Conditioning Fimo and Dilutants
IguanaSara
I just have a couple questions. I'd like to wean myself off of Sculpey III and
graduate on up to Fimo. Im tired of handling my Sculpey III creations with
care and would like something that will hold up better. Ive dabbled in Fimo,
but I just get so frustrated at trying to condition the stuff. Premo, the
same. I just have no patience. I have heard of breaking it up into bits in a
blender, putting it in your bra for a while, but I was wondering about
dilutants. Do they effect the strength of the clay? Does it effect baking
time? Where can I get clay dilutants? Is it true that petroleum jelly is an
effective dilutant? Did I spell dilutant right? Is it with two L's?
Thanks in advance,
Sara
Please re: email to: iguan...@aol.com
Elizabeth
> Ive dabbled in Fimo,
> but I just get so frustrated at trying to condition the stuff.
That's normal... I love the stuff, but I still whine about conditioning it,
even though it only takes me fifteen minutes for two packages. *g*
The diluent is (or maybe only "contains?") polymer clay plasticizer... the
stuff that binds the solid molecules and makes it all "workable." It's also
part of the curing equation.
Some people have used mineral oil or petroleum jelly or even hand lotion as
a softener, and haven't had any trouble with it at all. I am too chicken to
try it and stick with the diluent.
I've never talked to anyone who uses a blender, I don't think, though food
processors get their share of "clay abuse." *g*
I use a Black & Decker "mini-chopper," which looks like a little food
processor. Just break the bricks up into roughly half-inch cubes and drop
them in there. If it's fresh, "soft" FIMO, you don't need to add diluent. If
it's hard, I add 10-20 drops per package, and I condition 1-2 packages at a
time. Put the lid on, pulse it three or four times to get the large chunks
broken, then run the machine for about a minute. Put your hand into the bowl
and see if the clay is giving off heat. If not, whiz it again for another
minute or half-minute. Test it again. When it's giving off warmth that you
can feel with the back of your fingers, remove the spindle & blade and
smoosh the clay down - start rolling it into a big ball in the bowl... it
will pick up it's own little crumbs. Pull it out and start working it in
your hands... it should be easy to get it to stick to itself.... roll it
into a log, twist, roll, fold, roll, twist... do that for a couple of
minutes, until the surface stops "breaking," then form it into a flat shape
that you can put through your pasta machine. It shouldn't even "crumb-up" on
you to run it through the pasta machine. 15-20 trips is usually enough... if
it's cracking and crumbling, layer it with a couple of drops of diluent
between each "sheet," stack it up and let it sit in a baggie for a few days.
After you warm it up, it should be just fine.
One thing you should *never* do is to add a few lumps of soft, conditioned
clay to the food processor after it's already chopped up the hard clay. I
did this, thinking I could make the hard little crumbles stick together
better, and was I ever wrong! It broke a blade off of my heavy duty food
processor... the blade flew through the side of the Lexan bowl and into the
wall behind it. If it had come out the other side of the bowl, it could have
gone through my son.
:(
Have fun!
Elizabeth
http://www.homestead.com/ziggybeth/poly.html
Thalassa
I know how you feel -- I go through periodic bouts of thinking that life
is just too short to fool with Fimo. Unfortunately, I also think that I
get better results with caning if I use Fimo rather than Premo.
I just bought a mini-food processor (don't remember the name, but it
cost about $15) and yes, it makes a big difference, even though it
doesn't do the whole job. I prefer Fimo Mix-Quick (a waxy white block
of plasticizer) to liquid diluent. How much you use depends on how
stiff your clay is to start with. I think the maximum recommended
amount of Mix-Quick is 2/3 clay to 1/3 Mix Quick.
If you don't have a food processor/chopper and/or diluent or Mix Quick,
it does help to warm the clay, including by sticking it in your bra or
sitting on it to try to hatch it like an egg. I have actually walked
home from the art supply store with packages of Fimo tucked into various
areas of my intimate apparel (and no, that DOESN'T mean I shoplifted
them! <g>).
A coating of Vaseline on your hands can help with the conditioning. I
use it to clean my hands between colors. Some people use mineral oil to
soften the clay, but I could never get the right proportions -- you have
to add it drop by drop, and I always put in too much.
