{"id":10266,"date":"2016-09-30T15:59:42","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T19:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/keepsakecrafts.net\/blog\/?p=10266"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:59:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T19:59:42","slug":"friday-findings-leaching-polymer-clay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keepsakecrafts.net\/blog\/2016\/09\/30\/friday-findings-leaching-polymer-clay\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Findings-How to Deal With Soft Polymer Clay"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One of my strongest held beliefs about craftsmanship is that whatever medium you choose to work in order to get really good at what you do you have to have an excellent understanding of the material.<\/p>\n

Whether you work in fabric, wood, glass, ceramic, paper, metal, or even polymer clay, knowing what your material can and cannot do, knowing and understanding its abilities and limitations only aids you in doing your best possible work.<\/p>\n

Today’s Friday Findings video is about controlling the consistency of your polymer clay. There are some clays that are just naturally much softer than others. There are some that are so soft and sticky that it can be very difficult to get them to hold any detail at all. It really depends on what it is you want to do. But there are times when you want your clay to be more firm than it is coming out of the package.<\/p>\n

In today’s video I\u00a0show you how to leach your clay so that it’s firmer and easier to work with. It’s a simple process and it’s good to understand just what is going on.<\/p>\n

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In fact, I recently came across this tutorial from Polyform<\/a> which requires you to leach your clay in order to make it crumbly so that you get the desired effect of lichen on tree bark.<\/p>\n

You’ll find that knowing how and when to control the consistency of your clay will be very helpful in making the kinds of pieces you envision.<\/p>\n

Tools & Materials:<\/h3>\n