How to cook polymer clay
Today, many people know how to make jewelry, dolls and other crafts from polymer clay — this material is becoming increasingly popular among craftsmen. Most polymer clay crafters know that finished clay items must be baked in the oven, but not heated in the microwave. However, there is a technology that allows you not to bake, but to boil polymer clay, and as a result, get high-quality material.
Instruction
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Choose the right utensil for polymer clay in the microwave — this can be a bowl made of any material except ceramic and clay. Pour enough water into the bowl so that its level covers the product by two-thirds.
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The larger the product, the longer the cooking time will be, and the size should be proportional to the volume of the cooking container. For example, if you are going to boil simple beads, do not use a bowl that is too large.
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Cooking time is calculated based on the fact that each millimeter of the thickness of the product is boiled for one minute. Add another three minutes to the obtained number of minutes in thickness, and you will get the optimal cooking time for the plastic.
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A common disadvantage of this method of working with plastic is a white coating that forms on the surface of the product and spoils its original color. In fact, the color of the plastic does not change during cooking — a whitish tint does not indicate fading of the plastic, but about the sediment that formed on the surface of the product after cooking.
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You can easily remove the white layer with fine sandpaper, and you will again see the original color of the plastic. In addition, you can minimize the risk of white deposits — since sediment is a consequence of high water hardness, you can use filtered purified water, in which there are much less salts and deposits, which means that there will be no sediment on the surface of the clay.
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You can also boil tap water separately before cooking — all the salts will settle on the dishes, and the water will become cleaner. A small white coating, which can still form on the surface of the product, is easy to remove with a cotton swab dipped in citric acid.
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Use the container that you have chosen for cooking plastics only for technical, but not for food purposes, in order to avoid poisoning. In order for the product not to lose its shape during the cooking process, first slowly lower it into low-boiling water on a spoon, which also cannot be used for food purposes.
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It is not necessary to use a microwave oven for cooking — you can cook the product on a regular stove in any saucepan chosen for this purpose. The main thing is to observe the correct cooking time, and then rinse the product under running cold water.
