You tint liquid polymer clay by mixing in small amounts of alcohol inks, acrylic paints, mica powders, or chalk pastels into clear or translucent liquid clay for vibrant, custom colors, using Sculpey Color Tints for precision, or even homemade versions with liquidizer/softener; always stir well and wear gloves as colors can stain. Clear/translucent clay keeps colors brighter and glass-like, while white clay creates pastels.
Just mix a drop or two of alcohol ink with your polymer clay to create a new color. Be aware the alcohol inks can fade with exposure to sunlight and/or heat.
Painting polymer clay is great fun and can lead to some truly stunning results. But it can be more complicated than just applying some paint onto a little sculpture.
✨ I love using liquid clay to add color! I just mix the primary colors to make my own custom shades and that's it! 🎨💖 That's my little trick: liquid clay 🙈✨ But don't worry if you only have translucent or white, you can mix it with mica powder, acrylic paint, or even alcohol inks. It works beautifully!
Another one of my favorite ways to add shimmery color is to incorporate mica powders. There are a variety of mica powder colors and finishes to choose from - you can even use powdered makeup, like eyeshadows! Like the glitter, you can mix the mica into the clay or you can brush the powder onto the surface.
The acidity of the vinegar breaks down the clay a bit, and makes it sticky. Some artists use vinegar straight from the bottle, or add vinegar to clay instead of water to make a joining slip. All these methods work to create a join that is stronger than water or slip alone.
Alcohol can create interesting effects like cells and lacing in wet acrylic paint (especially in pouring), acting as a solvent to break paint's surface tension, but it can also ruin dried paint by making it brittle, cloudy, or causing it to curdle due to its acidity, potentially dissolving polymers and damaging the acrylic binder if used improperly or excessively.
The straight forward answer to this is no. You don't have to seal polymer clay so long as it's just clay.
Adding alcohol inks to translucent or liquid polymer clay creates intriguing faux-colored glass effects. There are at least three ways to add alcohol inks to polymer clay crafts — mixing them into unbaked clay, applying them onto unbaked creations and using them to paint on baked projects.
Create a beautiful, watery veneer with this painted version of the wonderfully versatile polymer clay watercolor technique. With so many variations of this idea, the possibilities are limited only by your own imagination.
There are numerous products you can use to color translucent polymer clay, including mica powders, powdered pigments, acrylic paints and oil paints. Alcohol inks provide the best results because they maintain clay's translucency.
The alcohol (I just use 70% for Super Sculpey Medium) helps to clean up the surface of the clay by dissolving the polymer, removing flakes, and smoothing and blending details.
This was my preferred method of painting polymer clay and if I'm going to finish with resin I'll do that, but you cannot add varnish with a brush over gouache because it will reactivate the paint and start mixing again. I also have started using water soluble oil paints applied *very thinly*.
Oil pastels have an oily base, similar to lipstick but less creamy, and aren't used much with polymer clay. They can be chopped up and mixed into the clay, but aren't terribly versatile for our use.
Tempera Paint
You really can't go wrong by simply using the most affordable paint around to get that touch of color on clay. Give it a gloss by putting a coat of Mod Podge on top.
Why I don't recommend this polymer clay: The colors aren't very appealing straight from the package, and they don't improve much when they're mixed. I have heard many stories about its pungent smell, and I would have to agree.
So first we'll have a look at micas. These are the powders most commonly used with polymer clay and there's a good reason for this. They have a high color saturation and will affect the color of any clay from black to white. They leave a really shiny finish to your work and will have an almost metallic shine.
I shave the pastel sticks with a craft knife to generate fine pastel powder. This makes it easier for a paintbrush to pick up color and apply it to unbaked polymer clay. You can either knead the pastel powder into clay before shaping or brush directly onto shaped clay.
Just because something works well for one craft doesn't mean it works well for another. Mod Podge's products work well for many crafts, but they're not the best choices when it comes to polymer clay.
The best way to harden your clay is to bake it longer for a longer time. If you are worried about burning your clay you can bake your clay in a pie tin covered with foil. You can also lower the baking temperature and bake it longer.
However, the foam in the dish soap also causes larger volumes of liquid to be sprayed onto the painting. This creates a more uneven cell pattern that looks much more natural.
It does make the paint thicker and it lightens the color somewhat. I'll also mix it with Liquidex Basics and then heavy body acrylics.
The most important thing to understand before cleaning acrylic or plexiglass shields is to never use harmful solvents. Especially refrain from using alcohol such as methyl, ethyl, isopropanol, or acetone. Cleaning acrylic in this manner will lead to microfractures and cloudiness, compromising surface integrity.