What household items can we bring to our study?
Cleaning, hygiene and makeup material. –
Scottish Pad Plates – They’re great for texture, you can use them in all kinds of shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and they’re wonderful. One tip I learned from the great Nan Roche is to hold the sandpaper on a scotch pad, this way the sandpaper is held up with the soft pad and your hand and fingers get a much more comfortable support.
Baby Wipes – Cleaning and Cleaning! Clean your clay, your hands, your floor, your pasta machine, these wipes are very useful.
floor polish – although I don’t use floor polish as a finish to my work, “Future” floor polish is a great example of this. Some people like to dip their beads in finishing liquids, or you can use a brush and apply a few coats until you get the effect you want. This material is an alternative to glitter and lacquer.
Toothbrush – Another texturing tool (and clean too!)
Makeup Brushes – I have a store nearby that sells cheap makeup brushes that are soft and nice, suitable for applying paint, lacquer, glitter, or resin.
Makeup Powders – They are great as metallic / matte effects on stamped clay, I used to be a makeup artist and have tons of those powders, they are perfect for clay and can be a wonderful substitute for mica powders (see photo).
Lotion: a good material that we can use with very dry clay, just add a small amount of lotion to your dry clay and keep conditioning it, it helps to soften the material.
Manicure Sponges – Manicure sponges serve 2 main purposes: the first is for medium-coarse grit sanding, and the second is for texturing.
Manicure Stickers – Nail stickers are a great decoration for cured polymer clay designs – flowers, butterflies, dots, etc. Do not cure them, the plastic they contain will not survive the heat of the oven. Same with plastic rhinestones.
Pencil – This tool is amazing, it makes these cute dots on your clay, either cured or raw, I love to “splash” my clay, you can also use acrylic paints to add dots after curing.
Vaseline or other petroleum jelly: same use as lotion.
Talc – Very useful release agent, brush your stamps, textured sheets for easy release. You can also use cornflower for the same purpose. Be careful not to inhale talcum powder, it is unhealthy.
Dental clinic –
Syringe – Although this tool is not something you want to know about in real life, it is ideal for measuring material, especially when working with resin, which must be weighed carefully. I know some people use them as extruders, but I haven’t tried it 🙂
Dental Sculpting Tools – These tools are perfect for sculpting and miniatures. if you like those topics, it is essential.
Molding Materials – I haven’t tried these either, but I heard from one of my students, who is a dentist, that the dental mold works great for polymer clay too.
Carpentry, Construction
Sandpaper – Sandpaper of all kinds of grains is welcome in our studio, coarse? Use it for texture. penalty fee? Use it for sanding. They are fun to wear, cheap, and make a beautiful finish on the back pieces.
Lathe Machines – I never used them, but I saw the magic Grant Difendaffer did with them.
Tool boxes – work tools for your DH? no, they can be a great storage box for us! I have tons of boxes from the hardware store that are used to store my walking sticks, tools, cutters, etc.!
Ceramic Tile: Take all the leftovers from your home renovation (or ask your neighbor for some tiles) and use it as a work surface. they are easily cleaned and can be cured in the oven.
Mesh: this is one of my favorites! Metal mesh can be cured so that it can be used as an addition to our clay designs, as armor, and many other uses.
Screws / nails, etc. – Steam punk style? These oven proof tools and materials are a great decoration for your work. They’re also useful for texturing, piercing, and just for fun.
Pliers – It was supposed to be the other way around, but I always find MY pliers in my DH toolbox! These tools are a must for wire working, jewelry making and any studio needs a pair of these.
Silicone Gun – Mainly used as an assistant for older polymer clay extruders (scroll down this page) if you don’t have Makin’s green extruder, you may want to use the silicone extruder to help.
Enjoy!
Iris mishly