Working with Clay

Before you start to make whatever things you want, prepare the clay for best n beautiful results. For that you have to condition your clay of any brand.

So, let’s see what is conditioning…..

Before it can be used, polymer clay must be conditioned to soften it and to strengthen the finished product. You should condition clay until it is well pliable.

For the process,roll the clay into a log and fold it in half with no "crumbling" in the log, it should be fine. Or, if you are mixing two or more colors of clay, by the time the colors have merged, the clay should be thoroughly conditioned as well as a new color formed.

Some brands of polymer clay are hard than others. Similarly, older clay may require more conditioning than fresh clay. Working ability can also vary between batches of the same brand of clay. The polymer clays are fairly malleable right out of the package. It is still generally recommended that you condition these, but they will require less effort than very firm clay.

Conditioning softens the clay by kneading, scrunching, rolling, and folding it repeatedly. A pasta machine can help you for doing the work again and again. Another benefit of feeding through pasta machine are fast conditioning, easy blending of colors, easily gets skinner blend effect,and produce even thick sheet etc. Never place uncured clay in direct sunlight or any other heat exposure.

Some brands of clay-or old clay-or sometimes just unfortunate batches of a brand of clay that is usually soft-may be crumbly. Though you may be able to condition crumbly clay without additives, crumbles often mean that the clay needs more plasticizer. Soften crumbly or very hard clay with Clay Softener.Start with a very small bit of additive and continue to mix in small amount until the clay is workable. If you have translucent clay in a softer brand, you can also mix this into the firmer clay. Be aware, however, that if you add too much of translucent clay, it may not give you the desired color of your other clay.

If you accidentally add too much softener to the clay, or if the clay is softer than you like it right out of the package, you can remove some of the plasticizer by leaching it. Leach clay by placing it between sheets of blank paper.

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