Top Tips
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- Safety First
- What tools to use
- The colour range when making miniatures
- Conditioning clay
- Repeated baking
- Support pieces during the baking process
- Working and baking clay on a tile
- Assembling the final items
- Cutting unbaked clay and avoiding distortion
- Liquid Polymer clay
- Colouring clay with Artists Acrylic Pastels
- Book recommendations
Stating the obvious, polymer clay is a modelling material, do not eat it, suck it or eat foods whilst working with the medium. Always follow the instructions on the packet. Never bake Polymer clay at a higher temperature than that recommended. Not only does clay baked at too high a temperature give off harmful fumes it also burns the clay, ruining the item.
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A joint of ham inadvertently baked at 180 degrees Centigrade as opposed to 130 degrees. The clay melted and burnt and the item was ruined. |
If you do burn the clay by mistake, turn off the oven, open the
windows and doors and leave the room until the fumes have dispersed
completely. If you feel unwell having been exposed to fumes, seek
medical attention.
Whilst Polymer clay is non toxic it is only sensible that tools used
with polymer clay should not then be used with foods, and you should
always wash your hands when you have finished working.
What tools to use
You do not need a lot of equipment when working with polymer clay, a few
tools, a domestic oven, some enthusiasm and nimble fingers are all
that’s required. The tools in the photograph are the ones that I find
most useful, but a lot of makers get by with a just a rolling pin, craft
knife and cocktail sticks (toothpicks). A ceramic tile makes an ideal
work surface, and the items can then be baked in-situ on the tile. A
ruler helps to ensure that you are working accurately to scale.
I personally find a curved blade in my craft knife more versatile than a
straight blade. A tissue blade (essentially a 4 or 6 inch long razor
blade) is very effective when working with polymer clay; its useful for
cutting thin slices from canes and for cutting segments, for example,
from cakes . However take great care when working with tissue blades,
they are VERY sharp, and should be treated with considerable respect.
Never on any account allow them to be used by children. A short, backed,
razor blade may be a safer option, but again sharp blades and children
are not a safe mix.
A wooden rolling pin tends to mark the clay, so use either a glass (or
straight sided, glass, bottle) or acrylic rolling pin. I constantly use
fine pointed tweezers, not only to hold things in place, but to texture
surfaces and as a modelling tool. A pin tool can be purchased or made by
baking a pin into a handle of polymer clay. The two cable needles are
useful modelling tools, as is the Hockey stick tool used in Pergamano
and the ball (embossing) tool. The burnishing tool to the left of the
craft knife is useful for modelling and also when mixing liquid clay
into solid clay.
A small piece of foam makes an excellent texturing tool, as does a piece
of kitchen scourer should you require a coarser effect. Netting and
sandpaper are also useful for texturing the surface of the clay.
Cake icing supply shops are a good source of suitable tools and cutters.
Suitable tools and everything associated with polymer clay, including a
variety of different brands, can be purchased from the Polymer Clay Pit
and Polymer Clay Express (see links).
The colour range when making miniatures
My personal choice of colours when making miniature food would be:
white, translucent, light beige (Champagne in the Fimo range), dark
yellow (Golden yellow in the Fimo range), red, deep red (Bordeaux red in
the Fimo range), orange, leaf green, green, and brown (previously
Terracotta in the Fimo range, now chocolate). My secondary list would
contain yellow, carmine red, black, and “Milk and plain chocolate
colour” (Raw Umber and Raw Sienna from the Premo™ range). I also use
Fimo porcelain sold for Doll making, but this is sold in large 350 gram
blocks and you need to make a lot of food to justify it. Porcelain is
perfect for making crockery and wedding cakes and recently I have been
using it as a substitute for Fimo Translucent as it has become very
soft.
You do not need to purchase all these colours. I make a large variety of
foods and have cause to use a large colour palate. You have to consider
what it is you plan to make before you purchase any clay, do not waste
your money buying green if you have no intention of making vegetables.
Conditioning clay
Polymer clay needs to be conditioned before modelling. All this means is
that it needs to be worked slightly to make it malleable. Rolling and
folding the clay in your hands or on a tile will achieve this pliable
state. You can test when the clay is conditioned satisfactorily by
rolling it into a cylinder and folding it back on itself; if the clay
cracks you need to work it more.
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The clay on the left requires more conditioning. |
If you are working with large amounts of clay it can be conditioned
by passing it repeatedly though a polymer clay dedicated pasta machine,
or by giving it a quick blast in a food processor, (which should not
then be used for food use).
Repeated baking
It is safe for polymer clay to be baked repeatedly, just check the
temperature is not exceeded. This property is useful when making such
items as cabbages. Having modelled the “heart” of a cabbage it can be
baked, and once cool the additional leaves can be added onto the baked
“heart” (using a tiny bit of liquid polymer clay as glue) without the
risk of distorting the modelled “heart”.
