Sculpting from polymer clay: a master class for beginners. New master classes using the material "Polymer clay (plastic) Drip irrigation from plastic bottles

Now there is no such needlewoman who would not take up modeling from plastic or polymer clay. But for those who do not know, plastic is not plasticine at all, although it looks like it at first glance. This is a kind of mass for modeling, which eventually hardens to a state of plastic, or which needs to be baked or boiled for this.

Anything is made from this wonderful material - jewelry, toys, things and furniture are decorated ... Finding it now is not a problem - in any needlework store there is a huge selection of domestic or foreign plastics of various shades! And you can also buy all kinds of accessories for it - stacks (knives, for shaping), boards, paints, bases, varnishes ...

Have you already made up your mind and bought a couple of plastic records or sausages? Now the fun begins! Wet your hands with water (and wash them well first!) and knead one bar. Now you can sculpt whatever comes into your head. If you use self-hardening plastic, it means that over time it will harden and become too dense for you to continue working with! If you have ordinary plastic, then the finished work needs to be boiled (but keep in mind that the color will fade slightly), or baked. Both the first and second should be done no more than 10 minutes and at least 5! If you overbake the work, it may crumble; if you underbake, it will be rubbery. After baking, let finished work cool and you can varnish it. This will add gloss to it and give completeness.

1. Free sculpting

You can sculpt whatever you want - earrings, necklaces, bracelets, beads, key rings ... But remember about the mandatory heat treatment of the finished work, so if you want to decorate a flash drive, it's better to use self-hardening clay.

1. Mokume-gane

Very unusual and beautiful technique!

Needle bed in the technique of mokume-gane:

Take plastic different colors. Let it be contrasting colors or several shades of one - it will still turn out beautifully. Roll out each piece separately. To do this, you can use a bottle or a new rolling pin. There are special rolling machines, but they are not cheap and can only be found in specialized stores.

When the layers are ready, lay them on top of each other and roll them out again. Now we need to arm ourselves various subjects, with which you can squeeze out cute prints - knives, pens, caps from felt-tip pens, bottle caps, paper clips, buttons ... Make a couple of prints in a chaotic manner, but do not push through to the end! Then carefully cut upper layer plastics. This can be done with a utility knife or blade. Voila! A chic base for beads, brooches, pendants, solid bracelets is ready.

2. Filigree and granulation

Unusual and delicate technique. The result is delicate, exquisite things. And it's all about the small bundles that are laid out on the finished work and small dots - grains that complement the work.

3. Technique "canes"

This technique is also called "sausage", millefiori or canne. One of the most difficult techniques for which you need to cut the plastic into small pieces and put it in a roll. If this roll is cut, then inside will be beautiful drawing. Therefore, often such rolls are finely chopped and made into beads or pendants. The drawing can be very complex or simple - it all depends on your perseverance. Carefully follow the photo tutorial and you will have wonderful sunflowers or such a cute sheep!

4. Harnesses

The difficulty is to create many identical harnesses. There is a special tool for this - an extruder, but in everyday life, harnesses can be rolled up without it. It's just that they won't come out all the same and not too thin! Look carefully at the photo of the master class!

What is decoupage, and how this terrible and unfamiliar word turns into a work of art - we have already told in previous articles. So, you can also do decoupage on plastic! You just have to bake it first!

There are two options - either you glue a finished drawing on a baked base (a cut-out part of a postcard or a napkin), or draw your own author's drawing on paper! An example of the author's technique can be such an original "sausage cat".

6. Plastic and salt

The finished work is very reminiscent of pumice! Unusual and stylish! Plastic needs to be thoroughly carried over salt before baking. Then wash in water and bake.

7. Sculpting on glass

With the help of plastic, you can decorate any vase, jar or glass in an original way. In short, everything that is made of glass and fits into the oven to bake it!

Master class on how to decorate a vase with daisies:

8. Impressions

To do this, in addition to plastic surgery, take: a leaf of a living plant, the print of which you will make, vaseline, water. The plastic should be kneaded very well - the softer it is, the better. To do this, you need to add a little Vaseline! Roll the plastic into a thin cake and put it on a board, tile or just paper on which you will bake your product and try to make an impression. Moisten the cake with water and place a leaf on top. Roll over the leaf with a rolling pin. You can remove the sheet and enjoy the accuracy and beauty of the work!

