Question About Polymer Clay

[Spec Grade]

I have read a few posts about this stuff & I had a few questions about using it, if you guys don't mind.
Is it as easy as mixing it & sculpting it to whatever color combo & design that you want?
After you mix & sculpt it, do you just bake it in the oven until it's "set" ?

Is it as hard as an acrylic blank after it's baked?
Are any special tools needed to turn it?

BTW, those blanks look really nice guys.
Thanks for any help.

 

[creativewriting]

I am sure you will get some different opinions on the ease of use and turning. For the mixing and sculpting part it is that easy. The colors stay seperated and you can do just about anything and any color. There are also effect clays (shimmer, translucent, glow in the dark, etc.).

Turning is a different story. It takes a light hand and a little patience. I usually turn down to the rough size stopping short of the bushings and wet sand the rest.

The clay will not be as hard as acrylic. It is more like plastic when it is cured in the oven. I haven't had any trouble with durability and a CA or several layers of Deft will help.

Regular wood turning tools are used. There are a few polymer artist that use a lathe for making beads. They use sharpened ceramic trimming tools. It sounds funny, but it works. Some of them wrap the clay around a home-made mandrel and turn before they cure. Again it sounds crazy, but again it works. The clay is then backed on the mandrel and popped off before is is completely cooled.

I've gone on long enough so I will let the others chime in.

 

[BigguyZ]

I've had no problems drilling blanks when making solid rods of PC. But, when I turn a PC blank, I forgo my usual tool of the scraper for a skew. The skew does a better job on the softer material.

Light cuts, very sharp tools.