Method for softening polymer clay

One of the defects of #polymer #clay is its tendency to become #rigid, especially if it remains exposed to the air for too long, so it’s #harder to #work.

Fortunately there are #methods that allow us to recover the aged pasta in order to be able to use it again; here below I’ll list some of them.

Heat

If the dough is not too hard, the #heat of the hands can be applied; this process requires a little patience but is often sufficient; if the dough remains too hard, you can use other heat sources such as a hot water bottle or a light bulb. During this procedure, excessive exposure must be avoided, in order not to risks cooking the #polymer, otherwise making it useless.

Forced manipulation

The dough must be chopped into many pieces, and after being heated with hands, it‘s reassembled; If it is still too hard, you can flatten it using a #rolling pin or break it into smaller pieces. In extreme cases, there are clay mixers that can help for the purpose.

Products

They are specially created to #soften #clays; most of them are sold by the same brands as #polymers and can be in liquid form (diluents or #liquid #clays) or in solid form (blocks of emollient products). Just follow the instructions to do a good job.

Other #methods consist in using commonly used products such as #mineral #oil, or children oil, or #vaseline; these fit perfectly to this purpose and a few drops are enough;

Another alternative is to mix the #old #blocks with the new ones; in this case it is good to use #polymers of the same colour, unless you want to change its shade, or create a new one.

That's all for today and we'll see you next time.

Itasil

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