Making Doll Food Polymer Clay 101 pt 4

Watch the video here.

This week we are going to talk about texturing our clay projects. This is one of my favorite parts of working with clay. It is just so much fun to take a piece of clay and use some simple tools to give it the texture to make it look like something els.

These are my favorite tools for this process and none of them are expensive. Most in fact are free or almost free. None will cost you over a dollar or two.

First up is the peppercorn. Yes, you read that correctly a peppercorn from the kitchen. These little things are really just little balls of texture. Each one is just a bit different and they are small and easy to use. Look for one that has lots of texture, some are much more smooth than others.

Next is really a category and I will just call them “pointy tools” these can be anything that comes to a sharp point. The three here are my favorites but look in your stash and see what you can come up with. My all time favorite is the dental pick, I like it the best because of the long handle so I can get the point to just the angle I want it. The pin is my next favorite, try to find one with the bead type head, they are much easier to hold onto (and they don't get lost as easy on the work table)

A ball of aluminum foil is the next tool we are working with. Either a large ball or a small one, or have a few on hand of different sizes. Just crumple the foil up a few times then mash it into a ball that is comfortable to hold.

Our fourth “tool” is some sandpaper and/or an emery board. They are really used for the same texture just different scales of the texture. I also occasionally bake items on top of a piece of sandpaper, that way the texture just happens automatically. I also use the emery board to help me hold/support items when I am using some of the other tools.

The pot scrubber, you can get these near the dish washing items in the grocery store or the dollar store. I actually prefer the texture of the ones from the dollar store and they come 3 for a dollar (at least at my store yesterday)

Our last tools are the brushes. I use both some wire cleaning brushes that I purchased at Harbor Freight and a dollar store toothbrush. I am sure you can get the wire brushes just about anywhere that sells tools. These both are so handy and I use them a lot.

So those are my favorite tools to texture clay with. I hope you are finding this series helpful. If you have specific areas of working with clay you would like me cover be sure to let me know.