Unbaked clay + hotfix crystals

[Deablanca]

I did a search on "crystal" in this board and didn't find anything, so here's my question:

If you put hotfix crystals into unbaked polymer clay and then bake it, will the adhesive on the crystals work?

Has anybody tried this?

I am trying to save myself the cost of experimenting because those little crystals can get pricey! I have some already baked clay beads that I'm planning to attach the crystals to, but that shouldn't be a problem (I believe!) because it seems people have done that before successfully. The thing is, for the crystal to be flush with the surface, I'd either have to drill into the baked clay or place the crystal into unbaked clay so that it's flush with the surface. And using the unbaked clay would be much, much easier and more efficient if it's possible.

Thanks for any info/insight.

[Diane B.]

The bottom line is that most "crystals" should be fine in the heat we use for curing polymer clay.  Those that are made from glass will always be fine... those made from plastics can vary.  Sometimes even if plastic ones might soften or melt, they'll be okay if they're down into the clay a bit so they're protected, or if they're otherwise protected from too much heat for too long while curing (using "enclosed" baking techniques, etc.).  

Some of the coloring that's been put onto some plastic gems though may change in the heat... I'd assume since these are "hot"fix though, that they probably won't (but the color is on the front, not the back).

As for the adhesives, most should be fine in the heat, though some will be stronger than others from the get-go or after being exposed to the heat.  If the stones are embedded, often even a weaker adhesive will usually work though.  

Probably the best glue to use is liquid polymer clay whenever possible (liquid clay must be baked to cure however, and isn't "tacky" by itself).  
Other glues can work for baking too and be strong though like some of the strong permanent "white glues" like Weldbond, Crafters Pick The Ultimate, and the ones intended to hold "jewels" to fabric like GemTac or Jewel-It.  
Sometimes clayers will use a clear (water-based) polyurethane or a white glue if they're trying to hold in or on a bunch of small items like seed beads, etc., too (under and often over the items, but generally the over layer would happen after baking).

A very strong glue would also be a 2-part epoxy glue, and fine to use afterwards, but  I wouldn't use that or E6000 for baking since they aren't suited for that much heat ...also, instant glues can lose some of their strength in the amount of heat we use.

(When embedments and additions to polymer clay can't be baked along with the clay, they're usually pressed into the raw clay where desired and removed, then glued back into place after the clay is baked.

If you want more info on glues to use with polymer clay, and attaching onlays and inlays to/in clay, etc., here are some pages at my site that'll have much more detail/etc:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/glues-Diluent.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/mixing_media.htm > Seed Beads > Attaching
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/onlay.htm > Non Clay Onlays
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/mosaics_inlay.htm > Inlays


HTH,

Diane B.

[Deablanca]

Thanks, Diane. Just the info I needed. I'm going to go ahead and back the crystals in place.

The onlay info was very good, and answered many questions about adhesives.

I have used your glassattic site many times, and tried to find the answer to this question here, but never thought to look under "onlay" or "inlay".

[starmumplus]

hi this is my first post and i have done 2 turtles with hot-fix crystals and it works grate i love working with clay and crystals so using both in one project is even better


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[LovingLibertyJewelry]

I've used Swarovski hotfix crystals just slightly embedded in my clay before baking. The cole comes out fine, and they stay. Only thing is if you use a glaze over them when finishing an item they loose their sparkle. So sometimes I just glue them on after if I'm going to glaze the item. Super glue is also great with them if you want to make them really stick, but only after baking!

[Diane B.]

I have used your glassattic site many times, and tried to find the answer to this question here, but never thought to look under "onlay" or "inlay".

Deablanca, that's why it can be good to browse down the Table of Contents page at my site, or even be able to do a (ctrl + f) page search there for a word or phrase you're looking for to find out where (in the world) it might be.  Since all the categories and subcategories for each page at the site are listed on the TOC page, lots more detail about the whole site can be all in one place!
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm

Notice too that the category pages are grouped by color as much as possible which should make finding some things easier at least.  It can still take some time to find individual words/concepts but I'd wanted to put everything about polymer clay at my site and so needed to categorize it by "concept" since no other categorization scheme made sense when trying to cover that much territory.

Diane B.