I mentioned in my previous blog that many of our best and most favorite tools come from around our house, so I thought I would share some of my most favorite “home found” tools.
Some of these have some obvious uses:
- Toothpicks – to poke holes in unbaked clay or pop bubbles in Liquid Sculpey
- The Mini Mister- every once in a while we need a quick mist of water or alcohol, especially if using a gelli plate with clay!
- The Finger Tip Texture – These are used to help sort papers, but we use them for texturing the backs of pieces quickly!
Now let’s see what some of these other goodies can do for you!
The pink eraser is PERFECT to remove the very thin excess baked Liquid Sculpey BEFORE you remove a piece from the mold! I just scrub it across the top and those pesky little guys just come right off! I can also use it to remove lightly smudged inks and/or pencil from baked clay.
The orange sponge (actually a soap keeper) and the black strip (stair safety tred) at the bottom are in my “must have” list because I use them to texture with! They are great for the backs of pieces as well as for adding subtle texture to the front of the designs. These pieces are textured with the stair safety tred.
The black piece of straw (I collect all sizes of straws I come across!) can be used to put larger diameter holes in your beads. I just use an Etch n’ Pearl to push the clay quickly out of the straw. I also cut the straws into shorter pieces like this one – that way I get more tools to use later!
That gnarly looking toothbrush? Well, I can use that for both texture OR (my favorite!) to spatter paint on the clay for texture! Just brush a little bit of your paint on the tips of the bristles, move your pieces onto a large sheet of scrap paper AWAY from your work desk (it’s SPATTER) and just tilt the brush towards the clay and scrape your finger across the bristles. You can see that the rust colored paint on the earrings above has been spattered onto the surface leaving a texture as well as a pattern!
Lastly, the translucent piece is a terrific way to add a linear texture to your clay. Spray it lightly with water and run it right through the pasta machine with your clay (remember to set the machine one layer wider than what you want the final sheet to be!). I got a small piece of this one time at a retreat I was teaching at. I was mystified as to what it was and the person who had donated it wasn’t at the retreat. Then one day I was walking through Target and there…on an end shelf.. were glorious rolls of it! It’s plastic shelving liner! AND it’s two-sided so it gives you two different textures!
I hope this brief list has got you searching your house right now for new tools and textures!
Share your favorite Sculpey tips and finished work with us by using the hashtag #HowDoYouSculpey. And don’t forget to mention which clay you are using (#Premo or #Souffle)
xoxo, syn