Remember that the main thing is not to overbake!

9. Watercolor technique

Beautiful technique with smooth transitions and stains. Prepare the beads in advance (do not bake!). Now roll out three thin sheets from three pieces of plastic (be sure to take different colors!). When the plastic dries a little, tear it into pieces and stick around the beads prepared in advance. Remember them a little in your hand so that the surface becomes smooth, and you can bake!

10. Kaleidoscope technique

This technique is similar to canes, but with much less fuss! You roll "sausages" of various colors and patterns and mold them all into one pile. Sausages can be rectangular, square, round, triangular! The more varied the better! In this way, you can imitate various natural surfaces - wood or stone, for example!

That's all the techniques I know of today. You can come up with a completely new, your own technique, because plastic gives so many opportunities for creativity!

A lot of opportunities to get interesting, original, various mosaic pieces are provided by the use of polymer clay - a model that is very easy to work with because it is soft, easy to sculpt from, and the colors are varied. In this lesson we will teach you how to sculpt a cane face, you can make faces with a variety of expressions that reflect all kinds of emotions and moods.

You, in turn, will be able to mold, in addition to the face, other interesting details that you can find on our website, for example, in polymer clay master classes and arrange them in the photo frame at your discretion.

To create a plastic mosaic you will need:

Polymer clay in several colors - white, black, green, flesh, blue, pink, red, milky, dark and light brown.
. Pasta machine (machine for rolling polymer clay or plastic roller).
. Universal glue for decoupage.
. Acrylic paints olive color.
. Sharp blade of a clerical knife.
. Ceramic tile.
. Tassel.
. Putty.
. Shoulder blade.
. Case.
. Rag.

Plastic preparation

Step one

Face start forming eyes. Cut off a black plastic nipper, warm it in your hands and roll it into a thin roll.

step two

Roll out a ball of blue polymer clay in a pasta machine, or you can do it with a regular plastic roller. Trim one edge of the rolled blue model sharp blade and wrap it around a black roller. Since you need two eyes, divide the entire rolled roller into two parts.

Step Three

Roll up a roller from a white model and cut it so that you get four triangular prisms. Press these prisms on both sides to the blue eyes.

Step Four

In order for a do-it-yourself mosaic to turn out well for its main element - the face, you need to form eyelashes. Use a pasta machine to roll out a piece of dark brown modelin and wrap it around both eyes.

Step five

Place over the eye thin layer body modelin, rolled out by a pasta machine. From a dark brown rolled out model, make eyebrows.

step seven

For the lips, cut off the pink modelin and a small piece of red. Knead them in your hands until the colors merge and the model turns into a soft pink. Roll out a small ball of black plastic thinly. From the prepared pink model, form a roller cylindrical shape, cut it lengthwise and insert a strip of black modelin into the gap. Squeeze the resulting plastic well, give the roller an oval shape, not a round one,

top press the roller a little and put a thin roller from the body model in the middle. Thus, you will give the model the shape of the lips.

Step eight

On both sides of the nose, attach eyes. Gently squeeze all the pieces so that they stick together. Place a skin-colored roller over your nose. Use a pasta machine to roll out a larger piece of body model and cover the top of your head with it.

Step nine

Form the cheeks from the flesh-colored model. Next to the corners of the eyes, press pieces of modelin in the form of a triangular prism, below the eyes - pieces of the same shape, but larger. Put a small layer of skin color under the nose and attach the lips, below - the chin.

Step ten

Use a pasta machine or a plastic roller to roll out a larger piece of body modelin and wrap it around the already prepared face. Squeeze everything properly.

Step Eleven

For hair, thinly roll out pieces of dark brown and light modeling. Fold the rolled plastic one on top of the other alternately. Squeeze all the layers so that they stick together. Divide the finished layer of hair into two parts, one larger, the other smaller. Squeeze their ends. Glue a piece of skin-colored modelin in the form of a triangular prism to the top of the forehead, and hair to it. Squeeze well so that all the rollers stick together. When pressing, try not to spoil the shape of the eyes and lips.

