Saturday, August 20, 2005

Polyclay. How do I hate thee...


Let me count the ways.

1. PIA to condition. Finally got a pasta machine. It helps. It is still a PIA.

2. Lots of ugly colors. OK- I only buy it when it is on sale- and the colors on sale are all the ugly ones- but still...

3. I cannot get it to be smooth. Other people can. I think I don't have the patience for it.

4. How do you tell when it is actually baked completely? I never know if it is really cured properly or not.

5. Thin pieces are very brittle. It breaks easily.

6. It is hard to use in the molds. You can't get a thin piece to mold decently. It pops out of the mold when you are trying to get a good impression and moves around on you. PIA.

7. It shows every little fingerprint and you have to be really careful not to bump it or anything.

8. It picks up random bits of this and that and you can't get anything off it without ruining the piece.

9. It is hard to move it from one place to another before it's baked without distorting it. so you end up having to work on a surface that can go into the oven.

10. It stinks.

11. I know it is toxic and I always worry about the residue that might be left on my hands and the fumes from baking it.

12. It takes too many steps to do any of the cool stuff with it- and then you have to bake it and cool it and... too time intensive for instant gratification girl here...

I could keep going, but I think you get the idea.

I do not like polyclays.