do you know how to get polymer clay soft?

Question

soft so i can do this, (the ice cream part of the cone)
thanks!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6354565

Answer 1

I use a garlic press.

Answer 2

Chop the clay into small pieces, then squeeze and roll them together. Keep working the clay (squeezing, rolling, folding) for at least 7 minutes (about 10 minutes for stiffer clays). This is called conditioning the clay. DO NOT STOP JUST BECAUSE THE CLAY IS SOFT ENOUGH TO WORK. It will be soft enough to work long before it is fully conditioned. Conditioning redistributes the plasticizer in the clay and ensures that it will have its maximum strength when it is baked. If you are using a pasta maker, slice the clay so that it has a sharp edge on one end. This will make it easier to feed through the rollers (and keep from damaging the pasta machine). About 12 passes through the rollers is about right.

Answer 3

Polymer clay is very pliable you just have to keep working through the pasta machine or roll it over and over like dough.

Good luck and that is a great project for little girls!

Answer 4

The best and easiest way to do it, is to run it many many times through your clay pasta machine. If you don't have one, you can pick one up at most craft stores for about$10.

Answer 5

to make it soft and easy to work with run it through your pasta machine like 12-15 times

to make it shiny put like a gloss or a glaze on it after baking it and bake it again for a little bit

Answer 6

There is a warming machine you can buy, or you keep working it in your hands until it softens up, or you can run it through a pasta machine several times. If you use the pasta machine method, don't use it for anything else.

Answer 7

Polymer clay can be softened a little just by warming and/or stretching it, or by adding a softer clay to it.

But it can also be "thinned" (all the way down to runny) by adding various other materials.
Various oily things will work (never use water in polymer clay) like veg. oil, glycerin, mineral oil, etc., but most clayers would probably use either Sculpey's Diluent-Softener or a liquid polymer clay for getting the thinner results like for making faux ice cream, frostings, whipped cream, etc.
These softer clays can be shaped by hand, or extruded through icing tips or clay guns, etc., as well as having other things done to them.
.
In fact, liquid polymer clay can be mixed with just a little solid clay or with things like various powders, etc., to make them really runny for glazes on pies, or drizzling onto things.

How much work or additive it would take to soften the clay to various degrees also depends on which brand is used to begin with, and how soft that particular bar is as well.


Check out lots of ways to simulate similar foods and to thin clays for them on this page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/miniatures.htm
(... under "Foods"... click on ICINGS, FROSTINGS, ETC...)

And this page has lots more about the various materials that can be used to soften or thin polymer clay:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/Conditioning.htm
(... click especially on ADDITIVES...)


For more on extruding clay through a clay gun or icing tip, as well as using liquid polymer clays, look on these pages:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/claygun.htm
(... click on SMALL & MEDIUM EXTRUDERS...)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/LiquidSculpey.htm
(... click especially on DRIZZLING, under "Dimensional Uses"...)

And, if you want to use a gloss finish on the clay afterwards to make it shiny, check out which finishes are safe for use on polymer clay on this page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/finishes.htm


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 8

this might not be the answer to your problem, but i want to tell you this..... if you put hard playdough under the water, it will make it soft, just wanted to let you know :)