Cut the ready-made reed-face into slices of the desired thickness and fire in the oven according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Mosaic background

If you first encountered this type of mosaic, then you can study all the nuances in the article about for beginners.

Step twelve

For the background of the mosaic, choose green plastic. Roll it out with a pasta machine into a 2mm thick flatbread. Cut a small strip from the whole cake and divide it into small pieces different shapes. Bake them in the oven according to the instructions. So you get a mosaic master class, which is very simple, as you have already seen.

Step thirteen

inner side mirror frame Or decorate photo frames with small rollers. For spiral rollers, cut off green and brown models (you can take more colors). Roll them thinly with a pasta machine and, stacking one on top of the other, twist into a roller. Roll the roller until it is the right thickness, cut it into slices and bake in the oven according to the manufacturer's instructions.

The videos may be the same, but let yourself dream up, play with colors, shapes and make a few different ones.

Step fourteen

Grease the frame thickly universal glue for decoupage. Put the face down, press it down, then comes the do-it-yourself mosaic, put it around. Leave spaces between these pieces. Decorate the edge with different rollers. Fill the seams between the pieces with ordinary tile putty. Select suitable color and prepare the mass according to the manufacturer's instructions. Apply the prepared mixture with a spatula and wait until it dries. Wipe off excess putty with a damp cloth.

The final stage work

Step fifteen

Paint the outer edge of the frame with olive-colored acrylic paint. Fasten the work on top acrylic varnish. Thus, you have a mosaic of soft plastic with your own hands. Master class, which we hope helped you.

You can also create your own composition by decorating the frame with hand-made elements and putting them on a mosaic that you already know how to create or you can make from paper, and see how to make it here.

Creative success to you!

Elizabeth Rumyantseva

For diligence and art there is nothing impossible.

Content

Recently, handmade products are in great demand. Sculpting from polymer clay and cold porcelain is very popular, such crafts with the help of master classes and even without tools can be obtained by any novice needlewoman. To ready product turned out to be of high quality, it is necessary to observe a certain technique and sequence of actions.

What is polymer clay

This substance was created artificially German woman Fifi Rebinder for doll heads self made. Polymer clay for modeling has a specific herbal smell, contains plasticizers, which give it plasticity. When baked, they are absorbed, the mass hardens and can no longer change its shape. Polymer clay (or plastic) is of two types: self-hardening and thermoplastic.

The latter requires heat treatment, but you can sculpt anything from it - from small details to figures large sizes. Self-hardening material dries naturally in the sun, it will take at least a day. If you have not heard about the properties of clay before, then you should know that after drying, the finished product decreases slightly in size, the surface is uneven, but it can be drilled and processed with a saw. This type of material is more suitable for sculpting dolls and other large crafts. Keep the mass in a closed container.

What can be molded from polymer clay

Sculpting from polymer clay opens up great scope for imagination. You can do anything from graceful jewelry to handmade dolls and figurines. Due to the unique properties of plastic, working with it is easy and simple. Some types of thermoplastics are able to mimic the properties of different natural materials: stone, wood, metal, fabric. For beginners in modeling, it is better to start with simple techniques, techniques, gradually moving to more complex ones.

Products

Jewelry, jewelry, key chains, pendants, souvenirs, fridge magnets are often molded from plastic clay. Plastic is non-toxic, so it can be used in games with children. It is easy to teach a kid to make vegetables, fruits, simple flowers. More experienced needlewomen sculpt complex products from polymer clay, such as doll heads, arms and legs. The properties of the mass make it possible to make crafts as similar and realistic as possible.

Ideas for sculpting from polymer clay

Inspiration for creating polymer clay masterpieces can be drawn from various sources. There are special printed publications on sale that teach such modeling. There you can find a lot useful information, step by step instructions and lots of craft options. Modern needlewomen find ideas for sculpting on the Internet, where there are photo / video instructions with detailed description actions.

