What is polymer clay?
Polymer clay is a type of clay that has been developed to be pliable. It is also known as model magic, molding compound or oven-bake modeling clay.
Polymer clay consists mainly of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plasticisers and some fillers such as chalk, talc or even sand which are mixed together with pigments in different proportions.
Types
There are many different types of polymer clay and what they work best for is dependent on what you want to make. Polymer clay can be used for making jewellery, sculptures, and trinkets.
There are two main categories: soft and hard.
Soft clays are generally used for making items like beads or small figurines, while hard clays can be used as a sculpting material or as a type of metal casting.
In this blog post we will go over the two most common types of polymer clay so that you know what your options are!
Soft Polymer clay
Soft polymer clay makes an excellent choice for beginners. It is a great medium if you want to make small, detailed items like beads or jewellery pieces.
It can be rolled into thin sheets that are easy to cut with wire-cutters and it’s versatile enough that there isn’t one type of clay that works best for all projects.
This makes soft polymer clay the perfect choice for making handmade earrings.
The only downside is that it’s not very durable and can break easily if not rolled at the correct thickness.
Hard Polymer Clay
Hard polymer clay makes a great choice for creating sculptures and miniatures. It is a little harder to use but the results are really worth it.
With some practice, you can easily create beautiful pieces that have amazing detail and will last for many years.
It’s also more crumbly and less durable than soft clay so if your creation breaks after the oven baking process, you’ll need to rethink your design or choice of clay.
Coloured Polymer Clay
Polymer clay comes in such a vast variety of brands and colours it sometimes hard to choose.
If you’re looking for a unique shade, it’s easy to just mix up your own from existing clay, to make the exact colour you want.
Special/Embellished Polymer Clay
Polymer clay is also available in a wide variety of special finishes including:
- Pearlescent
- Metallic
- glitter
- Shimmer
- Glow in the dark
- Fluorescent
These different finished allow the maker to create a range of eye catching effects and add unique shine to individual pieces.
Translucent Polymer clay
If you’re looking for a type of polymer clay that allows what’s underneath to show through, try translucent clays! While they are still fairly soft, this medium works well if you want something with a bit more depth.
Translucent polymer clay is designed to give the maker flexibility in creating different effects and finishes to solid clay colours.
Creating faux gemstones and semiprecious stones such as turquoise is achievable with the use of translucent clay.
One of the most striking effects you can achieve with translucent polymer clay is what’s called overlay. This technique allows for a high level of detail as well as an ornate appearance to any piece or item that has been created using this material.
Overlay on polymer clay¹ works by applying contrasting colours and textures over one another, creating highly individualised pieces.
What clay do we use?
We choose to use a variety of both types in our pieces, allowing us to create ornate and more flat simple designs. The choice is completely up to you and your project needs.
For dangle and stamped style earrings we choose soft clay to allow for flexibility.
For miniature foods we choose hard clay that is more easily sculpted.
There you have it, exactly what we use.
Like what you’ve read in this blog post? Let us know!
Author
Article written by newcastle polymer clay earrings lover and designer:
Geraldine Robinson
Phone 0427 220 805
Email hello@flickahandmade.com.au