For a while I’ve been noticing a lot of poor information out there on how to bake your polymer clay. Now there are lots of different ways of doing it, some people bake in a bed of baking soda or cornstarch, some people use a dedicated toaster oven, some even line dedicated ovens with baking stones so that they have even heat.

Controlling the temperature that you bake your clay at is very, very important, but there’s another aspect to this that is just as important. And that’s the issue of how much time you bake your clay.

Now it is true that if you put a piece of clay in the oven for 10 minutes it will be hard to the touch after that time. But I’m going to show you today why that is absolutely not long enough.

Actually, as long as the temperature does not go higher than the manufacturer recommends you can bake your clay for as long as you want and it won’t harm it. Some lighter colors may darken over time, so you’ll need to watch that.

Update:

***This tutorial is now available as a downloadable PDF at my Etsy shop: Fairy Garden Swing***

I put one of my recent projects, the fairy swing that was published in the latest Polymer Café magazine, in the oven late at night and went to bed forgetting all about it. At 2:30 in the morning, five hours after putting it in, I woke up and remembered to take it out.

It was perfectly fine, it’s likely the strongest piece I’ve ever made!

Tools and Materials:

• Disposable aluminum roasting pans
• Wooden clothes pins
• Polyester batting
• Index cards
• Tissues
• Paper towels/toilet paper rolls
• Oven thermometer

Enjoy the video and happy creating!

Watch the Friday Findings-Baking Polymer Clay video at YouTube.

Like my tutorials? Support me on Patreon for weekly peeks into my creative process and a bonus video every month!