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Thread: First Polmer clay pen
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19th February 2012, 07:52 PM #1
First Polmer clay pen
My Wife has taken a liking to the polymer clay pens that get shown on the forums, so she is keen to have a go herself.
She has ordered some canes and bits and pieces, but until they arrive she bought some different colour clay blocks from a local retailer so she could experiment, some of the blocks may be too old as they seem harder than the others.
Anyway here is her first successful tube, the colours in the photos dont really show the true colour of the pen, it is blue and purple, the photos show it as mostly blue.
I have played with the pics in Picassa, but I cant seem to get the colours right, here they are anyway.
Click on the photos to enlarge.
Attachment 198808 Attachment 198809 Attachment 198810
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19th February 2012, 08:25 PM #2
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19th February 2012, 08:37 PM #3
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19th February 2012, 09:31 PM #4SENIOR MEMBER
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Different colours can have different stiffness, with warmer colours being softer than cooler colours. I only use Premo now as I found some of the cheaper "generic" Polymer Clays were very inconsistent in this respect. With enough conditioning though, they should be similarly workable. Might just need some mor elbow grease on those blues
Russell.Pen Affair Craft Supplies - Cheapest Pearl Ex & Pemo Polymer Clay in Australia
http://craftsupplies.penaffair.com
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20th February 2012, 07:46 AM #5
That might explain it then Russell, thanks for that.
I guess there will be a pretty big learning curve starting out with this stuff..
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.
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20th February 2012, 10:54 AM #6SENIOR MEMBER
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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.Pen Affair Craft Supplies - Cheapest Pearl Ex & Pemo Polymer Clay in Australia
http://craftsupplies.penaffair.com
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