Polymer clay beginnings

After reading up about my new obsession of doll’s houses, I found out about polymer clay. I was so amazed at the things that people had done with it, I decided to go out and get some to try a few things out. This post has pictures of the things I managed to do at first following tutorials here and there. I really can’t stress how amazing the stuff is. I love working with it!

The most valuable thing I learnt from trying these out was that you have to let the clay cool a little every now and again. Especially when working with very small parts. It’s very tempting to carry on until the thing is finished but from the heat of your hands the clay becomes hard to manage after a while. I also tried leeching the clay a little and it really helped a lot when I was working with the little fiddly bits. I think next time I won’t go for FIMO Soft, and try the Classic instead.

I also tried a variety of cutting mats. I had a few left over from previous crafts and I invested in one too. For me they were all hard to work on and everything kept sticking to them. Yesterday I went to the local tile ship and got a plain white glossed ceramic tile and it’s perfect. Nothing sticks and the surface is lovely to work the clay on. I’d recommend it to anyone. It also has the added bonus of being able to go in the oven with the clay so you don’t have to fiddle about with the things trying to move them onto a tray or anything.

I also realised that a lot of things that are just lying around the house can be used a tools for working with the clay. I bought very few tools so far and I think i am managing ok. The main things I’ve been using are toothpicks, caps from old medicine bottles, paper clips, straw end, chopsticks, knitting needles, empty wine bottle and sewing needles. Although I would like to invest in a pasta roller machine, simply because I can’t roll things out even with the empty wine bottle.

Fianlly, I learnt that your hands can never be too clean! (See yellow pot for evidence.) The clay is wonderful but it picks up every teeny tiny particle on your hands and after a while it makes a big difference. After reading online about this for a while, I now have a packet of baby wipes with me at all times and this helps a lot. Whatever method you use to clean your hands, I’d only recommend air-drying your hands.

So here are a few pictures of my first creations. More to come soon!