How to Start Being a Polymer Clay Artist

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How to Start Being a Polymer Clay Artist

This guide will give insights into the tools, clay colours and other essentials needed to start sculpting your very own art pieces.

Monisha Gomez

3.6k Views

Step 1 of 14

Polymer clay is a hobby/profession which has captivated the hearts of many people. You can make charms, figurines etc. for yourself or to sell them and make money. Basically, create whatever you want.

Step 2 of 14

These are some of my own polymer clay pieces I have crafted by myself or have been inspired by the many other polymer clay enthusiasts.

Step 3 of 14

These are the polymer clay. The price per block is about S$4 for Fimo polymer clay at Popular bookstores. If you decide to go for Premo brand, it's about S$5. Different brands have slight variance.

Step 4 of 14

If you're a beginner and is unsure on whether you're going to continue this hobby, I suggest buying the primary colours, together with black and a lot of white. You can mix them to get other colours.

Step 5 of 14

This is my tool box were I keep my craft knife, ball tools, etc. It's important to keep organise as you grow your polymer clay hobby.

Step 6 of 14

1 Scraper to lift up a clay piece stuck to surface. 2 Blade to help cut a chuck of clay from block. 3 Craft knife essential to create different edges, shapes. 4 Brush to add texture (e.g. biscuit).

Step 7 of 14

Solid polymer clay is unable to give certain effects (e.g. blood). Liquid polymer clay can be bought at S$10. Mix it with acrylic paint, oil or soft pastels to attain different textures (e.g. chunky).

Step 8 of 14

Take note, when adding acrylic paint to your baked polymer clay, glazing is a necessary finishing step to secure your paintwork.

Step 9 of 14

After you've created a charm, you might consider turning it into jewellery (don't forget to put an eye pin into your polymer clay!).

Step 10 of 14

To create a pair of earrings, silver wire, earring hooks and of course, your already inserted eye pin into your art piece are needed. Twist the wire around your charm and connect it to the hooks.

Step 11 of 14

I added some buttons to these Gingerbread man earrings.

Step 12 of 14

To make a bracelet, buy some fishing line, some ends for the bracelet, and a lobster hook (extreme right). REMEMBER YOUR EYE PINS ARE ALREADY INSERTED INTO YOUR ART PIECES.

Step 13 of 14

Banana bracelet :)

Step 14 of 14

Last but not the least, get a box with different compartments to sort your charms. I've got one, time will tell when I'll do a charm collection video on my YouTube channel ;)

You're Done

Check out other guides by this author!

Monisha Gomez

Singapore

wonderfullysaid.tumblr.com/pol...

Guides on everything inspirational, and they're mostly polymer clay <3

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26 Comments

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Aanchal !

miss moe dee ☆

Adam Cowan

Jaya Cadieux

MiMi Love

Javier Infante

Central valley 559

Melanie Adams

Newfoundland, Canada

Alyssa V

Wonderland

Katja Olsen

In Bieber dreamland :D

Lizette Lopez

Emma Rushin

Amber Slaton

Amy Johnson

Strangeville

Hannah Skerritt

Olivia Richardson

Steph  

Sara Phillips

Kestrel B.🌈👾🇬🇧

Jennifer Weisser

Mia Kageler

Alex MB

mynameis momma

Deep South, USA

JoDee McLaughlin

Elmo K.S

Waverly VDH

Polymer clay

Ball tools

Craft knife

Acrylic paints

Findings (*eyepins)

Tile (or a not stick surface)

Oil and soft pastels

Liquid polymer clay

Can you make a guide on how to make the PBJ and blueberry sandwiches???

