Some experiments I have been trying.....

I have been messing around with sealing paper between layers of clay and
thought I'd relay some of my experiences in case anyone else is interested.

The basic idea is to draw a picture on paper, paint it with acrylic paints,
cut it out with a scalpel or exacto knife and bake it in a sandwich between
a regular clay back and a thin layer of translucent clay on top.

My attempts were with premo. For a small piece between two layers of
translucent, it worked pretty well. So far, attempts to use larger pictures
result in cracking around the edges of the paper. This seems primarily to
be an issue when the edge of the paper is near the edge of the clay.

Initial experiments are with a mixture of white and translucent clay rolled
on setting 1 of the pasta machine to make the backing. After cutting out,
the paper is applied to the backing and run through the pasta machine on the
same setting to embed it in the clay.

Translucent clay is rolled rather thin (sandwiched between sheets of wax
paper. The rollers of my pasta machine don't want to "grab" the slick wax
paper, so I had to leave and edge I could drop between the rollers. I would
grab this edge and both pull and crank to flatten the translucent clay. I
was working with a setting of about 4, but this now seems perhaps too thin.
Thinner, and I could not pull it from the wax paper without tearing it up,
though in retrospect I should have put it in the refrigerator to stiffen it
before trying.

Anyway, I applied the translucent over the paper and clay backing. Ruined
the first cutout trying to run it through the pasta machine again -
distorted the piece and tore the paper. The second time, I just patted it
down and smoothed as best I could with my fingers. This was baked on a
ceramic tile at the usual 275F for about half an hour. The painted paper
shows through the translucent layer fairly well, but there was the cracking
problem I mentioned.

I am wondering if it would have worked better to cut the paper into a
background, apply a layer of translucent, put down the foreground figure and
cover with yet another layer of translucent?

Eventually, I would like to apply the technique to making small spiral
notebook covers.

Anyone else had much experience along these lines?

---Ray Jones---

I have been messing around with sealing paper between layers of clay and
thought I'd relay some of my experiences in case anyone else is interested.

The basic idea is to draw a picture on paper, paint it with acrylic paints,
cut it out with a scalpel or exacto knife and bake it in a sandwich between
a regular clay back and a thin layer of translucent clay on top.

My attempts were with premo. For a small piece between two layers of
translucent, it worked pretty well. So far, attempts to use larger pictures
result in cracking around the edges of the paper. This seems primarily to
be an issue when the edge of the paper is near the edge of the clay.

Initial experiments are with a mixture of white and translucent clay rolled
on setting 1 of the pasta machine to make the backing. After cutting out,
the paper is applied to the backing and run through the pasta machine on the
same setting to embed it in the clay.

Translucent clay is rolled rather thin (sandwiched between sheets of wax
paper. The rollers of my pasta machine don't want to "grab" the slick wax
paper, so I had to leave and edge I could drop between the rollers. I would
grab this edge and both pull and crank to flatten the translucent clay. I
was working with a setting of about 4, but this now seems perhaps too thin.
Thinner, and I could not pull it from the wax paper without tearing it up,
though in retrospect I should have put it in the refrigerator to stiffen it
before trying.

Anyway, I applied the translucent over the paper and clay backing. Ruined
the first cutout trying to run it through the pasta machine again -
distorted the piece and tore the paper. The second time, I just patted it
down and smoothed as best I could with my fingers. This was baked on a
ceramic tile at the usual 275F for about half an hour. The painted paper
shows through the translucent layer fairly well, but there was the cracking
problem I mentioned.

I am wondering if it would have worked better to cut the paper into a
background, apply a layer of translucent, put down the foreground figure and
cover with yet another layer of translucent?

Eventually, I would like to apply the technique to making small spiral
notebook covers.

Anyone else had much experience along these lines?

---Ray Jones---

Ray,

Have you considered using liquid sculpey instead of the layer of translucent
clay? You would get something much more flexible, which sound ideal for a
spiral notepad cover.



Risa

A day without paronomasia is like a day without punshine.

Well worth trying, thanks. I have not worked with liquid sculpey yet as the
local craft stores do not carry it. Guess I will have to order some.

--- Ray Jones ---

Have you considered using liquid sculpey instead of the layer of
translucent
clay? You would get something much more flexible, which sound ideal for a
spiral notepad cover.



Risa

A day without paronomasia is like a day without punshine.

HI Ray,
Been there done that already. Although I rubbed brown paint into my cracks
and said it was antiqued! LOL

Liquid polymer is the way to go here. I just love Premo also, just about
the only thing I use now. Here's some tips that I hope will help you out in
transferring images to polyclay.

1. Use parchment paper (the baking kind from the grocery instead of wax
paper) you will get much thinner
rollings if you want to use solid translucent polyclay.

2. Liquid Sculptey or Kato liquid clay is what I use to transfer images when
I am using the paperbacking, but you don't have to use the paper backing. I
think the reason you may be getting cracking is because of the acrylic
paint. I seem to remember reading somewhere it doesn't like to be heated up
and cracks. Oil based paints are usually recommended for baking. Something
about moisture content and oils etc. (I knew I should have paid more
attention in chemistry class! LOL)

3. To use the paper backing-- cut out your image to the size that you want
but add 1/8th inch or so then smear the back of the image w/ liquid polymer.
Bake just 10 min's will usually do. When cool, do the same thing to the
front, bake. When cool cut down to the size you need then adhere to the
backing with a thin coat of liquid polymer again and bake. This is the
hairy part, you have got to keep your eye on that while it's in it's final
baking, liquid clay will discolor if over baked, just like translucent
clays.