Support pieces during the baking process
Whilst in the heat of the oven during the curing process all the clays
will “soften” slightly. Sometimes it is necessary to support an item,
for example the arm on a doll, in position using a piece of card or foil
during baking. Once baked and cooled the clay will hold its shape.
Working and baking clay on a tile
I use a tile as a work surface and frequently bake the model in-situ on
the tile. The surface of the clay that is against the tile will take on
a gloss appearance. In most instances this does not matter, but if you
do not wish this to happen bake the item on a piece of card. If you are
using a fan assisted oven place the tile in a shallow container, for
example a roasting tin, as light items may be blown off the tile.
Do not leave unbaked clay on paper or card as the oils will leach into
the paper.
Assembling the final items
So you have made all the pieces to go into your scene, what do you do
next? Personally I use PVA glue when I assemble my final settings. It
has the advantage over superglue that the pieces can be prised apart if
you change your mind.
Cutting unbaked clay and avoiding distortion
When you have modelled a cake (for example) and you wish to cut a slice,
the blade, however sharp it is, can distort the clay downwards. Placing
the unbaked cake in the fridge for an hour will firm the clay and reduce
the amount of downward distortion when you cut a slice. If you bake the
cake then cut away the slice whilst the clay is still warm from the
oven, there will be no distortion but the cut surface will have a
slightly matt appearance. If you paint the cut surface with a thin smear
of Sculpey
Diluent™and bake the piece again the “mattness” will
disappear. It is a matter of personal preference as to which method you
use.
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| The two segments on the left were cut whilst warm and show some distortion. The two slices on the right were cut once baked and have a matt appearance. The pair in the middle were cut after being chilled and before baking and show little distortion and no discolouration. |
Liquid Polymer clay
There are two brands of liquid Polymer clay currently readily available
in the UK; Translucent Liquid Sculpey™ (TLS) and Liquid Fimo™ (other
brands are available in the USA but I have not had experience with them
and cannot comment upon them). All brands of liquid clay can be used as
a “glue” to hold unbaked clay to baked clay, once baked the bond will be
solid and permanent.
They liquid clays need to be coloured, otherwise they are translucent
when baked. Colour the liquid clays by adding tiny amounts of oil paint,
a tiny pin head of paint is sufficient to colour a teaspoon of clay. Do
not be tempted to use a lot of oil paint to colour the clay, as it will
cause the surface to bubble when it is baked.
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Too much oil paint was added to the liquid clay. |
I use cheap oil paints except for red where I use a slightly better
quality paint as I found the cheap red from my “Pound Shop” set of oil
paints baked more orange than red.
Liquid Fimo™ is more translucent and makes excellent jellies, imitation
stained glass and coloured drinks. You can even use it to make perfect
champagne; just stir the uncoloured Liquid Fimo™ with a cocktail stick,
add it to a glass, bake it and you have champagne with the bubbles in
situ. Liquid Fimo™ can be used to create very realistic jellies; mix up
whatever colour you wish and bake the liquid clay in one of the
decorative kitchen jelly moulds that are readily available by mail
order. Whilst still warm the jelly can be realised from the mould. If
you want a tricolour jelly each colour must be baked before the addition
of the next layer.
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| Three jellies made from Liquid Fimo. |
Transparent Liquid Sculpey™ is more opaque and viscous. It can be
coloured to imitate tea, custard, sauces, mousses, cake icing and I mix
it with pre-baked grated clay to make a variety of foods that require
texture or a distinct colour mix.
Colouring clay with Artists Acrylic Pastels
Artists’ Acrylic Pastels are used to enhance the colour on the outside
surfaces of bread, cakes, pastry, fruit, vegetables, poultry and meats
and they are an indispensable part of my toolbox. Pastels are readily
available from any artists’ supply shop and produce a fine powder that,
when applied to the uncooked polymer clay, gives a subtlety of colour
that looks very natural. The action of cooking makes the colour
permanent.
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The loaf of bread has been coloured with pastel powder. |
Rub the pastel sticks across a piece of paper and use a paintbrush or
micro-brush to apply the resulting powder to the clay. When using
pastels take care not to contaminate your clothes, work surface or
anything else you are working on with the powder.
I mostly use various shades of browns, greens, and sandy yellows through
to light orange.
Book recommendations
When modelling it is best to model from life, but this is not always
practical. There are two books (that I know of) that contain pictures of
foods and ingredients, and these are indispensable reference sources.
The books are “The book of ingredients” by Philip Dowell and Adrian
Bailey ISBN 0-7181-3043-X and “Ingredients” by Loukie Werle and Jill Cox
ISBN 1-86343-354-6 unfortunately both these books are out of print but
are available through Amazon’s second hand book sellers section.
“Cooking Ingredients” ISBN 1 84309 714 1 by Christine Ingham also
contains pictures of foodstuffs (although not quite so many as the other
two books) and is available through Amazon.
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