Help, My bird cracked!

Hi all,

I'm a poly clay newbie and dabbling in a few projects. I tried making a
bird, something like the "Bird with Teeth" project from
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/ca...dinkobird.html

But my bird got a few long cracks in the main body right after coming out
of the oven. From what I've been reading now, that's not entirely unheard
of with Sculpey III. Or is it because I didn't cool the piece gradually?

So I could mix the S3 with a stronger clay? (I still have almost a dozen
blocks of S3 left). Stores around here have Kato, Fimo Soft and Premo.
Which of those would you suggest for mixing with S3 and in what proportion?

Any other ideas would be welcome as well.

On Tue, 10 May 2005 01:42:00 GMT, SueWalker
wrote:

Hi all,

I'm a poly clay newbie and dabbling in a few projects. I tried making a
bird, something like the "Bird with Teeth" project from
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/ca...dinkobird.html

But my bird got a few long cracks in the main body right after coming out
of the oven. From what I've been reading now, that's not entirely unheard
of with Sculpey III. Or is it because I didn't cool the piece gradually?

So I could mix the S3 with a stronger clay? (I still have almost a dozen
blocks of S3 left). Stores around here have Kato, Fimo Soft and Premo.
Which of those would you suggest for mixing with S3 and in what proportion?

Despite the extra cost, Fimo Classic or Premo is a much better choice
than Sculpey III, which is quite brittle/weak. I'm still surprised it
cracked, though. All polymer clay needs an armature of foil or
sculpture mesh underneath it after a certain size, but I'm sure you
followed the directions completely (I haven't read that project in
ages). It's not a bad clay, but I don't really like it. It's also too
soft for canework unless you leech it, and that still doesn't help the
strength. I buy only Premo these days, but still have a large amount
of Sculpey III (and Fimo) from back before Premo was invented (and
most stores did not carry Promat), and Fimo had only one version and
was so hard you needed to use a steam roller to condition it. I would
suggest doing a 50/50 ratio with Premo to give it some strength.

Michaels sometimes does a .99 sale of all polymer clay in stock. I'm
still waiting for this to happen again...oh well. I only got back into
claywork recently. It's SO much easier to find things like Tranclucent
Liquid Sculpey and diluent and other tools than it used to be.

| On Tue, 10 May 2005 01:42:00 GMT, SueWalker wrote:

But my bird got a few long cracks in the main body right after coming out
of the oven. From what I've been reading now, that's not entirely unheard
of with Sculpey III. Or is it because I didn't cool the piece gradually?

It's not unheard of with Sculpey III, no. Letting it cool slowly in the
oven does seem to help, but do take the advice about switching to Premo to
heart. Meanwhile, you may be able to repair that project by brushing
Liquid Sculpey over the surface and into the cracks, letting it sit for a
day, re- applying if any spot looks dryer than the rest, then re-baking.

I put my items into a cold oven, turn it on, then set the timer for an
hour. When the hour is up, I turn off the oven and don't open it until the
oven thermometer I can see through the window reads below 100F, which is as
low as it reads. I also check the thermometer a few times during baking to
see that its reading the proper temperature for the clay I'm using.

Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org

| On Tue, 10 May 2005 03:57:43 GMT, (Fenrir Enterprises) wrote:

Fimo had only one version and
was so hard you needed to use a steam roller to condition it.

Or a meat grinder. Scout your local thrift shops for the smallest
hand-cranked meat grinder you can find. Chop your old, hard Fimo into bits.
Add a few drops of diluent or liquid Sculpey, or a few blobs of mix-quick,
then crank the clay through the meat grinder. With really old, hard, Fimo,
it may take 2 or three trips through and be pretty hard cranking, but it's
still a whole lot easier than any other human-powered method I've used.
Plus meat grinders are nearly indestructible, unlike electric food
processors. I killed 2 of those before I gave up on them. They each lasted
about a year before the central pillar of the blade assembly stripped out
or cracked and broke. Turns out much of that plastic they're made of is the
sort that is degraded by contact with the clay.

Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org

Fenrir Enterprises wrote:

Despite the extra cost, Fimo Classic or Premo is a much better choice
than Sculpey III, which is quite brittle/weak. I'm still surprised it
cracked, though. All polymer clay needs an armature of foil or
sculpture mesh underneath it after a certain size, but I'm sure you
followed the directions completely (I haven't read that project in
ages). It's not a bad clay, but I don't really like it. It's also too
soft for canework unless you leech it, and that still doesn't help the
strength. I buy only Premo these days, but still have a large amount
of Sculpey III (and Fimo) from back before Premo was invented (and
most stores did not carry Promat), and Fimo had only one version and
was so hard you needed to use a steam roller to condition it. I would
suggest doing a 50/50 ratio with Premo to give it some strength.

Michaels sometimes does a .99 sale of all polymer clay in stock. I'm
still waiting for this to happen again...oh well. I only got back into
claywork recently. It's SO much easier to find things like Tranclucent
Liquid Sculpey and diluent and other tools than it used to be.


Directions? Um, er, well... I did follow the baking directions as to
temperature and my best guess for time, since it's a fat little bird. But
he did end up twice as tall as the original, (easier on my fingers and
eyes that way). I can try using a foil ball in the center, even though it
wasn't needed for support that would save some clay. And maybe allow more
even heating of the clay?

