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ARTICLE:ANTIQUING POLYMER CLAY – A COMPARISON OF TECHNIQUES |
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Description: I decided to take a mid-winter break from jewelry making and do some structured polymer clay experimentation. Over the years I have occasionally antiqued polymer clay, so I thought I would do a test comparing different formulas. My test used seven different formulas. Remember that you can use any available color of paint. I just used the colors I had on hand. This technique is done to baked polymer clay.
ANTIQUING FORMULAS HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON EACH OF THE FORMULAS 2. I have always liked using a liquid clay and paint mixture as an antiquing solution. I mixed up a new batch of Liquitex Raw Umber acrylic paint with Kato Liquid Polyclay. It was about a 1:1 mixture. You can really see the difference between this and the raw umber that I used straight out of the tube for #1. The antiquing is much subtler. The advantage of this technique is that you have unlimited working time to get it just right. The downside is that the piece has to be re-baked. The result is a finish that is almost matt and has a slightly rough feel. 3. This is an old formula that I have used a lot. Unfortunately it is made with Transparent Liquid Sculpey, which is no longer available. My notes say that I used the TLS, raw umber acrylic paint and Pearl-Ex gold mica powder. The characteristics are very similar to the blend of Kato Liquid Polyclay and paint (formula #2) except that the finish using TLS is totally matt. I don’t know why the color is so different when I supposedly used the same color acrylic paint. What I really liked about using this formula is that it makes things look so much like stone. The finish is totally matt and the texture is rough. Here is an example of its use to highlight the impressions from a Celtic rubber stamp.
4. Genesis Heat Set oil paint has been my favorite antiquing method for quite a while. It produces a much different effect. In addition to filling in the depressions it also stains the clay. You can rub some, but not all of it, off. It is very thick so it does take some effort to get it into depressions. It also has to be heat set. I just re-bake the piece at the same time and temperature. It probably doesn’t need to be cured that long. I just haven’t taken the time to experiment and find the minimum time needed. It might work to just cure the paint with a heat gun. Try it and see. Here are a couple of brooches that used the Genesis paint. For brooch B9014 I coated the bottom layer and didn’t wipe any the paint off. The texture on this layer is from the Genesis paint. For the Pod and Bone brooch I used the Genesis paint like a stain. The surface of the clay was smooth. The pattern is in the clay itself.
5. Golden makes an airbrush acrylic paint which has a very thin consistency. This test used Transparent Raw Umber. It produced a subtle antique appearance that is similar to the liquid clay plus acrylic paint formula (#2). What is interesting is that it produces a very nice sheen that looks hand rubbed. The disadvantage is that you have limited working time, just like with regular acrylic paint. I also noticed that the paint stayed a little sticky, so I re-baked the piece and that took care of the problem. I just might not have waited long enough for it to dry. 6. For this sample I used Golden Black Opaque Airbrush Acrylic paint. This opaque paint left a nice sheen on the clay, just like the Golden Transparent Airbrush paint. It did stain the clay a lot. I don’t know if this was a characteristic of the paint, or just because I used black. 7. This sample was done with Golden Transparent Shade Gray Airbrush paint. It has the same characteristics as the other Golden Transparent Airbrush paint used in #5. Good luck with your own experimentation. Don’t forget to have fun. | |
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Comments
interesting, thank you for posting.
Thanks very much. I've never seen anyone do a structured comparison side-by-side like this. It's very helpful.
In my article I said that transparent liquid Sculpey was no longer available. I was in a Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts store last week and I found it. My favorite on-line clay store PolymerClayExpress.com doesn't carry it, but I see that it is available from other on-line sources. I did buy a bottle, but I haven't tested it yet. Hopefully it still has the nice matt finish of the old formula.
it's on clearance at Michaels so maybe they are phasing out the product.
I have found mixing Artist's Blending Medium with an acrylic paint makes anitquing so much easier since it extends the drying time, ie allowing you more time to work.
really useful info - what colour clay were these effects used on, I assume white?
Yes I used white clay.
Jan--great article and nice to see more scientific and less anecdotal research. There are so many subtle variations to get where we need to be--and sometimes the tiniest tweak makes the difference; I hope that this careful study will be included in an advanced book of polymer clay techinique--very worthy, I think. And durned generous of you to share!
Yours,
Randee
Love this article. With your research, the reader can also select a method based on the resulting look preferred. Thank you so much for sharing your discoveries!
Good article! As a decorative artist, I have used a product known as retarder to slow the drying time of acrylic paint, which makes it good for antiquing.Liquitex makes this and it is found in the fine art section at Michaels.I have not used iton clay, but it works well on wood and tin,and can be sealed after drying well.You paint on a thin layer of the retarder, then your paint, then wipe off desired amount of paint.
I have been buying TLS at jo-anns they always have it in stock. had to buy a new bottle 2 weeks ago