For things other than canes, I usually use Premo. It takes much less
conditioning than Fimo. You also might want to check out some of the
new Fimo Soft -- I bought some but haven't played with it yet, but it's
supposed to be much less aggravating than Fimo.
Thalassa
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
DABlack
>clay to the food processor after it's already chopped up the hard clay. I
>did this, thinking I could make the hard little crumbles stick together
>better, and was I ever wrong! It broke a blade off of my heavy duty food
>processor...
Oh Elizabeth! Scar-ey! I've never heard of this. l add softer clay all the
time to the food processor, though I do pull it into smaller pieces and either
add them one at a time through the shoot, or from the beginning with the small
clumps of harder clay. I've never even heard the engine strain from this
treatment. I'm wondering if you did something a little different from what
I've done--if so, I want to know about it and avoid it!!! I wonder if it's
possible that your machine was already stressed near a breaking point and this
was the straw that broke the camel's back? ( I do know I killed one small
chopper by putting in pieces of clay that were too big, and also not stopping
the machine and rearranging the pieces if the blades stalled while it was
going.)
A couple of things, for Sara, to add to your excellent explanations. *Premo*
doesn't need to be chopped up before putting through the pasta machine; it was
developed specifically to be "pasta-machine ready." Just be sure to slice it in
thinnish slices before putting into the widest setting--just a little wider
than the open slot, or you'll strain your pasta machine. Then follow that with
about 12 passes through, folding it over each time and putting the folded edge
either at the bottom or one of the sides--not the top, or you can trap air
bubbles.
(Also, never fill any food processor--I wouldn't use a blender!--more than
halfway full at one time; it puts too much strain on it and can burn out the
motor or strip the threads from the blade spindle.)
I have trouble with my chest muscles so I try never to have to condition the
clay by hand, so after I remove my bits of clay from the food processor, I give
a few small presses to smoosh the pieces together a bit, then lay the wad on my
counter and begin flattening/rolling it with an 18" acrylic rod (this is what I
saw City Zen Cane do, and the extra length gives loads of torque). It takes
only a short while to get the clay thin enough to begin the needed 12 passes
through the pasta machine.
As for diluents (and I was told rather severely by several medical types that
the "correct" pronunciation is, a-hem, DIL-you-ent), various things will work
and not affect the strength of the clay (as long as you don't add huge amts.)
or the baking time. Sculpey Diluent, mineral oil, vaseline, Fimo's Mix Quick,
SuperSculpey, and other soft clays are some of the softeners you can use. I've
heard that if using Mix Quick or a soft clay, no more than 1/4 of the mix
should be softener?? That sounds like a lot to me anyway. It's best to add the
Diluent after the hard bits are chopped up, a few drops at a time.
If you don't have a food processor, you can use other methods of softening the
clay (Fimo or Cernit--the others usually don't need it) before conditioning.
Anything that warms and/or stretches the clay will work. Body heat (sitting on
or wearing the clay), or putting the clay in a baggie in very warm water, under
a lamp, on a heating pad set on LOW, etc., will begin to soften the clay (just
be sure not to exceed about 105 degrees or you will begin the curing process
which will make the clay harder, not softer!). Other ways to soften hard clay
are to leave it touching a softer clay or one of the diluents for a day or
more--some of the plasticizer will leach into the harder clay.
As to where you can get diluents, Sculpey Diluent is sometimes available on the
*top* of the Sculpey display stand (in a small translucent bottle) or it's
available by mail order. Mix Quick is a long whitish bar of clay and is
sometimes available near the Fimo display stand, or by mail order.
SuperSculpey is usually available (in a 1-lb.green & white box) on a shelf
under the Sculpey III's. The others are probably in your house already.
Actually, Sculpey III or SuperSculpey (not plain white Sculpey in the red box
though) are just fine for many applications strengthwise (beads, e.g.). It's
only the thin or projecting parts that are really subject to breakage, but then
how thin is thin??
Diane B.