BTW, where does Michael's advertise? I wouldn't mind finding one of the
legendary 40% off coupons, it would come in handy towards purchase of a
pasta machine.

On Tue, 10 May 2005 12:36:29 GMT, Helen Halla Fleischer
wrote:

Or a meat grinder. Scout your local thrift shops for the smallest
hand-cranked meat grinder you can find. Chop your old, hard Fimo into bits.
Add a few drops of diluent or liquid Sculpey, or a few blobs of mix-quick,
then crank the clay through the meat grinder. With really old, hard, Fimo,
it may take 2 or three trips through and be pretty hard cranking, but it's
still a whole lot easier than any other human-powered method I've used.
Plus meat grinders are nearly indestructible, unlike electric food
processors. I killed 2 of those before I gave up on them. They each lasted
about a year before the central pillar of the blade assembly stripped out
or cracked and broke. Turns out much of that plastic they're made of is the
sort that is degraded by contact with the clay.

I would imagine a meat grinder would be terribly difficult to clean
when switching from red to white, or such. I simply used a 4" scraper
blade from Wal-Mart to chop them up and added lots of diluent. I
actually had to leech two colors afterwards because they got too soft,
but they're still workable, though harder than Premo.

Acrylic seems to react very badly to clay, which is why I wonder why
bead rollers, rolling pins, etc are made out of it. I think food
processors are mostly made with polycarbonate (Lexan), though not all
of them, which also degrades when in contact with oily substances.
http://www.FenrirOnline.com

Computer services, custom metal etching,
arts, crafts, and much more.

On Tue, 10 May 2005 12:45:43 GMT, SueWalker
wrote:


Directions? Um, er, well... I did follow the baking directions as to
temperature and my best guess for time, since it's a fat little bird. But
he did end up twice as tall as the original, (easier on my fingers and
eyes that way). I can try using a foil ball in the center, even though it
wasn't needed for support that would save some clay. And maybe allow more
even heating of the clay?

That's the problem. If you made it twice as big, then you had to use
more than twice as much clay (since volume ratios multiply much
quicker than length). After a certain size, the clay will simply crack
under its own weight, especially a weak clay like Sculpey III. I
prefer to use Super Sculpey for modeling/sculpture, then paint it, but
Premo or Fimo Classic should work just as well.

BTW, where does Michael's advertise? I wouldn't mind finding one of the
legendary 40% off coupons, it would come in handy towards purchase of a
pasta machine.

Michaels does take competitors coupons (Rag Shop - though they may not
take it anymore since Rag Shop only has emailed printable coupons now,
Jo-Anne, Crafts'n'Stuff - Florida based, etc. Ask if you have a local
craft store and want to use their coupon) Based on comments here, the
pasta machine works fine, but I won't buy it now simply because of
Sarajane Helm's comment that they can't be disassembled (and thus
cleaned properly). Back to searching thrift stores again...
http://www.FenrirOnline.com

Computer services, custom metal etching,
arts, crafts, and much more.

| On Tue, 10 May 2005 15:14:30 GMT, (Fenrir Enterprises) wrote:

I would imagine a meat grinder would be terribly difficult to clean
when switching from red to white, or such. I simply used a 4" scraper
blade from Wal-Mart to chop them up and added lots of diluent. I
actually had to leech two colors afterwards because they got too soft,
but they're still workable, though harder than Premo.

Meat grinders are designed to come apart and clean VERY easily. You
wouldn't want to grind meat with something that could not be cleaned easily
and thoroughly to prevent culturing bacteria.


Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org

Helen Halla Fleischer wrote:

| On Tue, 10 May 2005 01:42:00 GMT, SueWalker
| wrote:

But my bird got a few long cracks in the main body right after coming
out of the oven. From what I've been reading now, that's not entirely
unheard of with Sculpey III. Or is it because I didn't cool the piece
gradually?

It's not unheard of with Sculpey III, no. Letting it cool slowly in
the oven does seem to help, but do take the advice about switching to
Premo to heart. Meanwhile, you may be able to repair that project by
brushing Liquid Sculpey over the surface and into the cracks, letting
it sit for a day, re- applying if any spot looks dryer than the rest,
then re-baking.

I put my items into a cold oven, turn it on, then set the timer for an
hour. When the hour is up, I turn off the oven and don't open it until
the oven thermometer I can see through the window reads below 100F,
which is as low as it reads. I also check the thermometer a few times
during baking to see that its reading the proper temperature for the
clay I'm using.

Helen "Halla" Fleischer, Fantasy & Fiber Artist
http://home.covad.net/~drgandalf/halla/
Balticon Art Program Coordinator http://www.balticon.org

A small follow-up, in case anyone is interested.

Hobby Lobby has clay 1/3 off this week so I picked up a bunch of Kato and
a little Premo. But I need to use up my sculpey too, so I tried the mixed
clay idea and constructed my second bird with 50/50 premo/S3. I'm sure
most 4th graders could do better at sculpting, but at least the clay
didn't let me down this time, no cracks. This bird even looks happier
than the first one did.

I also tried an all Kato scuplture, no cracks in this piece either.