Doing Polymer Clay Cheaply

(several of my previous posts at Craftster combined)

If you need to save money (or just hate to spend anything you don't need to spend!), there are definitely ways to do that with polymer clay.  

For example, you don't need to buy some of the basic things needed at places like Michaels, etc.
A plain old standing oven thermometer is cheaper at  grocery stores, Target, etc., and regular toaster ovens will also be cheaper (or at thrift stores, etc.) if you even decide to get one... all toaster ovens can have problems with temperature regulation though, even expensive ones, so the main thing is to just get one that's reasonable... sometimes clayers take one or more back after they check them at home (without clay).  

For more info on ovens, testing, baking, etc.: http://glassattic.com/polymer/baking.htm (... click on Ovens...)   

A pasta machine is a good idea though (using a bi-weekly 40% off coupon at Michaels), and the less-sturdy pasta Chinese-made pasta machines will be just fine as long as you do a few things to keep from messing them up.  This page has more details on those as well as the many uses pasta machines have for polymer clay: http://glassattic.com/polymer/pastamachines.htm (for example) > General Care 

 You'll probably want to buy at least one long blade for doing many things with polymer clay, and the ones you'll find at Michaels are fine although they can be a little different according to brand.  In the interim, most things can be done with a single-edge razor blade, and a pack of those at a hardware store or Target are cheap. 

More on the various kinds of blades and their differences (as well as "shape cutters" of various types) on this page: http://glassattic.com/polymer/cutters-blades.htm 

 A clay extruder/gun is fun, and not too expensive, but it could wait if you didn't want to do the few things it's good at right away. 

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 Re doing polymer clay as inexpensively as possible, here's some other stuff I've written before too: 

 For many of the clay techniques (including but not limited to "sculpting"), you can make do with inexpensive tools and supplies, or with things just found around the house and garage, or pre-empted from other crafts, or used for purposes they weren't intended for, etc, or make some of them.

 

The only things you really need are a work surface, a roller of some kind, tools at least like a toothpick, an oven to bake in, and often a blade of some kind (especially if not just sculpting with your polymer clay).  

Check out this page for some suggestions on basic beginner tools: http://glassattic.com/polymer/tools_Dremels_worksurfaces.htm

> Beginner Tools, > Work Surfaces, > (hand) Rollers, Brayers

 Oh, I guess I'd suggest getting a bottle of liquid polymer clay too at some point just because it can do so many things, and is also a great glue (though not a tacky glue).  

The only liquid clay usually available at the retail level is Sculpey's version which is called Translucent Liquid Sculpey, "Bakable Transfer and Color Medium".  (You may also now find Sculpey's "Clear" Bakable Medium which is clearer than their TLS, and perhaps a few colors like black or gold).  It should be hanging on a blister pack card with the clay stuff.  Fimo Gel (and Kato Liquid Polyclay) are clearer than Sculpey's TLS, but you may have to get those by mail order (though I saw the Fimo Gel at Joann's the other day). 

 The most expensive thing is just the clay of course, over time anyway. 

There are ways to buy clay cheaper, but the best thing to keep the cost down might be just to concentrate on making smaller items and "miniatures."
Most miniatures take very little clay, yet allow the clayer to explore almost every technique within polymer clay... and besides they're just fun, and can even be profitable.  You could even make small items for a diorama, etc (including Xmas or Halloween), or you could make quite elegant things, just in a small form.  

Here's the main page at my site specifically on miniatures (although other miniatures will be covered on other pages): http://glassattic.com/polymer/miniatures.htm 

 Another possibility might be jewelry of various kinds, for yourself or as gifts... some jewelry pieces like earrings and pendants are small don't usually take much clay, and there are ways to do jewelry that even appeals to most men: http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/jewelry.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/pendants_cording.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/wire.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/gifts_men_teachers.htm

Also, many things can be just "covered" with polymer clay so the actual amount of clay used is a lot less. 

Cheaper clay or scrap clay can also be used as a permanent base underneath a decorative clay layer, and larger beads and other items, etc. can be made over all kinds of things including tightly-scrunched aluminum foil. 

Or clay items can be made over a form which gets removed after baking or even before, so that again less clay gets used (e.g., bowls, hollow-backed jewelry, etc --or there are ways of making things completely hollow too). Sculpts can also be made with "cores" of cheaper materials, especially for thicker items like heads and torsos. 

http://glassattic.com/polymer/covering.htm (metal/glass/plastic/wood/etc) 

http://glassattic.com/polymer/vessels.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/armatures-perm.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/armatures-temp.htm (dissolvable, removable support) 

(see also Beads > Hollow) 

 (AND from another post:) 

. . . polymer clay is usually cheaper online than the regular prices you'll see at retail stores. You'll generally also be able to buy ALL the colors that brand/line of polymer clay offers, and get fresher clay (esp. if buying from a polymer clayer who is a distributor, or a supplier with a lot of turnover).   

