Baking Polymer Clay with a Magnifying Glass
Video #361: At the end of the clip, I share a fool-proof way to prevent burning if the sun gets too hot.
More...
IN THIS POST: — sun — baking — april fools — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Sometimes there are those off-the-grid situations, like when we are out on a PcT Roadtrip with no power hookups, for example. So, how are you supposed to bake your polymer clay when that happens? Well… with the sun of course!
- Today I want to show you a really cool and innovative way to make a Sun Powered Polymer Clay Oven using just a few simple tools and a Magnifying Glass.
- Make sure to watch to the very end of this video, where I share some important information about how to avoid burning your clay when using this eco-friendly, baking technique.
So… did you like that? Wouldn’t this just be the perfect thing when camping? Or for those folks that live in Arizona? ;)
Looking forward to hearing from you!
00:00:04 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and I am outside on this gorgeous sunny
00:00:08 –> 00:00:13 day, and I’m gonna show you how you can use sunshine and a magnifying glass to bake your
00:00:13 –> 00:00:14 Polymer Clay.
00:00:14 –> 00:00:20 Now sometimes when we are out on the road, on the PcT Road trip, we are off the grid
00:00:20 –> 00:00:24 and we don’t have access to power, so how are you supposed to bake your Polymer Clay?
00:00:24 –> 00:00:31 Well, with the sun of course, so let me just how you how you can make your own sun oven.
00:00:31 –> 00:00:34 Now you’re just gonna need a few different things, first of all, you’re gonna need a
00:00:34 –> 00:00:40 magnifying glass, now, I’ve got a couple examples here, these are magnifying glasses that Doug
00:00:40 –> 00:00:47 used to use when he was getting his Science degree…so these are the good quality magnifying
00:00:47 –> 00:00:51 glasses, ‘cause you don’t wanna get the kind at the Dollar Store, they’re just not
00:00:51 –> 00:00:52 gonna cut it.
00:00:52 –> 00:00:57 Now, there are a couple of kinds, this is a lower powered one and this is a higher powered
00:00:57 –> 00:01:02 one, you can kinda usually tell by the thickness of the magnifying glass whether they are good
00:01:02 –> 00:01:10 quality or not, I would go to a place like a scientific laboratory supply place to pick
00:01:10 –> 00:01:12 up your magnifying glass, so you need a good one.
00:01:12 –> 00:01:18 Another thing you’re gonna need is something to bake on, I like to use like a ceramic tile
00:01:18 –> 00:01:25 and a ceramic bowl, now this is gonna become our little oven that we’re going to hold the
00:01:25 –> 00:01:27 heat in from the sun.
00:01:27 –> 00:01:34 You’ll also need an oven thermometer, we’re gonna be baking at 265F to 275F, and you’re
00:01:34 –> 00:01:38 gonna need to make sure that you are holding the clay at the right temperature, otherwise,
00:01:38 –> 00:01:44 it’s just not gonna bake properly, so an oven thermometer is important.
00:01:44 –> 00:01:46 And then you’re gonna need a timer, we’re gonna bake for the same amount of time…
00:01:46 –> 00:01:49 the full hour like you normally do.
00:01:49 –> 00:02:00 Now, what we need to do is we need to concentrate the heat of the sun by focusing the magnifying
00:02:00 –> 00:02:07 glass in a position where you can see…hopefully I can get the right angle here, but you need
00:02:07 –> 00:02:11 to be able to focus it so that you’ve got a nice beam of light…oh, here we go, we’ve
00:02:11 –> 00:02:17 got a nice beam of light here, it’s focusing on the side of the sun oven.
00:02:17 –> 00:02:23 Now, of course this is only gonna be in one focused area, so one idea that can really
00:02:23 –> 00:02:30 help is if you…first of all, you’re gonna wanna attach this to something, because who
00:02:30 –> 00:02:37 wants to stand there and hold the magnifying glass for an hour, so I’ve just got this nice,
00:02:37 –> 00:02:43 red clamp here…we use this at the campsites all the time, and I’m just gonna try to position
00:02:43 –> 00:02:48 this so that, oh, there we go, we’ve got some sunlight there…can you see that on the side,
00:02:48 –> 00:02:49 that’s perfect.
00:02:49 –> 00:02:57 Now one thing that you also have to keep in mind is for the sun to be at its strongest,
00:02:57 –> 00:03:02 it’s best if it’s at about noon, I’m not at the best ideal time here, the sun is getting
00:03:02 –> 00:03:04 a little lower, but if you’re at noon, it’s the hottest there.
00:03:04 –> 00:03:09 Also watch for the air temperature, if it’s too cool around, you’re gonna be cooling down
00:03:09 –> 00:03:13 your oven and not getting that ideal temperature that you need inside.
