![]() but at the end of the day I always come back to the same simple tools. There are a huge variety of tools on the market for clay and I have bought most of them…. If you add too much oil you can offset this by adding more dried out clay. An alternative is to use a tiny amount of baby oil. If your polymer clay is really hard and crumbly you can soften it using clay softener. Finally I roll a few of these into a ball or thick sausage shapes ready to be used. Then I twist the sausages together, squish those and roll again. My favourite technique is to break off small pieces and squish them with my fingers before rolling long sausage shapes. You can do this by hand or with a pasta machine. Basically this just means rolling and softening the clay to make sure it doesn’t have any cracks or air pockets stuck inside the block and makes it easier to sculpt with. It’s really really really important to condition the clay. You can use the other types but be sure to follow my top tips on suitable shapes for the best chance of making a reusable mold. ![]() The vacuum formed plastic mold will be rigid so being able to pull a sculpt out is ideal. For this project I will be using CosClay for it’s flexibility. You can pull it out without fear of it being destroyed. This not only makes the final sculpt pretty indestructible but it is really good for sculpting something you want to make a mould of. It has the texture, colour range and translucency of super sculpey but with a special bonus… it’s flexible when baked. I got to be a beta tester for CosClay last year and I have to say it’s impressive stuff. Not really the best choice for making a mold. It’s perfect for smaller decorative items like jewellery or for doing cane work. These are only sold in smaller amounts and work out more expensive than Sculpey but you can save time and money on painting the sculpture. If you want to make something translucent or a specific colour you might be better off choosing one of the many Fimo clays. It’s a good all rounder for sculpts where a skin texture is important or you are planning to paint it. It’s easy to condition the clay and get it soft and ready to work with. It’s strong but not completely indestructible. The beige has a really nice translucent skin like texture once baked. One of my all time favourites is Super sculpey in beige, It also comes in grey. The main contenders and most widely available are Sculpey, Fimo and CosClay. Not all polymer clays are created equal but they do all have their own uses.
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