Air bubbles from pasta machine?

I've worked with clay before but I mainly did inlay and sculpting. Now
I got a pasta machine to try out some other techniques. I'm using Premo
clay. When I condition it according to directions I've found on the web
(putting the clay though the machine up to ten times on the thickest
setting) it turns much too soft and gets air bubbles in it that it
didn't have before. Does Premo not need to be conditioned before
working with it? Am I doing something wrong with how I'm folding it and
putting it through the machine? I've been folding it because it turns
into a long strip since it's soft. I'm thinking that's the bubble
trouble...

Ingrid

Alot of people have had this problem with recent shipments of Premo. It
seems like they put too much plasticizer in it this time. I think some
people have written to Polyform about it. In the meantime, we've been
leaching the clay before we use it. You still have to run it through
the pasta machine just enough to turn it into a sheet, then sandwich it
between two sheets of blank paper for a few days. That pulls out the
excess plasticizer so you can use it without the bubbles. An extra
step, but it's pretty much necessary right now.

Cheryl

www.cherylsart.net

| On 13 Apr 2005 14:03:39 -0700, "mermaidscove" wrote:

I've worked with clay before but I mainly did inlay and sculpting. Now
I got a pasta machine to try out some other techniques. I'm using Premo
clay. When I condition it according to directions I've found on the web
(putting the clay though the machine up to ten times on the thickest
setting) it turns much too soft and gets air bubbles in it that it
didn't have before. Does Premo not need to be conditioned before
working with it? Am I doing something wrong with how I'm folding it and
putting it through the machine? I've been folding it because it turns
into a long strip since it's soft. I'm thinking that's the bubble
trouble...

Ingrid

In general, I prefer to condition Premo by hand rolling, then just run it
through the pasta machine as needed for design purposes. If I do fold and
re-run, then the trick is to make sure you feed it either with the fold
along the side as it goes in or folded edge first if it's really long. That
won't prevent all the bubbles but it will minimize them.

Here's hoping the stuff I just bought is as soft as folks here are saying!
I could really use some softer stuff for all the large-size push-molding
I'm doing right now! The old clay I've been using up has needed 2 trips
through the meat grinder with diluent to get even close to soft enough.

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

Thanks! I'm glad it's not something I'm doing. I was trying to figure
out how anyone could put a skinner blend through 20 times with this, it
would be liquid by then.

Since I'm just learning I wish I had something that was a more normal
consistency. I will try the leaching technique.

If you do want the soft I got it recently from Polymer Express. If
anybody knows where I might find some stock that wasn't soft but also
not totally crumbly, let me know please.


Ingrid
http://www.mermaidscove.com

| On 14 Apr 2005 14:38:18 -0700, "mermaidscove" wrote:

Thanks! I'm glad it's not something I'm doing. I was trying to figure
out how anyone could put a skinner blend through 20 times with this, it
would be liquid by then.

Ah, yes, it might not hold up to that even in a cold room or sitting on a
marble slab between trips. But it also will blend in fewer trips when soft.

Since I'm just learning I wish I had something that was a more normal
consistency. I will try the leaching technique.

That could help.

If you do want the soft I got it recently from Polymer Express. If
anybody knows where I might find some stock that wasn't soft but also
not totally crumbly, let me know please.

Oh good. That's where I got mine, though I did go in person to their new
shop. Very nice, and for me, a lovely trip across the greening countryside
on MD 108. The road to Damascus is delightful this time of year.

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