Essential Polymer Clay Tools – Oven Thermometer
Video #488: To bake polymer clay properly, never ever trust the temperature dial on your oven.
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IN THIS POST: — tools — oven thermometer — baking thermometer — temp — oven — burning — discoloration — tenting — curing — heat gun — burnt clay — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Must Have Polymer Clay Tools.
- The oven thermometer is one of those essential tools that every clayer should have in their studio.
- Most oven temperature dials are not very accurate.
- Oven dials are commonly off by a wide range that is guaranteed to cause you grief.
- Oven Thermometers will provide accurate temperatures when they are placed inside your oven.
- Bake polymer clay at the recommended temperature for the brand of clay you are using.
- Temperatures that are too low, will cause your polymer clay to be under cured.
- Under cured, clay will be weak and prone to breakage.
- Temperatures that are too high, leads to burned or scorched polymer clay.
- There are many brands of thermometers available, and they are inexpensive.
- Keep an oven thermometer in your oven while preheating, as well as the full baking period.
- Place a pencil mark on your oven dial at the correct temperature, so that you know where to set it next time
00:00:03 –> 00:00:07 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today I’m talking about Oven
00:00:07 –> 00:00:12 Thermometers, which I consider a must have Polymer clay tool.
00:00:12 –> 00:00:19 Now the reason why I consider it a must have is that, every oven is different.
00:00:19 –> 00:00:23 No matter what it says on the dial, it doesn’t mean that’s what the actual temperature
00:00:23 –> 00:00:30 is on the inside, they can be off by anywhere from 10-50 degrees I’ve had some ovens be
00:00:30 –> 00:00:31 off by.
00:00:31 –> 00:00:38 So when you bake your Polymer clay… now depending on the brand, and I mostly use Premo
00:00:38 –> 00:00:47 Sculpey, and the temperature it says on the pack is 275 Fahrenheit, which I like to bake
00:00:47 –> 00:00:50 my clay at, you wanna keep it at that temperature.
00:00:50 –> 00:00:56 If you go lower than that by much more than a few degrees, then it will be under baked,
00:00:56 –> 00:01:01 if you go higher than that by much more than a few degrees, it will get burnt, so the only
00:01:01 –> 00:01:06 way to be sure of the temperature inside your oven is to use an oven thermometer.
00:01:06 –> 00:01:12 Now there are few different brands out there, I have this one, it’s just called Good Cook,
00:01:12 –> 00:01:18 I picked it up at Safeway, actually in the gadget section and it was only about $6, so
00:01:18 –> 00:01:21 you don’t need some high end thermometer.
00:01:21 –> 00:01:26 There’s also digital ones, and there’s some ones especially for Polymer clay which
00:01:26 –> 00:01:30 would really make no difference, but as long as it reads the temperature correctly, you’re
00:01:30 –> 00:01:31 great.
00:01:31 –> 00:01:38 And you wanna make sure to put it in the oven for…while you’re preheating, and make
00:01:38 –> 00:01:43 sure it’s in an area so it’s got lots of circulation around it and then you preheat
00:01:43 –> 00:01:47 your oven to the temperature you want it to get to.
00:01:47 –> 00:01:52 Now, what I have done on my oven here is, on the dial…
00:01:52 –> 00:01:59 I actually have to go a little bit…I almost have to go to the 300, and so I put a little…I
00:01:59 –> 00:02:03 took my pencil and put a little mark…you may not pick it up on the camera, but I’ve
00:02:03 –> 00:02:07 put a little mark on my dial so that I know that that’s where it should be.
00:02:07 –> 00:02:11 So I set it there, put the oven thermometer in, let it heat up for 10 minutes or so, and
00:02:11 –> 00:02:17 just watch the dial, make sure it’s sitting in the right range, and then I can bake my
00:02:17 –> 00:02:18 Polymer clay.
00:02:18 –> 00:02:23 So, I hope that was helpful for you, do let me know if you like that.
00:02:23 –> 00:02:30 And as far as leaving comments and questions below, is there any particular topic you’d
00:02:30 –> 00:02:35 like me to do a video on, I’d love to hear about that.
00:02:35 –> 00:02:41 If you’ve never used an oven thermometer, or if you’ve got a cool tool that you would
00:02:41 –> 00:02:44 like me to make sure everybody knew about, that would be great as well, so make sure
00:02:44 –> 00:02:47 to leave your comments in the comment section below.