How to sculpt with polymer clay

For creativity from polymer clay, special skills are not needed, because the mass is similar to plasticine. In the hands it becomes soft and pliable, ready to create any crafts. To make the product beautiful, have strength, choose for creativity quality material. There are many types of polymer clay: Sculpey, Cernit, Viva Pardo, Deco (Japanese), Kato Policlay, Sonnet, Profi, Flower (sold in sets) and others. Most of the decorations are made from Decoclay and Fimo clay.

Tools

Polymer clay tools can be purchased at any art and craft store. Some items can be replaced with improvised materials, but without some special tools not enough. Before starting work, you need to prepare for the process. You will need:

1. Large glass or plastic worktop.
2. PVA glue. It is useful for joining thermoplastic parts together.
3. sharp knives, you can stationery.
4. Sandpaper to eliminate roughness.
5. A piece of suede fabric that adds shine to the finished product.
6. Toothpicks, rolling pin.
7. Cutters are special molds for cutting figures.
8. Extruder, rolling pin.

Sculpting techniques

There are several popular techniques that are used in creating crafts from different types plastics:

1. Smooth transition. The method is to mix two different colors.
2. Sausage (sape, cane, millefiori). Several layers of different polymer clay are combined, and then the mass rolls into a roll.
3. "Kaleidoscope". Multi-layered, using the kaleidoscope technique, the pattern turns out to be symmetrical, multi-colored.
4. Watercolor. Technique for a smooth transition of color when sculpting.
5. Filigree. Complex, requires professional skills, patience.
6. Salt technology. Salt is used in modeling to give texture to the creation.
7. Mika-shift. Creates a 3D effect.
8. Mokume Gane. It consists in layering several layers of plastic clay of different colors.

Some parts need to be glued together after firing, in order to avoid damage during baking. Use liquid or gel glue for this purpose, it is better if it fast action and will grab in 15-20 seconds. So you will have the opportunity to adjust the details as much as possible best friend to friend. Do not apply glue in strips so that there are no smudges, do it in the form of separate droplets.

baking

This process requires compliance certain conditions. The most important thing is to adhere to the baking temperature, which is indicated on the packaging by the manufacturer. If this indicator is violated, the product may not bake or change color. It is better to bake the mass in the oven for ceramic tiles or regular baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Small parts you need to prick on a toothpick, set on a ball of foil, so they are better baked. Flat parts are laid on a flat surface.

Complex crafts can be baked in several stages, for example, if they are made using the filigree technique. Each stage lasts a certain amount of time (from 1 to 15 minutes), and the total duration of the process can take up to half an hour. It must also be remembered that in its raw form the material is not toxic, but during heat treatment it exudes an unpleasant, harmful odor. Observe safety precautions: ensure the ventilation of the room, remove food from the kitchen, wash the oven after firing.

Varnishing

Finished products are covered with a special varnish, which gives them a finished look. There are matte and glossy varnishes, you need to choose them based on the desired effect of your craft. Many plastic manufacturers also make varnishes, so you can buy products of the same brand. It has a composition that will not fade over time and will not start to stick to your hands. Some needlewomen varnish their creations with varnishes for wooden floors on water based. The main thing is that they do not contain latex, which is incompatible with thermoplastics.

You can apply varnish with a brush, but it is better to “put on” the product on a toothpick and dip it into the liquid as a whole, scrolling it around its axis. So the substance is distributed evenly, its excess amount will drain. Next, a toothpick with a craft is inserted into a piece of foam (or other material), left to dry. If after a while a drop of varnish forms below, it must be carefully removed. It is necessary to cover crafts in several layers, drying each of them for a certain amount of time (indicated on the package), sometimes this time is several hours.

Safety

Working with any material, even food, has its own safety rules. If you decide to sculpt from plastic, observe the following precautions:

1. After sculpting, be sure to wash your hands with soap and water, and it is better to work with rubber gloves.
2. Do not burn the mass in the oven where you cook. If there is no other, and you are forced to do this, wash the oven thoroughly and ventilate well.
3. Observe temperature regime baking, and if the material is burnt, be sure to ventilate the room and clean the oven.

Having prepared everything necessary materials, tools, you can start creating different masterpieces. Browse a few simple lessons modeling and start from the basics, moving on to complex crafts with the acquisition of certain skills. Over time, this exciting hobby can grow into a small business that brings a good regular income.