Jo Jo Hudnall last week

Cool, I'm not doubt this is your hobby;-)

Laura Mikkelsen last week

@Denise Lee I've always wanted to but unfortunately, my time is taken up by school, extracurricular activities etc. I want to start during my vacation but unfortunately I'm having an immersion programme overseas for the whole term :( I will try my best to come up with another guide before I head off 😊

Monisha Gomez (author) 4 months ago

are you going to create a YouTube channel for clay enthusiasts like us? 😋

Denise lee 4 months ago

I like to make pandas

Megan L 8 months ago

Wow, you are amazing. You also just inspired me to spend yet more money!

Trula R 9 months ago

Awesome thanks for the guide

Oscar Uribe 9 months ago

Thanks, i'll be sure to try my best! 😃

Adam Cowan 9 months ago

Yay! Thank you! ^_^

Malea Sager 9 months ago

Great please post some I can't wait!

Megan L 9 months ago

*when you're

Monisha Gomez (author) 9 months ago

@Richardson It's not messy 😄 But make sure to keep some baby wipes so hen your starting on moulding a different coloured clay, the clay colour from your previous work won't rub onto the colour you are currently working on.

Monisha Gomez (author) 9 months ago

:D no probs you should be proud of yourself I'm gonna try this at the weekend is it messy ? X

Olivia Richardson 9 months ago

What an awesome guide! Thanks for taking the time to post this.

Janice Wells 9 months ago

@Sager I'll see what I can do 😊 @Sam I haven't post any videos up as I'm a bit shy, that's why I start off here, on Snapguide 😉 @Zoraya Sure, I'll make them maybe this or next month, thanks! @Megan Once I'm brave enough to post videos, I'll give out my username. Thanks for asking though 😄 @Cowan The only way to add colour to your white Fimo clay is by mixing it with other coloured polymer clay, or you could try mixing it with acrylic paints. I've done that before but be careful not to add too much paint as the clay might fall apart 😞 @Richardson Thank you so much 😘 @Elmo Thank you for your compliments 😄 If it helps, try going onto YouTube, there are many clay enthusiasts there and I've made most you see here using the tutorials uploaded on YouTube.

Monisha Gomez (author) 9 months ago

Ive tried to make things out of clay, but I've never been able to think of what to make, so I just sit there staring at my clay with no inspiration :( but you've inspired me! Everything that you've made is so cute! Thank you!

Elmo K.S 9 months ago

The cutest coolest guide yet the bananas look amazing xx

Olivia Richardson 9 months ago

is there any way to change the colour of the clay? I only have white and food colouring didn't work, i'm not sure what to use, i don't have varnish for a different finish and it is oven bake white fimo clay, any suggestions? Great guides by the way!

Adam Cowan 9 months ago

Such a cool hobby what are you called on YouTube?

Megan L 9 months ago

This is soo cool! can you make a guide of how to make donut earrings?

Zoraya . 9 months ago

Oh finally i found the information i was looking for. Please countinue this kind of guides on snapguide. Could you plz give us your youtube channel?

Tabasom Sam 9 months ago

Here's the link: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&site=webhp&tbm=isch&source=hp&q=serah+farron+necklace&oq=serah+farron+n&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.1.0.0j0i24l4.8699.16142.0.17573.15.14.0.1.1.0.567.3823.2-4j2j1j3.10.0.chyp%2Ca%3D1%2Cb%3D1000%2Cn%3D5%2Ct%3D2..0.0...1ac.WBVwFu09MQo&biw=320&bih=416&sei=-PJEUK2UJ4nE2gXm3YDQDA#p=0

Malea Sager 9 months ago

*i like my art perfect lol

Malea Sager 9 months ago

Oh it's a final fantasy xiii and xiii-2 game, it's too difficult for me to do I've tried dozens of times and i

Malea Sager 9 months ago

Using other brands of clay is okay I guess as long as they're really hard so that the eye pins won't come loose. May I know what's serah farrons necklace? :/

Monisha Gomez (author) 9 months ago

I have clay you bake in the oven from Walmart that never dries out is that ok? And I was wondering if you could make a guide on how to make serah farrons necklace? :)

Malea Sager 9 months ago

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