00:02:47 –> 00:02:51 So, I hope you enjoyed that and we’ll see you next time, bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Related Video: Ten Minutes NOT Long Enough to Bake Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Using a Convection Oven to Bake Your Polymer Clay
- Amazon: Oven Thermometer **
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Hi Cindy. This is not a message of urgency, nor is it to ask a question. I just wanted to let you know how inspiring and creative you are. I enjoy watching your clay tutorial YouTube videos all the time, and am amazed by each and every one of your creations. Your work is stunning, and I hope one day I will learn to be as great of a clay artist as you.
-Nico
Hi, Just found your web site. It is great. I am interested in making polymer clay marbles. A couple of questions. I am finding it difficult to make them perfect and when I glaze them and let them dry, I sometimes roll them in the palms of my hands.This seems to dull them up. Should that happen, what can I do to prevent this and how can I get a perfect round marble? Thank you, .De
Hi De, you might need to use a bead roller, if you want your beads to be perfect, though they can be a bit of a pain to measure the clay properly. Amaco makes some good bead rollers you might like. And as far as the glaze goes, it is probably the oils and sweat in your hands that are causing the surface to dull. What brand of glaze are you using? It also could be that it is not compatible or that it is not a good enough quality. You may want to consider just sanding and polishing your marbles without a glaze so that there are no issues with the finish. Use the search box at the top of the page to help you find the answers you are looking for. Thanks for commenting!
I’m new to this craft and I really appreciate your explanation of basic procedures and tools to create the projects, thank you.
I have a problem, I am new to polymer clay and had some bought for me for Christmas. I haven’t used it yet but wanted to make some things the other day. I have got Fimo clay which says it needs to be baked at 110 deg. My oven will only go down to 150 deg. Apart from having to by a new oven, is there anything I can do to get over this? Would it be ok if I tried baking it with the oven door open a bit to lower the temperature? I don’t want to waste it. Thanks
Hi Liz, Fimo is made in Germany, so the 110 degrees is in Celsius. I am guessing that your oven is in Fahrenheit but I could be wrong. Any way 110C = 230F. If your oven is in Fahrenheit than bake your Fimo at 230F and it will be fine. If it isn’t I am afraid, just propping the door open, probably won’t work very well, because, your oven will be constantly heating up, trying to keep it at the 150C and when the elements are always on, they will most likely scorch your clay. Hopefully it is just a Celsius-Fahrenheit thing and everything will work. But either way, make sure you are using an oven thermometer. Temps on oven dials are notoriously wrong. Good luck!
HI again, Unfortnately my oven is in Celsius and has the heating element in the top, it is the oven part of a combination microwave, I was only going to se the oven as I know microwaves can’t be used. I was going to put the tin inside a roasting bag to stop it getting scorched and to keep the fumes in. I gess as I can’t get the temperature low enough, I’ll have to either abandon doing the clay or by another oven. Thanks for your help anyway.
I had never had a google/youtube account until I started searching for information on polymer clay. I found your page and was immediately hooked. I thought to myself, there has to be a way to bookmark this page for later, so I can keep coming back and learning from this wonderful woman, so I created an account. I’ve added a few subscriptions since then, but it all started due to you, Cindy. And it’s not that I am new to youtube, I’ve been coming here for years. :) You are wonderful!
Hey! I’m in the process of baking my clay and I seen your video. I have my clay in my oven right now at 200° for 15 mins as told by other artists. I use super sculpey firm and regular on a vinyl toy called “munny” + “dunny” by kidrobot. I was curious. How long and at what temperature should I bake my toys in the oven for them to be cooked properly without melting the vinyl toy underneath the clay?
Hi Josh, I assume that your piece is now out of the oven, since it has been a day since you wrote this comment. How did it turn out?
I am concerned about a few things though… first of all, I have never baked clay on a vinyl doll so I do not know whether or not it can handle a higher temperature or not, but I do know that 200F is pretty low and may not be high enough to cure your clay properly, especially in only 15 minutes.
Each brand of clay is a little different but even if you used Fimo which bakes at the lowest temp that I know of, at 230 F, you would have needed to bake it for a minimum of 30 minutes and ideally for 60 min at the full 230 F degrees for you to get any strength at all in your piece. If it were Premo or Kato Polyclay it would need to have been baked at an even much higher temp. At that low temp and short time, your piece is badly under cured and will be very brittle.
Since you have already baked it, you may want to try baking it again at the temp that your brand recommends. Get an oven thermometer and bake for a full 60 minutes… that is assuming that your piece will not melt. So stay close by to monitor if it can handle the heat.
I did see a woman who made polymer clay covered “My Little Pony’s” so I am guessing it might be possible… but as always you need to test and test safely to really know if something works or not.
Good luck! Let us know how it goes!