Member Benefits 062: Sand Buff Shine

Polymer Clay Membership SiteCindy – With your guidance, I am changing how I make my polymer clay beads beads. I have made Jupiter Beads that are smooth. I have also made Rocker Beads that feel like butter, but I didn’t buff them. Now I know after your last Faux Jasper Video that they could have had a shiny finish without varnish. I have a Dremel and a table top buffer that I will be using more often now. ~Cindy-P >> Original comment was posted here: Polymer Clay Tutorials

Proper finishing is sooo important. I am a huge fan of Project Runway, they are all fantastic designer and judges often talk about a designer not looking finished. Cindy’s Tute emphasizes little things like making sure the knots in the front are the same direction, sanding the holes in the heart, etc. It is tempting to want to wear something right away but these steps take a piece from being really nice to being SPECTACULAR!!! ~Anna-S >> Original comment was posted here: Celtic Heart Necklace Video

Oh, oh Cindy you have started a whole new revolution in finishing our Polymer Clay. I had looked at Jool Tool Months ago but could not justify the cost over getting a flex shaft tool for my dremel. The tool didn’t seem “soft” enough to work on clay beads. I was kind of on the fence like Sue F. However, now that you have demonstrated the tool for the buffing it got me more excited about it. I would be very anxious to see the sanding side of it especially for Round Beads and odd shaped pieces. A video using the different attachments for sanding and a kit to put it all together would be a clincher for me. I hope you plan on doing this soon because I think you have got most of us drooling over this new invention and may have opened a door into the next generation of working with polymer clay. ~DixieAnn-S >> Original comment was posted here: JoolTool Introduction – Buffing Polymer Clay

Thank you, Cindy, as always for getting me over the fence on the Renaissance. The feeling of the sanded and polished polymer with the Ren wax is absolutely DELICIOUS! I have definitely gotten my money’s worth from all your tutorials on this product alone! ~Andrea-P >> Original comment was posted here: Renaissance Wax For Finishing Polymer Clay

Wow -talk about “in-put”.  Thank you everyone for MORE info. Definitely going get those sanding cloths. Great for curvy and sharp places. Cindy – this tute sure opened a can of worms, Huh? So many sharing folks – aren’t polymer clay people the BEST !!!!!!!!!!!  I have been a paid member since 2010, and boy, have I learned a lot. Books are fine but POLYMER CLAY TUTOR videos are the way to go. BRING IT ON !!!!!!!!!!! Thank you everyone so much.  Love this group !!!!!! BTW – I smooth most everything with baking soda or a bit of alcohol to make sure eveything is ULTRA smooth.  Works for me.  Hate sanding – but doesn’t everyone…….LOL. ~Patt-W >> Original comment was posted here: Polishing Papers For Sanding Polymer Clay Beads

I must be a bit odd, because I actually enjoy hand-sanding.  I always put on a movie, and I find it quite painless. I LOVE the feel of well-sanded beads, and I’m always fingering my necklaces …. just love that silky-smooth feeling, and people who wear my jewellery have said the same! However I’ve never got round to machine buffing, and this is something I want to get to grips with this year. I find that hand-buffing with Renaissance wax gives a lovely satin finish, but that amazing glassy finish obviously needs something more! ~Lesley-S >> Original comment was posted here: Sanding and Buffing Your Polymer Clay Is Worth It

I just want to say what a HUGE difference using the micro-mesh pads makes to the sanding process. I have just used the set to sand a couple of beads, and without using the buffing wheel, they look like they have been buffed. I won’t be going back to using the sanding paper unless absolutely necessary!! ~Sandra-J >> Original comment was posted here: Micro Mesh Abrasives Video

Wow!!! I’m amazed at this technique of yours Cindy. When I saw the black snake coming out of the extruder I was wondering where were all those beautiful colors. It’s so magical those colors coming to the surface when you roll it and then sand the bead. ~Cheryl-H >> Original comment was posted here: Aurora Technique (Northern Lights) Polymer Clay Technique

I enjoyed this video… can’t wait to try waxing some of my pesky smaller beads, or other hard-to-sand/buff-to-a-shine creations. Another technique to add to our bag of polymer clay finishing tricks!!! Cindy, you’re so awesome for bringing cool things to us, week after week. ~Phaedrakat >> Original comment was posted here: Finishing Wax as a Bead Polish

I did a search here and decided to bleach my small round milli beads, cuz there was no way my hands could sand 178  12mm to 7mm beads at the same time. I bleached the matching milli tube beads 20mm to10mm, there were 159 of them:) I used 2:water to 1:bleach and left it to soak about 18 hours. The results were dramatic !!  (in a good way). The lady that sells my work at her bead store took all of them YAY!!!!! PS: left w/ my commission check and went to Michaels to get a set of sweet pea cutters … plus other ‘must have’ crafty items. Thanks bunches for all you guys do for us. ~Tantesherry >> Original comment was posted here: Polymer Clay Library

Very, very nice, Cindy! :D  I love your faux brecciated jasper: the colours are gorgeous and the patterning is stunning! It’ll be fun to make some donuts using your technique, and I have trouble getting large slab-shaped beads in real jasper so I might make some of them too. I also think I’ll have to try making faux blue impression jasper, as it’s currently my favourite form of the stone. It’ll take a bit of adaptation but you’ve inspired me! A couple of thoughts on sanding… I really like sanding with Micro-Mesh, but NOT(!!!) with the little coloured Micro-Mesh sanding pads as I find them too small, too stiff, and prone to come apart. I like the Micro-Mesh sanding sheets which are available in many different sizes (I buy 150mm x 300mm and cut these into thirds to use, i.e. 150mm x 100mm).  They’re big enough to easily sand larger flat items, you can wrap them around curved surfaces for faster sanding of such shapes, and you can fold them around a block sponge or a foam block if you want a firm but semi-pliable flat backing. They’re extremely durable, and they even have the grit number printed on the backing cloth so you don’t need to refer to anything else to make sure you’re using them in the intended order (which was another thing I disliked about the sanding pads; I wrote numbers on those but they washed off). Being an Aussie I get Micro-Mesh sanding sheets locally from The Sandpaper Man but they’re not that hard to find. And I’m one of the people who DO change the water with every sanding sheet grit. I hate hand sanding and tend to wait until I have enough pieces to make it worthwhile doing them production line style, so the water is too dirty after each grit to not change it. But it’s not a hassle because I do the sanding in the bathroom! (Great lighting, water and drainage right at hand, and it doesn’t matter if I splash water around the place…). ~Sue-F >> Original comment was posted here: Faux Jasper Cabochons

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