Mie got me some Sculpey from an art supply store. It's this clay-like stuff that is very soft and malleable until you bake it and it hardens. I spent a couple of hours playing with it tonight. It's hard to work with. It's too soft really. In the end I couldn't do anything of a realistic nature I was satisfied with so I started going for more abstract shapes and textures. What I ended up with was a set of four chopstick rests.
Which version of the clay did you have? They seem to have a pretty cool selection of materials... I had no idea you could bake that stuff.
Very cool project!
Posted by: Thomas | 2008.01.14 at 09:24 AM
It's called "Original Sculpey"
I found some tips on their unfortunately designed website [*] on how to make the material less soft. You need to use paper to leech out some of the oils. This also happens naturally over time so it sounds like Sculpey is best used a few weeks after it is first unsealed.
[*] Seriously, take a minute to go to www.sculpey.com. Click on Tips & Techniques in the nav bar and try to navigate to some tips on making the clay less soft. I can't believe someone got paid to design that.
Posted by: dav | 2008.01.14 at 01:49 PM
You know, scupley has some that after it's baked can be used as an eraser. :) Don't know if they still make it - I bought it maybe 2 years ago? Still in my craft closet, lol.
My friend Don makes all sorts of items from polymer clay - wizards, dragons, etc. He has a blog entry from ages ago where he said an embossing gun works great for that stuff. (I'm sure you already know what that is Dav, but if someone else doesn't, it looks very much like a hair dryer, only it puts out super-mega-ultra-high-heat. Minus the 40mph winds!) Just don't leave it out for kids to get a hold of. Those things get hot! :)
Posted by: Laura Fisher | 2008.01.26 at 10:17 PM