Clayers who do very much clay usually end up buying the larger bricks of clay because of their price, but also for the convenience of having single large bricks instead of a lot of little individually wrapped packages.   

Btw for saving money, Original Sculpey and Super Sculpey-Original are good values as long as you won't be stressing any thin or projecting areas too much after baking (and/or using permanent armatures underneath which will at least help with their brittleness-when-thin).  Keeping that in mind, SuperSculpey-Original is fine for making heads and hands or for just painting over and can also have colorants mixed in to get new colors, and Original Sculpey is even cheaper and can also be colored on with various paints, etc. Original Sculpey will be weaker than SS-O or S-III/Bakeshop after baking, but still can be fun.  (The company later added lines called Super Sculpey-Firm and Super Sculpey-Medium which are stronger than the first two, and Super Sculpey Living Doll which is probably pretty strong.)     

As for buying clay cheaply, one good thing to do is catch one of the (now fairly frequent) sales at Michaels.  These days it's mostly Sculpey clays that get put on sale and somewhat frequently, but sometimes they'll sell other brands/lines too (larger "bricks" of clay are available online and are cheaper than buying the equivalent numbers of smaller bars at regular prices; Kato Polyclay is a really good deal these days whether it's bought locally or online). 

On one of the pages of my website I have names and links for various mail order suppliers (most are also online suppliers) that sell polymer clay (and often which brands they carry), if you want to check them out: http://glassattic.com/polymer/supplysources.htm (click on Mail Order, under Clays--unless you're not in the US, in which case click on Non-USA). 

Many of the distributors listed are polymer clayers themselves, but of course there are also the large outfits like Dick Blick, etc.

Be sure and check the current prices for each distributor, plus s/h, and also see if they have a minimum order or have price breaks with certain quantities.  

Prices do change but you'll also want to note that the brand called Kato Polyclay is cheaper than the others in general.  It's an excellent clay too. It's stiffer when raw than Sculpey III or FimoSoft, but also stronger after baking in thin areas and has better handling characteristics; it also darkens the least during baking.  It comes in the fewest colors of all the brands (17 colors), but most any color can be achieved by mixing those colors together. 

If you're interested in the characteristics/advantages/disadvantages of the various brands/lines of polymer clay, look on this page: http://glassattic.com/polymer/Characteristics.htm  

And also check out my previous comments at Reddit for summarized info:  

... the colored polymer clays: https://www.reddit.com/r/polymerclay/comments/9uk8c2/i_need_suggestions_on_good_clay_brands/e96dxdr  

... the neutral-colored polymer clays (sold mostly in bulk for painting and/or as skin colors):

https://www.reddit.com/r/crafts/comments/9vs0ow/airdry_polymer_clay_and_acrylic_paint/e9fxeyn https://www.reddit.com/r/somethingimade/comments/760rhv/orca_whale_super_sculpey_and_acrylic_paint/doc0qwe 

It's also possible to mix colors of polymer clay together to get virtually any new color so you wouldn't need to buy loads of different colors, and many clayers mix their own colors anyway to get just what they want or a color not sold by the particular brand/line they use.  

For the largest possible palette, you'd want to buy the "purest" colors to begin with because while you'd always be able "tone" down a color later, you wouldn't be able to make a color purer if you'd started with toned-down colors. 

The basic idea is to have a red, a yellow, and a blue, plus black and white.  From those you should be able to mix a complete palette of hundreds of colors. Actually it turns out that the most primary version of those colors is actually (believe it or not) magenta, turquoise, and lemon yellow, but any red, blue and yellow will work to just make "a" palette (though the colors in that palette may be toned down or look different from other palettes).  

You'll generally need more white than any other color so you can lighten any mixed colors and not have to stick with medium to dark colors only.

If you then add the special polymer "colors" of translucent, and one or two of the mica-metallics like gold or Pearl (which is a whitish color while raw but is basically colorless mica clay) in some of the clay lines to those basic 5 colors, you can get loads more colors and special effects as well. 

You can find much more info on mixing colors and palettes on this page: 

http://glassattic.com/polymer/color.htm 

You can also color polymer clay with other colorants... for example, oil paints or oil pastel shavings (or *small* amounts of acrylic paint), alcohol inks, spices, etc., and also more particulate things (often called "inclusions") like herbs and coarser spices, play sands, metallic powders, crayon shavings, etc, etc. Those will usually be mixed into translucent polymer clay or tinted-translucents. 

http://glassattic.com/polymer/letters_inks.htm  http://glassattic.com/polymer/paints.htm http://glassattic.com/polymer/inclusions.htm   

(http://glassattic.com/polymer/color.htm)

As for your kids (or any beginners), you might want to tell them to check out the following page at my site too:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/kids_beginners.htm 

It has a lot of ideas about polymer clay things that kids can make (or that others might want to make for them), as well as easier projects for any beginners, and using a number of different techniques, altogether on one page. 

 HTH, Diane B.