I first discovered Polymer Clay in the far 2019. It reminded me of the happy childhood days playing with Plastilin, making some made figurines up creatures or animals.
Turns out, nowadays Polymer Clay is widely used in different crafts including jewellery. At the time I just moved back to my home country Latvia and didn't have a studio space to work with metals and create fine jewellery. Somehow, scrolling though Pinterest, I discovered this fantastic material - Polymer Clay! Not only I could access it freely in the local craft stores, order it online in a cheaper price range than silver or other metals, work with it at home with no special equipment, and cure it in the everyday oven, with no kilns needed for clay! How cool is that?
With no hesitation, I rushed to a local Hobby Store to get this fantastic, newly discovered material. “Newly discovered” for me, apparently many people around the globe have been creating amazing stuff with it for a while now, somehow I missed it in the World Wide Web. It took me a while to get to know the material, learn all the qualities it has, how to work with it, roll it, bake it, finish it. Luckily, there is looooads of information out there, but you have to find your own approach to the dear polymer clay.
At first, I didn’t buy the appropriate rollers. I used the wooden cookie rollers I found at home, so ended up with the clay with imperfections. I didn't use pliers to work with the jump rings, I used my hands and ended up with wonky connectors. I was experimenting with everything myself, because I was interested in the material and how does it work. But, if I would have known they exist, I would have probably gotten a DIY KIT for starting my journey with Polymer Clay! That is the reason we have created a kit with the things your need for the beginning of this journey, working with Polymer Clay.
Backing up to my own journey with polymer clay, I was so surprised and excited about the versatility of the material! The possibilities are literally endless! First, the colours.. Oh, there are so many colours in the stores! Personally, I am a fan of blacks and neutrals, but you can go crazy with the colours! Textures. There is so much you can do - mix different colours, create various patterns using bits and bobs found in the nature - leafs, flowers, twigs. There are even special made rollers for polymer clay, that you can buy! And shapes… Use cookie cutters, 3d printed cutters for polymer clay, use a kitchen knife to cut out the shape you desire, or make a 3-dimensional shaped bead to use in your jewellery!
Honestly, I have used polymer clay in my work for a while now, but it feels like I discover the possibilities of this fantastic material again and again every day.
Are you still waiting to to try polymer clay? Just go for it! Go wild, get creative and make something incredibly unique!