Monday, November 26, 2007
Pet Polymer Clay Peeve
Anyone else been all set to make something and you crack open a nice new Premo or Fimo package and realise it's dry and crumbly and that you'll have to stop and spend time conditioning? It just happened to me again... fresh Fimo "Soft"- purchased on sale at Michael's last week. Right now it's in a baggie saturated in Sculpey Clay softener- (actually I'm sitting on it to get it softened up asap. )I once had an old food processor for this issue but it burned out. My main clay supplier actually sends free bottles of clay softener with each order... I think that's thoughtful but it really isn't the answer for people who are working with clay professionally who lose time doing a job that shouldn't be required in the first place. I wish the manafacturers would consider this issue. I don't think I'm the only one who gets frustrated with having to stop in the middle of a project....
Don't tell anyone and don't laugh, when i find out i need clay and it's too dry and crumbly, i put it in my *bra* for about an hour :) after that it's hot and soft!
ReplyDeleteLOL Iris--I never thought of that! I'll have to try it sometime.
ReplyDeleteBut, I agree with Gera, it's a terrific pain in the hands when you come across hard, crumbly clay. I do wish there was some way to know before buying--the 'squeeze test' doesn't always work.
My peeve too...but you know that. Just got a nice batch of premo white ..finally ! It's been crap for awhile now.I just wish it were that good all the time...sigh.Free softener is fine ,but its so costly for those of us that use a lot of clay.One can hope they'll get their crap together soon.
ReplyDeleteHey Iris- I think I'll use your technique.... the ziplock bag broke when I was sitting on it and I ended up with squishy black clay on the rear of my jeans. Grrrrr.
ReplyDeleteThis never happens to me as I don't use either of those clays, I actually find them too soft and mushy. I use Kato Polyclay exclusively and it *always* needs to be to be coditioned. I simply condition the whole batch before I start; it helps me "get in the groove."
ReplyDelete