Warning: Using a lot of oil (For frosting) sometimes tends make the clay a little stringy after it has set for a couple days, so if you want best results, use the (very) softened clay the day you mix it! If you want to use the mixture over a duration of time, make the "sauce" in a container with a lid and place one extra drop of oil on the mix before sealing and storing. It will look a little "separated"when you use it next, but after you mix it back up, it should be fine.

Along with baby oil, scented oils work well. I have used scented candle oil and scented soap oil, also relativity inexpensive in comparison ($2.5 at Hobby Lobby) to clay softener (and not to mention completely awesome and delicious!). Both work well and give a fun dimension to any project. Note: You don't need a lot of oil so I highly recommend purchasing a travel size bottle ( $1 at Target and Meijer). Also: I want to warn you about a strange occurrence I had. While mixing Candle oil and clay in a small plastic container, I noticed after a few days the the very thin plastic part started the become "bendy" and pliable. I recommend using a plastic container at least 1/10 inches thick or another durable type of canister. I often use old plastic contact cases for mixing faux sauces and frostings for miniature food. They're perfect for storing and are just the right size for most of my projects.  Enjoy your Thrifty Crafting!

Premo Review

Clay #3. Sculpey Premo

Different from Sculpey III, Premo is a much firmer and tougher clay. I really enjoy this clay as it takes up a majority of my clay stock. I love this clay mostly because of its being harder than another clay I enjoy, Sculpey III. It is different to work with and is better for a lot of sculpting methods if you don't mind successive kneading to get it to a pliable consistency. Also, this clay is quite a bit stronger than others and wont break as easily. When I first tried out this clay, I really was in a bind because when I made rather thin projects from other clay, they easily cracked or broke under pressure. This clay stood up to the challenge much better, especially with a good glazing for extra protection. I highly recomend this clay to anyone, beginner or expert! It's simply fantastic. Retail price starts at about $1.50

Photo Credit: http://www.stuff4cakes.ie/images/premo-orange_61352.jpg

Translucent Liquid Clay Comparison

I've very much enjoyed the benefits of liquid clay. It's great used as a sort of glue. It hold eye pins in the clay very well if you dab some on were the clay and metal meet. It also works well to just bond two pieces of clay together. On more delicate projects, it can be hard to keep pieces together without messing up the project or it falling apart. If you place translucent liquid clay between the pieces, they stay hard and stuck together after baking. Also, if your into miniature food making or looking for a liquid like effect in your projects, you can mix liquid clay with chalk pastel power or a small piece of clay to color it. This is useful for sauces and glaze on small foods. On that note, added to a larger amount of clay, the two can be mixed together into faux frosting. Below I will introduce you to my favorite liquid clays. Both these brands are very useful in their own cases, so I cannot pick a favorite.

Translucent Liquid Sculpey (also commonly known as TLS) is a great tool in clay sculpting. This brand comes in a small bottle, about 5", and the liquid clay itself appears thick and white before baking. After baking, in a thin layer, the baked liquid clay appears almost totally clear, though usually produces a matte Finnish.  In thicker proportions, or contained, it appears very white. This is great for miniature food. It makes a great fake sauce when mixed with pastels (mix with pastels to get a more transparent look, mix with a small amount of clay for a more opaque look), and also works well in making faux frosting. This product, due to its viscosity is easy to control and won't run off very easily in controlled projects. This was my first brand of liquid clay to ever try, and I very much love it! Even after exposing myself to different brands, I very much still use TLS, as do most people, being over all the most popular brand of Translucent Liquid clay, due also to it's being inexpensive compared to it's competitors and it's great quality. I highly recommend not to buy this product online, but at a store. The pricing is significantly different.
Liquid PolyClay created by Kato Clay is slightly different compared to TLS. The bottle which it comes in is slightly shorter than that of TLS, but wider. The Liquid Clay itself has a much lower viscosity (Not very thick), though annoyingly comes out of its bottle extreamly slow. It still holds a white color in an un-cooked form but it is not so stark as that of TLS. This is a very good Liquid clay. It's absence of thickness makes it good for sauces, but beware! It runs off projects if not in a stable state. I just had this happen and it was quite distressing :( . I find in fact it cooks clearer than TLS as its viscosity can be very useful. Also nice about this brand is that after baking, it has a shiny finish.

I hope this post was helpful in your search for liquid clay. If you have any questions regarding translucent liquid clay or any other polymer clay related question, comment below and I will answer to the best of my abilities. 

jn

Bake Shop Review

Clay #2. Bake Shop

Now introducing one of my least favorite types of polymer clay. Made by Sculpey and inexpensive compared to other types I thought I'd try it out. I was walking down the walmart craft isle,  just burning time, when I noticed they sold clay! It wasn't my usual sculpey III or any of the other polular brands, it was Bake Shop, selling only for $0.99! I thought I'd give it a go. I picked up two white blocks and a skin tone, being low on both colors at home, and the store's color selection was very minimal. I was surprised when I opened the package, slightly different than the newest packing rendition, shown in the picture above. The clay almost felt as if it were covered in a very thin layer of moisture. I easily squeezed (notice that verb) a piece off. It stuck to my hands in some places and it was certainly the softest clay I'd ever worked with! After kneading it (which didn't take long), It became extremely soft and very hard to work with, almost like playdough. Fingerprints showed up very clearly on projects I tried to make with it. I've tried working with it in various ways, but the clay has few purposes. I've found the best use of it is in making faux frosting for miniatures and fake food. Because of it's extremely soft texture, it easily breaks down and mixes into fake frosting. I did find, due to my buying of the color white and using it to lighten other colors, that when mixed with a different type of clay, it softens it tremendously. Over all I wouldn't recommend this clay, except for frosting making. Have any recommendations or options about this product? Comment below.

Photo Credit: http://raw.rawmaterialsarts.netdna-cdn.com/catimg/syba1802_x.jpg