Polymer clay?

Question

Hi everyone! I have a lot of semi-old figurines I made out of polymer clay. They were a lot of work but I haven't finished them yet and so they're not baked. They've been sitting around on my shelf for a few months now. I was stupid enough not to cover them up before I put them aside so now they're covered in dust.

Do you have any ideas (from people who've actually had experience with this!) how I can get the dust off without ruining the delicate form of the figurines? I thought of washing them but I figured it might ruin the clay..
Help!!

Answer 1

Actually it isn't too easy unfortunately, and I suspect the dust is too embedded to be blown off, but I should try that myself!

Here are some other possibilities though:

...try using various "solvents" like water (not so good with the Fimos though, I think), alcohol, acetone, or even liquid clay or Diluent-Softener --on a brush or a wipie or anything that seems to work, then smooth out again (use light strokes, rubs, till you see how each is working)

...try slicing off, cutting off, or somehow abraiding off the top layer of clay, especially in the worst areas, then smooth out again
.....one abraision idea is using Bon Ami or cornstarch as a very-very fine grit, rubbing it around... they rinse off pretty easily from raw clay

...Or BAKE the items, then do one of the following things till the top layer is gone:

......sand them using wet wet-dry-sandpaper, or sanding sponges, or 0000 or other grades of steel wool
(after doing those, you'd need to then buff the abraided areas to get back the finish you had before, or use a liquid acrylic finish on the areas in a gloss, satin or maybe matte, depending on the look you want)

....add metallic wax (or metallic powder in a medium) to the higher areas of the whole figure or just to the worst spots... or just paint over those areas (acrylic paints) or use light washes

My website has lots more detail on all those things if you need more... if so, go to this page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
....then look especially at the category pages there called Sculpting-Gen. ("Fingerprints," and "White Clay" in particular)... Sanding (most categories, but also "Sanding Before Buffing" ...Buffing...Finishes ...Metallic Powders&Waxes... Paints

And P.S.... check this page for things to drape or store your raw clay items under/in so you won't have to go to all this trouble again! :
http://glassattic.com/polymer/storage.htm

HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 2

I've done this, too, and I found that using canned air (the kind people use to clean keyboards -- found in the computer section at Wal-Mart) works.

You can also take a soft, dry paintbrush and whisk off the dust.

Good luck!