00:03:13 –> 00:03:20 Now one way to keep kind of the temperature even is to use something like a Lazy Susan,
00:03:20 –> 00:03:27 where you can put it on the Lazy Susan…we have to readjust our magnifying glass here,
00:03:27 –> 00:03:34 and then just spin it so that we are keeping the light hitting it all the way around.
00:03:34 –> 00:03:43 Now Doug has this really neat tool that he uses for photography, and it’s actually a
00:03:43 –> 00:03:48 battery operated turn table which makes this even more hi-tech, and it’s nice and small,
00:03:48 –> 00:03:53 so if you’re camping, it’s not gonna be too much of a hassle to make that work for you.
00:03:53 –> 00:03:56 So you’re gonna have this right at the right temperature, you’re gonna check your temperature
00:03:56 –> 00:04:00 on the inside, by making sure that it’s correct and then we can just turn on….where’s
00:04:00 –> 00:04:06 the little thing, somewhere here there’s a switch, and this little battery operated thing
00:04:06 –> 00:04:10 will keep your oven just even temperature all the way through.
00:04:10 –> 00:04:14 Now you’re gonna wanna set your timer and go for a full hour, and then you’ll have a
00:04:14 –> 00:04:18 perfectly baked Polymer Clay piece.
00:04:18 –> 00:04:26 Now, you may be tempted to skip all of this oven and everything and just go straight for
00:04:26 –> 00:04:32 baking your piece on your tile, I’ve got my little starfish beads in here ready to bake,
00:04:32 –> 00:04:38 if you try to do this on your own, you’re gonna run into a few problems, you can see
00:04:38 –> 00:04:44 here on this piece, I’ve really scorched the edge of it, ‘cause you know the magnifying
00:04:44 –> 00:04:50 glass and the sunshine can really cause a concentrated amount of heat, and that’s why
00:04:50 –> 00:04:53 we were using the oven to just hold the heat in there perfectly.
00:04:53 –> 00:05:02 So I hope that was helpful for you, and my question today is, did you happen to check
00:05:02 –> 00:05:05 the day we posted this video?
00:05:05 –> 00:05:07 Did you notice it was April 1st?
00:05:07 –> 00:05:11 So it was actually April Fools.
00:05:11 –> 00:05:20 Sorry about that, no you can’t bake Polymer Clay with a magnifying glass.
00:05:20 –> 00:05:28 Actually, we did this because one of our oldest members…well not oldest but longest members,
00:05:28 –> 00:05:34 Anna Sabina, said we needed to do a spoof video, because…in honor of all the crap
00:05:34 –> 00:05:38 baking videos that are out there, so this is for you Anna.
00:05:38 –> 00:05:45 So if you enjoyed this, feel free to share it, hopefully you didn’t buy it, if you did,
00:05:45 –> 00:05:50 let me know in the comment section below, and make sure to give this a thumbs up or
00:05:50 –> 00:05:52 press that like button.
00:05:52 –> 00:05:56 So Happy April Fools’ Day, and we will see you in another video at another time, bye
00:05:56 –> 00:05:57 for now.
Our goal is to translate these videos into as many languages as possible. If you are interested in helping with this initiative, then please do contact us and we will figure out a way to make it worth your while :)
Resource Links:
- Related Video: DupliColor Pigment Duplication Polymer Clay Medium
- Related Video: Polymer Clay And The Ozone Layer
- Related Video: Polymer Clay Tutor Cindy Lietz Quits the Business
Resources marked with a double ** asterisk are affiliate links. If you click on them and decide to buy something, we may receive some compensation. This does not affect the price you pay in any way. What it does do, however, is helps us to continue providing free videos for you, here at the PcT website. Using our links to purchase your tools and supplies, is always greatly appreciated.
Sponsored Ads & Special Promotions
Shareable Images
To share this full blog post anywhere on the web that allows links in comments, here's a shortened url to copy and paste...
>> https://mypct.ca/v361 <<
Want to chat about today’s post? That’s what the comment section below is for. Scroll Down… We’d love to hear from you!
Or... if you would like to request a topic for a future post, here is the link to do that… PcT Suggestion Box
I found it interesting to watch your video on baking without an oven. During my working days, which ended in 2001, I would ride light rail to work. I parked my car in a handicap stall (legally), and it would be facing west. One day I decided to do an experiment. I had created a small sculpture of my sister when she was about 5 years old, and she was holding a ball in her hands. I made the ball, then took it with me to the train station, placed it on a piece of paper on my dashboard, and left it there all day until I returned from work to go home.
The sun had baked the ball — and it was hard enough to use. I was impressed. Luckily, I had all day to let it bake. I don’t always have that luxury. But the sun DOES sometimes get hot enough to work for us.