Polymer clay is a synthetic material sometimes referred to by the brand names Sculpey or Fimo. It's available in a huge range of colors and bakes to hardness at less than 300° F. It's a relatively new art material, but some of the techniques used have been borrowed from other media and are centuries old. Other techniques have been developed specifically for this polymer clay.
I generally don't use any colors straight out of the package, except black, white, and translucent. I prefer to mix my own colors either according to color recipes I've accumulated over the years, or sometimes with wild and reckless abandon. I have mixed and saved samples of hundreds of color combinations.
There are really only a few must-have tools for working with polymer clay (although it's my personal belief that one can never have too many tools). You must have something to roll the polymer clay, something to cut it with, something to bake it in, and of course, your hands.
Many polymer clay users (myself included) rely on a pasta machine to roll the material into thin sheets. A printer's brayer or lucite rod will work too. For cutting, sharp blades such as wallpaper scraper blades, tissue blades, and craft knives are most often used. Other tools include cookie or canape cutters, linoleum block cutters, clay extruders, and nearly anything that works for a sculpting-nudging-coaxing tool.
To me, texture is in its own subcategory of tools. Texture can be added subtly or boldly. The texture can be enhanced with metallic mica powders or paints. Some of my favorite textures include sandpaper, textured leather, window screen, lace, plastic canvas, textured paper, sponges, and more. I've also accumulated quite a texture collection through swaps with other polymer clay users.
I use scrap polymer clay to make my own texture plates and stamps as well, and I've developed a technique for adding raised texture to surfaces to create a relief effect. Much of my work features texture highlighted with acrylic paints.
On the other hand, there are times I want a piece to have a smooth and shiny surface. I wet sand the baked polymer starting with 400 grit sandpaper and working up to 1000 grit, and then I buff it on either a soft cloth or a cotton buffing wheel. I don't generally use a varnish unless it's necessary to protect something on a piece.
Tools are extremely personal, and everyone's toolbox(es) will include items that are favorites for various tasks.
Here are a few of the most familiar techniques used with polymer clay.
Caneworking is an ancient glassworking technique, perfected by glassworkers in Venice hundreds of years ago, and still used today. Thin rods of colored glass are bundled together so that an image is discernible on the end of the bundle. The bundle of glass rods is then heated so the rods fuse together. While it's still very hot, the glassworker holds one end, the assistant holds the other, and they walk apart. This elongates the glass cane but leaves the image intact.
When it has cooled, the cane is broken into short lengths to be sold to glass bead makers. The bead maker chips off tiny pieces of the cane and applies them to a molten piece of glass on the end of their glassworking rod. Shown in the picture are antique glass beads with various caneworked patterns.
Caneworking with polymer clay is a considerably easier task, and it's probably the most familiar surface design applied to polymer clay. Tubes, rods, and sheets of different colors of polymer clay can be arranged into a cane in such a way that an image runs through its length.
The cane can be reduced in diameter by careful rolling and stretching, resulting in a smaller version of the same image.
The image is revealed when the cane is sliced. Depending on its size, a cane may yield dozens or hundreds of slices. Thick slices of a cane can become beads; thin slices can be rolled onto another piece of polymer clay.
Mokume gane ("moe-KOO-may GAH-nay") is a Japanese metalworking technique. In metalworking, thin sheets of different colored metals (silver, copper, gold) are stacked and fed through a roller until they are firmly pressed together into a billet. In one variation, indentations are hammered into one side of this billet, which is then turned over and the resulting bumps are filed down to reveal ring-shaped patterns of the various metals.
This technique can also be applied to polymer clay (of course). Thin sheets of polymer clay are layered, sometimes with ultra-thin sheets of metal leaf, and stacked into a block. In one version, indentations are created on one side of the stack, and the layers become visible when thin slices are removed from the top of the stack.
The patterns created are very random and organic looking. The pieces sliced from the stack are used by applying them onto a background piece of polymer.
There are so many imitative techniques possible with polymer clay that someone could write a book about them, haha! The development of most imitative techniques is generally credited to Victoria Hughes.
For imitation wood, thin prebaked pieces of polymer clay can be inlaid into a light-colored polymer clay base. The base piece is then embossed with various objects to make indentations, nicks, and scratches. After baking, acrylic paint is applied, then immediately wiped off, to enhance the designs.
Jade is simulated with a mixture of several shades of green and translucent polymer clay, into which a little embossing powder is incorporated. After baking, I carve images into the faux jade with a V-shaped gouge.
Then I rub in some acrylic paint to enhance the design. Thorough sanding and buffing removes excess paint and creates a realistic shine.
Careful color choices and incorporation of various inclusions make it possible to replicate many natural materials.
Polymer clay is a fascinating and versatile medium. It's truly in its infancy - consider how long earthen clay, fiber, dyes, and other craft materials have been around; fifty or sixty years is a mere blip. Who knows what we'll figure out to do with it tomorrow?
Stay tuned.