Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Studio Tip #5: Slicing a Round Log

I'm up to my eyeballs preparing for the upcoming workshops that I'll be teaching over the next 4 weeks! In the meantime, here's a short video to show you how I slice round canes/logs, keeping them from flattening out on the bottoms or from squishing them. If your clay is very soft, let it sit for about 20 minutes before you slice (I must admit, I never have that amount of patience!) Polymer clay is "thixotropic". That means, like yogurt and acrylic paint, when you work it it becomes thinner, but when it then sits for a while, it firms up again (to varying degrees). Sorry about the music - I always have it on in the studio and consciously don't notice - it's that much a part of my creative process, lol.


4 comments:

  1. Like the video and the music, although I didn't really notice it until you mentioned it.
    Do you ever chill the clay before slicing? I think a lot of people have problems slicing because their blade is not sharp. Or like me, trying to slice with the back of the blade.

    Jay

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    1. Yes, Jay, I do often chill with a nice glass of Chardonnay, but sometimes I go wild and have a vintage beaujolais! As far as clay goes, no, I don't chill it. I think you can see by now that I try to go with the simplest process, if it works. If it doesn't, then I'm the most anal-retentive clayer I've ever met, lol.

      I get what you're saying with the blade. I now work mostly with a very old, dull blade because I have so many cut scars on my fingers. I save the really sharp ones for specific tasks and then I really c-o-n-c-e-n-t-r-a-t-e!

      Hope you have a fabulous day and thank you so much for your comments.

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  2. Argh!! Cutting with the back of the blade...been there, done that. :P

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    1. Ouch! I feel your pain! Hope you've healed up (and hired a "boy" to do your slicing and dicing for you :P

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