You can make air dry clay shiny with epoxy resin, clear spray paint, Mod Podge, or a high-gloss clay varnish. Each of these finishes adds an extra layer of durability and produces a lustrous, glossy sheen.
Resin To Make Clay Earrings Glossy
Resin is a liquid-like material that hardens/cures over time or with the use of UV light. Once the resin has cured, it offers a beautiful shiny finish to many different craft projects and polymer clay earrings.
Gloss Sculpey Glaze is a specially formulated glaze that adds a smooth finish to your completed clay projects. Once completed with your clay form, apply the glaze and bake to get a professional finish. Glazes can be baked on cured or uncured clay for permanent protection!
If you want to make your clay water-resistant I always recommend using either a clear polyurethane varnish or an acrylic sealer. Both of these create a non-porous transparent layer that seals your clay project. They can be brushed or sprayed on and usually come in either a matt, satin or gloss finish.
You can make air dry clay shiny with epoxy resin, clear spray paint, Mod Podge, or a high-gloss clay varnish. Each of these finishes adds an extra layer of durability and produces a lustrous, glossy sheen.
As we mentioned already, glaze offers no protection for your car's paint job. It merely fills in imperfections and adds shine. This means it's not an effective one-step treatment. You need to apply a wax afterward, which adds an extra step and also costs money for extra supplies.
In order to make your own ceramic glaze, simply mix a glaze powder with water. It is a relatively simple process. The overall process involves measuring out water, mixing the glaze powder into the water, sieving, adjusting viscosity or density, and letting the glaze sit before it is applied to your bisque-ware.
Wet the surface of the clay and the square of sandpaper with water from a shallow bowl, then begin to lightly sand the clay using the wet sandpaper. Run the piece of sandpaper back and forth over the clay or in small circles, spending about 30 sections on each area, rinsing the sandpaper and the clay frequently.
UV Nail Polish
This brush-on coating is the same material as the UV resin that we use in our crafts. This brush-on coating can be used as a glossy top coat for polymer clay. Just brush it onto your baked polymer clay item, allow to self-level, then cure with a UV light or nail dryer light.
Vinegar is also used in clay bodies to increase acidity to improve plasticity. The acid works to neutralize sodium ions (from water, leaching feldspars) that tend to deflocculate the clay. Excessive acid may tend to dissolve more feldspar or nepheline syenite negating the effect.
In its basic form, "salt reacts with the silica in the clay pots to produce sodium silicate." Sodium silicate is essentially a liquid glass and therefore naturally glazed the pots, using the properties from the clay.
If you are determined to create your own glaze from scratch you will need to decide on the following before creating a recipe: What cone / temperature is the glaze going to be fired to. This will be determined by the clay you are using, and perhaps limited by the maximum temperature of your kiln.
Oils that can be added to soften many different brands of polymer clay, are Sculpey Clay Softener, Mineral Oil or Unscented Baby Oil.
Wax is the best polymer clay sealer to use if you want to perfectly maintain the texture of your work. If you've sanded and buffed your bead, the wax will give a wonderfully warm sheen. If you don't sand and buff, it will give a more matte finish.
U-POL #1 clear spray is a thick, high-gloss spray varnish that works beautifully with polymer clay.
My current favourite is Liquitex Satin or Matte varnish, but I recommend Golden MSA spray varnish for hard to brush pieces. Adding varnish helps ensure your hard work looks its best for a long time, and put bluntly: It's the easiest way to make your sculpture's surface look better.
The best option to provide a water-resistant, durable seal on air dry clay objects is to use a polyurethane or acrylic sealer. These provide a durable, water-resistant finish to protect the air dry clay and prevent it from yellowing.
In a bowl, mix a ratio of 80% PVA glue to 20% water to create a creamy consistency, and then coat your fully dried clay piece, and allow the sealer mixture to dry. Once you have applied your PVA glue mixture or acrylic medium, you can then apply 3 coats of acrylic paint to seal your work.
I start with medium sandpaper (60-120 grit) to polish rougher areas and remove larger bumps in the clay, then I move on to fine (160-240 grit) and super fine (400-800 grit) sanding papers to polish the clay. The sanding process is very long and tedious, but it's crucial to achieve the smooth surface.
Since air dry clay isn't fired, you won't be using any glaze. Avoiding glaze saves you a lot of money, but removes the magic of things like colorburst glazes. Just as with regular clay, encourage your students to experiment with different ways to add color.