G. Gersabeck
In article <7rpkc1$i2g$1...@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>, "Elizabeth"
<thepol...@theprodigy.net> wrote:
>One thing you should *never* do is to add a few lumps of soft, conditioned
>clay to the food processor after it's already chopped up the hard clay. I
>did this, thinking I could make the hard little crumbles stick together
>better, and was I ever wrong! It broke a blade off of my heavy duty food
>processor... the blade flew through the side of the Lexan bowl and into the
>wall behind it. If it had come out the other side of the bowl, it could have
>gone through my son.
>:(
>
>Have fun!
>Elizabeth
>http://www.homestead.com/ziggybeth/poly.html
>
`````````````````````````````````````
OMG---that's terrible!! That's the best tip I've ever read!! You're so
helpful E-beth!
Thanks!
Geo
Elizabeth
conditioned
> >clay to the food processor after it's already chopped up the hard clay. I
> >did this, thinking I could make the hard little crumbles stick together
> >better, and was I ever wrong! It broke a blade off of my heavy duty food
> >processor...
>
Actually, I don't think I realized at the time what had caused it. I was
watching a Maureen Carlson video some time later and she said you shouldn't
ever do that because it is dangerous... the Gingerbread House video.
When you think about it, it makes sense..... the blades are whizzing around
in a sea of those little crumbles, which are loose and basically just
getting tossed around and heated up after a while. When you put chunks of
soft clay (I was using SIII) into those little crumbles, those chunks would
quickly gather a "wall" of crumbles and put up an "instant barricade" for
the blade to slam into. I have been extra careful about them, ever since.
Watching how it blew out of the side of that bowl... whew!
Can I add just one little word of friendly caution about continuing to do
this, Diane?
Donnnnnnnnnnnnn't!!!!!!!!!!!
Please? ;-)
Really, it *was* scary.
Pörrö Törrönen
>When you put chunks of
>soft clay (I was using SIII) into those little crumbles, those chunks would
>quickly gather a "wall" of crumbles and put up an "instant barricade" for
>the blade to slam into. I have been extra careful about them, ever since.
>
>Watching how it blew out of the side of that bowl... whew!
I can not thank you enough for giving this advice in here. I never ever
have heard of it, and as it is I have one old "foodprofessor" waiting to be
sacrificed to the gods of polyclay in near future... (Yes, I really finally
instead to have some spare time although I have a 6 month old baby :-)
This advice should be added to the new FAQ. This is the only lethal way to
use polyclay that I know, and I imideately started to worry about all those
poor clayers who have not heard this.
I also hear a phrase from an old song in my ears, but as this is so untasty
I must say that I really take this issue more seriously than the next
thought might sound;
Killing me softly...
(Sorry folks. Had to. This assosiation- method is just a way I have learned
to remember important things in the long run.)
Please, spread the word. Polyclay is not worth dying although some of use
joke about it sometimes...
PöRRö
--
Polyclay gallery & instructions at
http://www.dlc.fi/~markkujt/index.html
BethCurran
after the kids are in bed, so if I have to condition some Fimo without the
processor, here's what I do: Get a heating pad & put it on the lowest
setting. Chop your Fimo into little bits with a razor blade, put in a
ziplock bag, wrap the bag in an old dishtowel, fold the heating pad over &
put the wrapped bag in the pocket. When the fimo has warmed up, take about
a tablespoonful out and add 3 or 4 drops of baby oil. Moosh up that little
bit into a sticky mess, then add the same amount of clay from the bag.
Moosh that up, then add an equal amount of clay from the bag - in other
words, each time you can take twice as much clay from the bag as you did the
time before. You can add another drop or 2 of oil as you go along, if
necessary. It really goes quite quickly, especially if you're conditioning
several blocks. It's a lot easier to take some new clay and work it into
some leftover conditioned clay than it is to start entirely from scratch, so
I never use up all the conditioned clay unless the kids are awake! - Beth
Curran
--
She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you
would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.
- Following the Equator; Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar
IguanaSara wrote in message
<19990915182310...@ng-cg1.aol.com>...
>Hi...
>
>I just have a couple questions. I'd like to wean myself off of Sculpey III
and
>graduate on up to Fimo. Im tired of handling my Sculpey III creations with
>care and would like something that will hold up better. Ive dabbled in
Fimo,