I have a question regarding my pieces cracking after being complete. I bake the Sculpey in a toaster oven and afterwards they seem fine but when I wear the pieces they seem to break with minimal stress. Like when I am wearing the piece and happen to place my purse (a small purse) strap over the piece. It seems like it cracks and breaks easier than it should.
What am I doing wrong?
Sue
Here is my advice for Sue on Preventing Polymer Clay from Cracking.
I have been reading several books and just started experimenting with polymer clay. One of the authors pointed out that the temperature must be exactly what the manufacturer says it should be. She recommended buying an oven thermometer to get an accurate reading and not relying on the oven for that. It the temperature is not right, the material will not fuse together well and will break easy. The only risk of over baking is that the clay might release fumes that might be harmful.
ReplyDeleteFrom my first experience I found that even though my convection oven (counter small oven) was set to 300 degrees, the thermometer only marked 250. When I adjusted the oven to 350, then the thermometer reached 300. The clay did release some smoke when it got the right temperature (which I also read it was normal), but next time I will bake outside just to be on the safe side. Anyway, I hope this helps.
Thanks for such a wonderful site, very inspiring.
Hi Glenda,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestions - and the compliment :-D