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Originally Posted by Ironwood  I am a bit unsure if the blank was hard enough after baking, it could be marked fairly easily with your fingernail, but with the CA on top it seems OK.
This one was baked for 30 minutes at 110C, might need a bit more maybe. |
I'm afraid it's never going to be a one-stop finish, just like a lot of woods. The nature of PC means it'll never go rock hard. FIMO is harder, but doesn't come in the range of colours that Premo does, and Premo is less likely to split. A CA or some other tough outer coating is going to be needed for a tough finish.
I have made my own PC pen without a finish though, and while it takes surface marks, it still remains acceptable after multiple uses. Good for an every day, throw away pen eventually, but not something you want to last a lifetime. Once coated though, they're as tough as any other pen.
As for the temperature and time, once again it varies with ever brand. Premo is 120 - 130 deg, and 30 mins for every CM of thickness. Given how thin our pens are, time is really a matter of experimentation, but beware doing it too long will wreck the clay by either burning it (DAMHIKT), or de-stabilising it so it crumbles. I also do mine in a purpose-use Pizza oven. My original toaster oven just fluctuated too much, but then the Pizza oven seems to vary from about 100-150 on the same setting as well, so there's a lot of trial an error there too.
Good luck. Let us know how your future experiments go.
Russell.
First Polmer clay pen 
