Problems with polymer clay

[Former_Member]

I got some clay at micheals and I am having issues, the shimmery ones are stretchy and soft and work really well. The solids are all crumbly.. I cant use them at all... they just crumble when I try to tear off a piece to work with.. I don't really know what to do... I have always had a bit of issue with polymer being hard to work with , but these are just unbearable. Any tips ?

[FlowertownOriginals]

I bought some Premo from Michaels just 2 weeks ago that was crumbly. But fortunately for me my plans were to mix it with another color. It was a pain to get it mixed in but once I did I was able to use it. I have tried a clay softener before but didn't find it very helpful. It seemed to just leave the clay greasy. You might try mixing the hard clay with a really soft one and hopefully you will be able to use it.

[PattysPrettyThings]

Take them back! I've had to do that before at Michaels, and they are usually pretty nice about it. I'm the crazy lady that will sit down in the aisle and squish all of th clay to make sure it's soft enough.

[Former_Member]

I usually mix harder ones with a bit of a softer one, to get a consistency that isn't too sticky, but can still be moulded easily.

Yes, or just take them back!!!

[Former_Member]

Certain brands of, and even certain colored clay can be nightmares! What kind of clay did you buy?

But I've been having problems even with the Premo Sculpey. Black in particular is really annoying me lately. I don't really know why that is though, because other times, the black is really smooshy.

[Former_Member]

mixing crumbly clay with a bit of Mix Quick works well for me. :)

[Former_Member]

I use Fimo, and have exactly the same problem. Black, white, and the metallic colours are very easy to work with. All the plain colours take a lot of work to get them maliable enough to work with.

I usually resort to mixing with a soft colour, or just tough it out until I get it soft enough. I really need to buy a pasta machine to do all this for me!

[starless]

Sculpey Clay Softener works really well for the crumbly ones! Just spread a couple drops over a sheet of clay and work it in using the pasta machine or your hands, repeat until it's the texture you want. Go lightly at first and make sure you mix it really well to avoid greasy or sticky clay.

[linsart]

Mix in a little baby oil.. that is all the softener you buy is ! And yes, take it back is another option. I always squeeze a corner of the block to test the freshness before I buy my Sculpey clay bars. Hope this helps !

[Loopsanddots]

I have used the baby oil too and it worked for me with black clay, it's worth trying...

[Former_Member]

I've returned it when I've gotten hard, crumbling clay. But, something I've heard works well is to toss it in a food processor (one dedicated to clay.) I plan to get one... one of these days.

[Former_Member]

I was going to suggest the food processor as well. I picked up a normal sized food processor at Walmart for $25. I first used it when I wanted to blend a large amount of a custom flesh color. I cut the block down into 2 or 3 pieces (you may not even need to do that). Not having used this method before I was worried about burning up the motor so I used the 'pulse' method rather than turning it on and letting it run. My clay was in nice tiny pieces about the size of rice krispies. Best of all, the process actually WARMED the clay. Straight from the bowl it was soft and pinchable!

For clean up I simply pour a little alcohol into the bowl and use those cotton face cleaning pads to wipe out the bowl, blade and lid. I LOVE it.

If necessary, process the clay and then maybe add a couple drops of the clay softener and process again to mix it in.

[Former_Member]

Okay I will try the mineral oil or yeah take it back... I mean I already opened it and it was only 99 cents I dont know if they will give me a refund but maybe.. the blue pack I tore apart trying to soften it but the others I can try to return..

Ugh, so frustrating. I am going to have to switch to all metallic I think, they are a lot softer...

The clay was the Premo accents I think ? I think all of it was the same brand. The coppery shimmery one was so soft, it was perfect and then I had a pinkish shimmery one that was okay.. the other three were awful...

[Former_Member]

I use vegetable oil when mine is too crumbly. But just a LITTLE bit. Too much and it gets too soft and then you can't work with it.