Shiny Black Earrings

[elmonerd]

This is one of my new designs in my budding adventures with polymer clay. Oh how I love the stuff!
I made these earrings for my sister, who requested them after she saw my black pendant with the same design.

Made from Sculpey brand and glazed with the sculpey glaze. I had to make these thinner so they weren't as heavy as the pendant.


They came out a little over cooked I think, but still almost rubbery and bendable. One has little bubbles that formed on the front. Does anyone know why this happened?
I cooked them at 275 deg. for 15 mins.

Behind the scenes shot.


The original pendant


I'm amazed at how pretty they turned out and I think I'll be making more for presents and such.

[HippieKender]

They almost look like leather in the first pic   Nice job!

[Diane B.]

Your earrings look awesome!  You simulated the stitching really well too.

They came out a little over cooked I think, but still almost rubbery and bendable. One has little bubbles that formed on the front. Does anyone know why this happened?
I cooked them at 275 deg. for 15 mins.

Re the clay being a little flexible after baking, that's surprising given the fact that you were using Sculpey.  Sculpey is generally the "hardest" and stiffest polymer clay after baking when it's thin.  It could be that you underbaked it though (are you using an oven thermometer right next to the clay to check that the temp showing on the dial is accurate?), or it could be that you were seeing that flexibility mostly before the clay had cooled (which is normal). 
The clays which are stronger after baking when they're thin, compared to Sculpey (esp. Premo, FimoClassic, Kato, and Cernit), will definitely be flexible when they're thin, but otoh they won't break if stressed the way Sculpey will (and to a lesser degree FimoSoft). 

There are some ways to make even thin items stiffer though... you might want to read this recent thread which has some info from my website about stiffness and flexibility, etc.:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=116188.msg1164098#msg1164098

As for the bubbles, various things can cause them in polymer clay (especially in thinner items)... and I assume you're talking about real bubbles (dimensional) rather than "plaques" (inside the clay, but surface flat).  Most often it's air or humidity that's gotten into the clay from the conditioning of the clay, but there can be other causes too.  If you want to read about those, and also various solutions, check out this page:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/pastamachines.htm
(...then click on Bubbles, under Problems... the info there applies whether one is using a pasta machine or not)


HTH,

Diane B.

[PolymerJanna]

those are AWSOME! when I use sculpey sometimes it does the same thing as yours does so it doesnt suprise me lol

[elmonerd]

Hi HippieKender, thanks! I didn't realize that they do look like leather until someone else pionted it out too! lol

Hi Diane B., thank you! And thank you for the great information, I've been looking for something that will tell me everything I need to know about polymer clay!  I'll have to get a thermometer.

Thanks PolymerJanna! Yeah, I guess Sculpey's not the best stuff to use, or so I hear.