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HowManyDragons β Help, My Clay is Too Soft! Polymer Clay Tutorial
#clay #fimo #leach #premo #sculpey #tutorial #polymerclay #softclay #claytutorial #polymerclaytutorial #premosculpey
Published: 2014-03-27 22:41:48 +0000 UTC; Views: 6453; Favourites: 156; Downloads: 14
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Description
Whee, my very first tutorial! It's a very simple subject, but hopefully one that clay artists will find useful. Overly soft clay is one of the banes of my existence - here's what I do to combat it.Here's an extra tip that I forgot to add in the tutorial proper: Inks and even pencil will transfer to polymer clay, so make sure you're using blank printer paper.... unless you want printed text all over your clay!
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Comments: 37
Glad to hear it! ;D
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Hi! This is helpfull 
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I've heard that mixing a little bit of liquid clay or baby oil into dry and crumbly clay can help bring it back to a workable consistency, but I usually just mix hard clay with too-soft clay to fix the consistency. I'm not sure if any of that would work if your clay has already started to cure from sitting out in the sun, though, since that's a chemical reaction that probably isn't reversible. Next time, make sure to store your clay in a cool, shaded spot. I used to keep my stash in an old shoebox, which worked great!
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I'll try those tips
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ok faving this because I keep sharing it with others and its getting to be too much work to seek it out when I need the link
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Haha, I do that with some of my favorite tutorials too!
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It really is such a useful Tutorial
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Finally, a way to solve that problem!
This is why most of my sculptures end up scrapped, because it was too soft.
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Soft clay is a huge problem for me! The black clay that I demoed in this tutorial is the worst - I used to leach it for an hour or so, but these days I'm leaving it overnight to get a decent consistency. Kind of puts a damper on things when I want to sculpt something RIGHT. NOW. xP
Anyway, I hope this helps you. It definitely helps me!
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Translucent clay and most of the Sculpey III clays I've used are always so wet! Β I have ruined many a dragon trying to use them as is... never again! Thank you for this, and HideyHoleInn for sharing!! <3
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Yeah, translucent clay can be really annoying to work with if the package is too soft. I hope this tutorial helps you! ^_^
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I've already used it twice today, worked wonders!!Β
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Exactly!
I have to let my clay sit in the freezer just so it'll stop being so soft.
I live in West Virginia, so the humidity doesn't help at all with the issue > _ >
I'm sure it will, thank you!
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You should go to your local craft store and buy some! It's pretty cheap, and you don't need a lot to get started.
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I wish I knew where one was and could go to get it. Don't really leave the house except for school.
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Really great pro tip! When I work with really soft clay, I've instinctively learned that if it's too soft I can roll it out and let it sit and "harden up" a little bit! Now I know what's really happening when I'd see all those rings under the clay! Thanks for giving me the explanation!
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My pleasure! Isn't it great to find out why things work they way they do?
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I'm glad you found it helpful!
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I am usually having the opposite problem, where my clay isn't soft enough. >_< But this will definitely come in handy. Thanks for the tutorial!
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My pleasure.
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Neat! I haven't done clay for awhile, but I remember it all felt either too hard or too soft! So it cracked when I shaped it or lost shape after I shaped it
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Both are problematic for sure! Hard clay doesn't bother me as much as soft clay - the latter gives me far more trouble.
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Thank you for this tip!Β 
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Hey, it's great to hear from you! I'm glad you found this tip useful.
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Glad to hear it!
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Wow! This is a problem i wish i had, my clay is always too dry and hard, and i always have cold hands so its hard to warm up
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Hehe, I used to have that problem. If you don't have a significant other with warm hands, I'd look into getting a pasta roller. I use that to condition tough old clay, and it works really well! My husband has complained that it's rendered him obsolete, since I used to ask him to knead clay for me but now I don't need to anymore.
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I'm having this problem right now! Now I can fix it! Thank you! Β
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You're welcome! This is a trick that I would have liked to know when starting out.
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I definitely appreciate the tutorial!
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This was very helpful.Β
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Sure, you're welcome! ^_^
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