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Polymer clay crafts for beginners

To those who possess basic knowledge and starts working with plastic for the first time, a simple master class on modeling a fridge magnet from polymer clay will help:

1. Stock up on: self-hardening polymer clay in pink, yellow, white, green, lime colors, soft magnet, acrylic paints, glue, scissors, toothpick, beads.
2. Roll up small balls from yellow, white, pink polymer clay, form a drop out of them, cut the thick edge with scissors into 4-5 parts.
3. Flatten them, give relief with a toothpick. You will get flowers.
4. Form droplets from a material of green shades, flatten them, make veins with a toothpick. These will be the leaves.
5. We make buds: on a drop white color we push the strips, simulating unblown petals. We wrap the bottom of the workpiece with a piece of green mass.
6. Paint the magnet with paint of a suitable shade and glue the resulting blanks on it, creating a composition. Complete it with decorative beads. Leave until completely dry.

New Year crafts

Great gift for New Year will become magic ball made at home from polymer clay:

1. Prepare: a small transparent jar of spices with a screw cap, plastic (white, black, red, pink, beige), glitter, glitter, glycerin, vodka, pin, glue.
2. Roll up 2 white balls different sizes, put them on the pin ( thin wire) to make a snowman.
3. Make indentations for the eyes, insert 2 black balls there. Insert a carrot made of red plastic into the recess for the nose. Draw a smile.
4. Roll 4 white balls, flatten 2 on one side - these are the legs. From the rest, make elongated droplets - these are hands. Assemble the snowman.
5. From beige, pink polymer clay, roll out 2 thin long sausages. Twist them with a rope. Form a scarf and a snowman hat out of them. In the same way, we make a candy in the form of a hook (we use a red, white mass), insert it into the hand. We bake.
6. Coat the inside of the jar lid waterproof glue, put a snowman in the center, sprinkle sparkles around.
7. Pour different medium-sized glitters into the jar, pour 1 tbsp. l. glycerin and vodka, add water, given that the snowman should still fit.
8. Coat the thread of the lid with cream, screw it on, let it dry. Shake, flip.

Decorations

As a decoration, try to make a simple “knitted” wrist bracelet that imitates real yarn:

1. You will need: a base for a bracelet, plastic of the desired color, liquid gel plastic, an extruder, a knife.
2. Put the plastic mass in the extruder, squeeze out. Take 2 strips, twist with a tourniquet. Do the same with the other two strips, twisting them in the other direction.
3. Lubricate the surface of the base with gel, attach the first tourniquet, cut off the required length. Then attach the second tourniquet as tightly as possible to the first, cut off.
4. You will get an imitation of knitting. Repeat the steps until you "knit" the entire bracelet. Do the same with inside(optional). Bake.

Toys

Modeling toys with thermoplastics is a great pastime with children. Try this turtle:

1. Stock up on a baked polymer mass (blue, light green, pink), a brush and 2 small black beads.
2. From blue color make 4 large drops - this is the preparation of the legs.
3. From a piece of light green plastic, form a blank in the form of a bell with a recess inside - this is the future shell.
4. Place the legs next to the wide part down, put on the shell on top. With the brush handle, holding it vertically, make a recess in front of the future turtle - a place for the head.
5. We form the head blank: roll a ball and a cylinder out of blue plastic, connect them. You should get a head on the neck. Attach it to the body.
6. Roll up pink balls, flatten, stick to the shell - these are spots. Blind your eyes from beads. Bake the turtle.

Plastic is like plasticine - you can sculpt anything from it. According to the curing method, polymer clay is divided into baked and self-hardening.
In the case of baked plastic, the finished product is baked in the most ordinary oven that every home has. The result is a hard, almost plastic figurine that holds its shape remarkably well and retains its color. Self-hardening hardens in air without special conditions.

1) Plastic called "Flower" - the cheapest solution and suitable for children's crafts, it happens in briquettes of 6, 10, 12 colors

2) Plastic called “Sonnet” is sold in 57g briquettes, one color per package. It costs an order of magnitude more expensive than Tsvetik.

