Polymer clay users...question about your cutting blade?

Question

I have had mine for a couple years now and it's not cutting well anymore, they are fairly cheap, I think I will just replace mine, do you have to replace yours every few years or am I just not taking care of mine properly?

Also...if you make beads out of your polymer clay, do you normally punch a hole in the bead before its baked or drill one in later?

Answer 1

Blades of any kind will dull but you can save the truly dulled ones for other polymer chores. There are ways to re-sharpen them theoretically though, but may be more trouble than you want to go to. There are also ways to use them so their sharpness lasts as long as possible, and ways to cut which will temporarily improve their cutting ability.

You can read much more about all that, and various kinds of blades that can be used with polymer clay, on this page of my site, if you're interested in more details:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/cutters-blades.htm
(...look under "Blades," and especially at the subcategory called "Sharpness")


As for making holes in beads, I usually make holes in beads that are dimensional/rounded before baking.
But I sometimes make the holes after baking if the shape is weird (bicones, for example), or I want the beads to stay perfectly round (usually I don't though... slightly flattened ends nestle better with other beads, and look more custom-made than mass-produced), or if there are many-many small beads, etc.

For flat beads (pendants, etc.), if there's a hole I usually make it before baking with a tiny straw (twisting through the clay, then removing), but also might do them after baking for various reasons.

Again, there's more info on making holes in dimensional and flat-ish beads, both before and after baking, on these pages:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads-holes.htm

http://glassattic.com/polymer/pendants_cording.htm
(on that page, click on "Holes")
There's also info about using other kinds of connectors and things instead of making holes on that last page.


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 2

I haven't been working long enough with polymer clay to answer your first question about how long they should last, but what I would do is just replace it, because it is important to have them do a neat, clean cut and they are so cheap and easy to find in craft stores.

I always do the hole ahead of baking. I like for mine to evenly bake and hold their shape, so I put a long silver-plated head pin through the hole I pre-made, and put two bamboo skewers across my baking dish and balance all the beads on their head pins across the sticks so no sides of my beads are against any surfaces of my dish while baking - rotisserie style!