4. Not to use the paper backing - this is so cool too! (Works best if image
is on photographic paper, but can also look nice on regular paper. You'll
have to play with them both to see how you want your image to look.)

Apply a small amount of liquid clay to the front of your piece then bake as
directions. (You can do 2 coats on the top also if you like, baking between
each coat.) After cool, soak the whole piece in warm (tepid) water until
you see that the paper is completely wet. Then take out & gently rub your
fingers across the back of the piece and the paper should start to rub right
off. It will roll up like rubber cement does when you try to rub it off
something. You can continue to wet the paper and rub the back until you
don't see any while film on the back when it's dry. If you still see a
slight amount of paper lint on the back, you can use a piece of plain old
brown paper (grocery bag) to gently sand the rest of the paper lint off the
back.
The key to the above directions is that you have to make sure the liquid
polymer isn't going to smear the image. If you use inkjet, laser or Xerox
copies, chalk colors, pigment ink pads, you will need to spray the image w/a
fixative to seal it, otherwise the liquid clay will make the image smear.
By the way, some commercially sold paper products i.e. wrapping papers,
printed tissue papers will also run if now sealed first. So test your
images 1st. Have Fun! Hope this helps!

P.S. Liquid clay can also be applied to cloth, providing the cloth is
mostly natural fibers. (Rayon/Nylon will melt in the oven!) I make some
dandy little bookmarks, that can be wiped clean and are water proof with
liquid Kato clay (it is a lot thinner then liquid sculptey).

--
Ms E Quin - eliquint designs
quin the crafter at columbus dot rr dot com


--
Ms E Quin - eliquint designs
quin the crafter at columbus dot rr dot com

"Ray Jones" wrote in message
s.com...
I have been messing around with sealing paper between layers of clay and
thought I'd relay some of my experiences in case anyone else is
interested.

The basic idea is to draw a picture on paper, paint it with acrylic
paints,
cut it out with a scalpel or exacto knife and bake it in a sandwich
between
a regular clay back and a thin layer of translucent clay on top.

My attempts were with premo. For a small piece between two layers of
translucent, it worked pretty well. So far, attempts to use larger
pictures
result in cracking around the edges of the paper. This seems primarily to
be an issue when the edge of the paper is near the edge of the clay.

Initial experiments are with a mixture of white and translucent clay
rolled
on setting 1 of the pasta machine to make the backing. After cutting out,
the paper is applied to the backing and run through the pasta machine on
the
same setting to embed it in the clay.

Translucent clay is rolled rather thin (sandwiched between sheets of wax
paper. The rollers of my pasta machine don't want to "grab" the slick wax
paper, so I had to leave and edge I could drop between the rollers. I
would
grab this edge and both pull and crank to flatten the translucent clay. I
was working with a setting of about 4, but this now seems perhaps too
thin.
Thinner, and I could not pull it from the wax paper without tearing it up,
though in retrospect I should have put it in the refrigerator to stiffen
it
before trying.

Anyway, I applied the translucent over the paper and clay backing. Ruined
the first cutout trying to run it through the pasta machine again -
distorted the piece and tore the paper. The second time, I just patted it
down and smoothed as best I could with my fingers. This was baked on a
ceramic tile at the usual 275F for about half an hour. The painted paper
shows through the translucent layer fairly well, but there was the
cracking
problem I mentioned.

I am wondering if it would have worked better to cut the paper into a
background, apply a layer of translucent, put down the foreground figure
and
cover with yet another layer of translucent?

Eventually, I would like to apply the technique to making small spiral
notebook covers.

Anyone else had much experience along these lines?

---Ray Jones---

Thanks! A great deal of useful information there, and I appreciate your
taking the time to type it all out B-)-

---Ray Jones---

"eliquint" wrote in message
...
HI Ray,
Been there done that already. Although I rubbed brown paint into my
cracks
and said it was antiqued! LOL

Hi Ray,

Rather than comment at length on all the variables you mentioned, I'll suggest
that you read a couple of places at my website which talk about those issues
and give ideas about what could be happening:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/mixing_media.htm
(look under the sub-categories called "Paper," and "Stamps & Stickers,paper"
which has more)

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/transfers.htm
(that page has loads of ways to transfer things, so in many ways you can take
your pick depending on which materials you want to use... but each one has
things that will work and won't work with *that* technique; for example, just
re papers, there's a big difference between what you can use inkjet copies and
toner-based copies {photocopies} for... what "kind" of paper is important too:
actual t-shirt transfer paper or Lazertran, photo-quality paper, clay-coated
papers like magazine pages, FAX paper, or some non-photo-quality papers --as
well as whether those are matte or glossy, decal papers, etc., etc.)

Hope something there helps.

(Here are some other pages with info about the other things you mentioned as
well:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/LiquidSculpey.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/translucents-glow.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/paints.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/books.htm )


Diane B.
http://www.glassattic.com ...... polymer clay "encyclopedia"

(for e-mail.... DO NOT USE this AOL address, or I may never see it!
...use this one: )




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