3) Fimo 57g briquettes at the same price as Tsvetik.

To make the craft even more beautiful and durable, you also need varnish.

The choice of varnish for plastic

Not every varnish is suitable for working with polymer clay. Because most varnishes (acrylic and acetone based) enter into chemical reaction with plastic. Some do not dry and always remain sticky, others dry, but after a while (about six months) they begin to stick. For plastic it is necessary to use a specialized varnish. Firms that produce plastic offer them a varnish of their own production.

In addition to specialized ones, which are difficult to buy, you can use a water-based polyurethane-acrylic wood coating.

Craftswomen praise the polyurethane-acrylic coating for water-based wood floors Varathane (Varatan) Crystal Clear Waterbone.

How to apply varnish?

Can be brushed evenly and gently to avoid bubbles. But best result it will be if you dip the product directly into the varnish, then turn it so that the excess varnish stacks in a jar and hangs to dry. After about 5 minutes, blot the bottom of the product with a brush to remove a drop of varnish formed there.

Molds

Often when sculpting, the question arises about molds - how to cut the same figures? Molds can be from strips plastic bottles, aluminum strips from cans and everything else that you can get your hands on. So let's get started, we need a tin or aluminum can or a plastic bottle with smooth sides

Take a strip of material

and bend it according to our plan, leaving the edges bent to the side - we will seal them with tape. Adhesive tape, in addition to connecting both halves of the form, also protects the form from the fact that clay gets between the plates, so glue it with adhesive tape to the very joint.

And one more little trick. If you lay a plastic bag on top of the clay and squeeze the mold through the polyethylene, then the resulting piece of clay will have rounded edges.

In addition, the forms do not have to be closed!!!

In this case, you can make as many petals in a flower as you like. And with the same shape you can cut clover leaves.

hard plastic

If you got a dried-up baked polymer clay, then sculpting a real disaster from it - it does not warm up, but crumbles in your hands.
This means that there is not enough plasticizer in the clay.
To prevent this from happening, store your clay in tightly sealed plastic bags.
But even if this has already happened, the situation saves sunflower oil.
Knead a piece of clay with a couple of drops of sunflower oil.
About proportions: for one whole package of hard clay you need only 2 drops of oil. If the clay is very hard, then a little more, but it is better to add oil only as needed - when you have already kneaded the clay to a uniform state, but it is still hard.
At first, everything will look scary - lumps of clay and sunflower oil, hands get dirty. The main thing is not to be afraid, but to continue, then you will get homogeneous and soft clay, from which you can sculpt like new.
If your piece of clay is already so oaky that you can’t even break it into small pieces, then you can either cut it into thin slices with a knife (dreary and long), or grate it (for this you need to use a grater that will never be used for food), or crushed with a hammer (I have not tried this method).

For such clay as “Tsvetik”, sunflower oil can be used without even waiting until it dries - it is initially very hard and oil (or petroleum jelly) improves its quality noticeably.
Clay diluted with oil does not lose its qualities (color, strength, ease of modeling).
I repeat that this method is for those types of plastic that require firing in the oven, it is not suitable for self-hardening.

Baking polymer clay

What to bake? You need an oven - at least gas, at least electric. A microwave oven is not suitable for baking.

What to bake? What will be convenient for you from what is available: on a wooden board, on ceramic tiles, on a piece of glass, on a metal baking sheet (with lined baking paper), on cardboard, and so on. There is a small nuance here - if you bake on smooth surface, then your product in the place of contact with this surface will receive a gloss as a result of firing - very smooth shiny surface. If you do not need it, then you need to lay something under the product. I put either a paper napkin or a piece denim. The baking temperature of polymer clay is not critical for these materials.

Precautionary measures. During baking, toxic substances are released from polymer clay, so it is necessary to ventilate the room (open window or exhaust hood).
After the firing is completed and the oven has cooled down, you need to wash it, because the emitted harmful substances settle on the walls of the oven.
Some craftswomen, in order to avoid this, bake their products in airtight containers, so all toxins remain inside the container.

