Scrap Clay

Each month at the Austin Polymer Clay Guild meeting, we enjoy a project presentation by one of the guild members.  For one of the first meetings I attended, I was instructed to bring some “scrap” clay.  I was new to working with polymer clay and I had no scrap clay like the others.  Did that mean I had to use “good” clay? At about seventy five cents an ounce, I couldn’t imagine the harm.  And I wondered, how do you end up with scrap clay?

After a year of trying to make all the wonderful things I saw on the internet, flower canes, mokume gane, etc. and experiencing several failed attempts, I watched as my stash of “didn’t quite work out” grew into a pretty sizable hunk of scrap clay.  And there’s all those little bits we cut off the ends of canes and sheets.  Now I see the problem, not how do you get scrap clay, but how do you get rid of it?

First, don’t hide it away like some ugly step-child --see it as a challenge and not as evidence of your shortcomings.  See it with a fresh perspective.  The really nice thing about scrap clay is that it’s already messed up and you can’t mess it up any more than it already is, so play!  Here’s a few suggestions:

1.        Mush all the dark clays together until it’s a solid, sort of a purple grey, color.  Shape it into an Easter Island man (or woman!), give them hair, make them smiling or singing, or playing golf, whatever.  Roll the whole thing in sand before baking and vollah, you have a lovely “stone” garden statue.

2.       Mush it all together like in #1 and then thin it slightly with some liquid clay.  Roll it into medium width sheets and spread it on a planter.  Now, run a sheet of any other color clay, slice up some small squares as tiles and imbed these in the clay on the planter. Once covered, bake it.  If this is too large for your small craft oven, you can bake it in a roasting bag in your regular oven.  Now you have a beautiful mosaic planter.  Oh and don’t forget, you can cover you tiles with emobossing powder or glitter.

3.       Scrap clay can be used to test various glazes and varnishes to see which are easier to use, produce the most uniform and smooth finish.  Simply make a few disks, bake them, paste them to a piece of cardboard and then try all your different glazes.  Just make sure you label each one.

4.       Take similar colors of scrap clay and mix them together.  Now use this new color as though it was new clay.  Those dreary, grey greens can make wonderful leaf colors.  Or how about that hideous orange, maybe it’s a terra cotta?

5.       Use it to make molds for pendants or your own unique texture sheets or stamp pads.  Just spray your model with water and spread the clay on the model to make the mold.

6.       Make your own wall art by collaging many colors together or how about a big sun/moon face that you can hang outdoors.  Polymer clay is really durable outside and won’t lose it’s color in the sun.

7.       Make a 3/8 inch to ½ inch sheet by rolling several sheets at the thickest setting on your pasta machine and stacking them together.  Cut several rectangles from this sheet about 3 by 5 inch.  Use this piece as a canvas and some scrap clay to form any vegetables or flowers you may have in your garden.  You can even extrude a small snake of black to write the name of your flower or vegetable.  You can make rust proof ground stakes from cutting up old tomato cages.  After your clay is cured, drill a small hole into the bottom edge to accommodate the metal stake you just cut. Use some epoxy to glue your stake into the hole you drilled.  Now you have a lovely garden marker.

There’s an uninhibited joy in scrap clay that can’t be found in a pristine block of Moss Green.  There are no preconceptions of what it should represent like “moss” or “something green.” So drag that box out from the bottom of the closet and look again.  You see, what I have really learned after this year is that there really is no such thing as scrap clay, there is only the clay, you, and your creative spirit.

Happy claying.

Namaste

Cherry Taylor