A few weeks ago, I asked you guys over on Instagram to find out what you’d like to see on my blog. @alpha_bianca suggested I talk about keeping polymer clay clean, and I thought that was a great idea!
Today, I’m going to show you 5 methods I’ve implemented at various times over the years. They will be listed in the order I typically use them in the sculpting process.
Note: I did not discover any of these; I’m just trying to pass along the wisdom from those before me.
If you want to check out a specific method, you can click on the links below.
1) Washing hands
At the beginning of the year, I started using Lava soap, a soap that has pumice in it. This is a gritty soap that’s nice for getting dirt, fuzz, and other clay (if you’re changing colors) out of the crevices in your skin.
To follow up with this soap, it’s important to use some kind of towel that will not leave fibers on your skin, something like paper towels.
2) Scrap clay
Another method I’ve been trying to incorporate into my process is the use of scrap clay. Using a light color will help make sure this color doesn’t stain your hands and contaminate your project clay. The idea behind this is that any extra dirt that may remain in your skin will be picked up by this clay instead of the clay you’re sculpting with. This is something you can pick up and do while you’re sculpting to help keep your hands clean throughout the process as well. It’s also good to do if you’re touching your phone or something else and going right back to sculpting.
3) Rubbing alcohol
There have been many sculptors who recommend this method, and this is the one I’ve used the longest. When you use it will be completely up to you. I like to wait to do this so it’s the last thing I do before it bakes since it’ll just get dirty again anyway.
Using rubbing alcohol and either a cotton swap or cotton ball, dip it into the alcohol, and sweep it along the top of your polymer clay. This will help wipe off any dust and also smooth fingerprints.
It’s a miracle worker!
It is possible to over do the rubbing alcohol, and you’ll start to see the consistency change, so just be careful.
4) Sanding
Wet sanding polymer clay is something you’d do once the clay has baked and cooled.
Please note: Unless you have your own buffing process that minimizes the scratches seen in the clay, I only recommend sanding it if you glaze. The glaze helps counter the color change that sanding creates.
I love doing this for my sculptures because it gives them the smoothest finish. It also helps remove dust or fingerprints that may have been left over from your rubbing alcohol step.
Since I have written a blog post detailing this process, you can get more information about how to sand polymer clay on that post.
5) Detail work
Finally, the last clean up step I employ before glazing my sculptures is using my exacto knife to do some detail work. This is just me scraping individual bits of dust that still remain.
If you lightly scrap the blade where the dust is, you’ll be able to remove it pretty easily without damaging the clay.
Final thoughts
As a beginner, I wish I would have known about all of these methods because they combine really well to create a top-notch piece.
After I gained more experience, I relied very heavily on rubbing alcohol and sanding, using both methods to clean the clay both before and after baking.
Now, I find that I’m sanding my pieces less and less. I use the rubbing alcohol to clean everything up before baking and then “spot clean” with an exacto knife.
I hope you are able to use parts and pieces of this post to help improve your polymer clay work. If you find this helpful, please pass on the knowledge torch!
Do you have any favorite ways to keep your pieces clean?
Thank you for such a useful article!!!!
I’m so glad you found it helpful! 🙂