Baking temperature. On the packaging of polymer clay, they always write the temperature regime that is suitable specifically for your polymer clay. Most often it is 130 degrees Celsius, although for some types of plastic surgery it may differ, for example, FIMO has 110 degrees Celsius.
Subtleties: if the baking temperature is lower than required, then your product will be fragile. Conversely, if you exceed the temperature, the product will become stronger, BUT it will stand out during baking. a large number of toxic substances, and there is also a chance that your product will simply fry.

Temperature control in the oven. When the temperature rises to the desired temperature, slightly open the oven door and fix it in such a position that the temperature is kept in the desired range.

How long to bake? On this, the masters all hold different points of view.
If you have a small product (the thickness of the plastic is not more than 0.5 mm), then 15 minutes is enough, and the larger the craft, the longer you need to bake. The longer the plastic is baked, the stronger it becomes (the main thing is to observe the temperature regime).
I bake all polymer clay products, regardless of their size, for about 40 minutes.

Can the product be baked? Yes, of course you can, if it is not varnished. You can pre-bake individual parts. Eg complex figurines, such as people, angels, devils, tiger cubs. Sometimes pre-firing is required in several passes, for example, separately bake the eyes, then stick them in the face and bake the whole head, then stick the hair on it and bake again, and only then combine the head with other details into a whole composition and bake completely.

imprints

Let's talk about prints on plastic that are formed during sculpting. Different kinds plastics store prints in different ways and it is also better to remove them different ways. For example, take Cernit plastic. Fingerprints on it are not very deep and clear, they can simply be smeared with slightly moistened fingers and this will be enough. However, plastics such as Sonnet and Fimo store them well and if you try to lubricate one, you will certainly put new ones. How to fight for the smoothness of the product?

Let's consider several ways.

1) Skinning.
We sculpt the product as it turns out, bake it, and then sand it with sandpaper.
There are a couple of nuances here. Firstly, during skinning, the top layer is removed, which gives the product a slightly glossy look. All the plasticizer released during baking settles on the surface of the product. Small grooves are formed (the size of the grooves depends on which sandpaper you used). The finer the sandpaper, the better for sanding, but even the finest leaves micro-grooves into which dust and other dirt likes to clog. Therefore, if you skin your product, then it is desirable to varnish it after that.
Secondly, during the skinning, the product seems to fade - this is a small crumb, formed during the procedure, settles on the product and in the resulting grooves. To return the color to the product, it is necessary to wash it thoroughly with soap and water after sanding. Especially all sorts of uneven and small parts, they are easier to wash with a brush (ideally with an old toothbrush). Some craftswomen sand right under running water, in which case the dust does not scatter in all directions, and the result is immediately visible on the product itself.
Advantages and disadvantages:
+ The method is good for large products, as well as for those that include the cane technique (no need to worry about the evenness of the product, the excess will be sanded after)
+ Hands feel plastic more subtly, the products are the thinnest and most accurate
+ During sculpting, hands do not sweat much.
- After such modeling, it is necessary to sand and varnish. If you do not have varnish, then this method is not suitable for you.
- The process of skinning is very tedious and lengthy.

2) Gloves.
The best way to deal with fingerprints is not to leave them at all!
Use simple latex gloves or fingertips while sculpting, and your product will be devoid of prints in principle.
This method is ideal for thin and small jobs which cannot be sanded, for example, for flowers.
Advantages and disadvantages:
+ The product is ready as soon as it has cooled down after baking
- Hands sweat under gloves, which causes some inconvenience.

How to make a color transition manually.

For example, we take white and pink clay. We form two triangles of different colors from clay so that together they make a rectangle of approximately the same thickness.

We cut into a certain number of strips. The more strips you cut, the smoother the transition will be. In some cases, five pieces are enough, but more often about 10.

We thoroughly knead each strip in our hands until a uniform color is obtained - fold in half, stretch, in half again and so on, until the color becomes uniform.

Then we fold the homogeneous pieces in the same order in which they were cut.

Now we roll it with a rolling pin to force out the air bubbles between the pieces of clay. I have a glass bottle of nail polish remover as a rolling pin. And so that the clay does not stick to the rolling pin and the table, I cover it with polyethylene on both sides.