Making Polymer Clay Molds – Inspiration From the Sea
A beautiful mold for polymer clay can be made using real seashells:
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A cool trend I’ve noticed lately in polymer clay circles is the use of shells and sea shore finds as shapes to create molds for making polymer clay beads.
One very beautiful example of this idea is from Heather Powers of the Craftgossip Blog and Humblebeads. She uses sea urchin shells for making molds.
I’m guessing she must have made the mold in two parts to make a complete sea urchin bead, but whatever she has done, they are gorgeous! I also think she probably used an acrylic paint as an antique finish to get that wonderful, realistic chalky look!
You can make your own polymer clay molds by pressing seashells or other objects into a lump of raw clay and then baking the clay to harden the form. Remember to use a release agent like water or cornstarch on your shell to keep it from sticking. After your mold is baked, dust with cornstarch or spray the mold with water and press raw clay into your mold to form a bead. Don’t ever bake your raw clay right in the polymer clay mold, or they will bond together.
In a future post I will give you more details about how to make polymer clay molds, so stayed tuned. Meanwhile, give it a shot on your own and "sea" what you can come up with!
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This might seem like a silly question but my dog was just recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and enlarged heart. We were told he has about 2 months and we’re devastated. This is really important for my family…. I’ve been researching polymer clays and thrilled to find your site! I’ve never used any before. I want to make my dogs paw print impressions for keepsakes. I would like something that will last forever, or almost forever, and is durable not breakable. What would you suggest?
Thanks for any help!!!
Hi Cindy, so sorry to hear about your dog. :( You can definitely make prints of your dogs paw. Just press it into a thick slab of Premo polymer clay and it should work quite nicely. Spray a little water on the clay first if it is warm or the clay is sticky. Then you can use a cutter if you want and then bake it. Just do a search on baking polymer clay, and on anything else you might need to know, by using the search box at the top of the page. Good luck!
Hi
Can I used Sulpey Flexiable clay to make molds? I did buy the two part silicone that comes in two tubers. but I thought I would ask about the possibility of using the bendable/ flexiable sulpey clay first.
Thank for all your advice
@Natalie Herbin: You probably did not know that this topic has been discussed on the site before. But if you click the link by my name, it will take you to an article that should be helpful for you.
Be sure to remember to use the search box at the top of the page for finding information. Almost everything you could possibly want to know about polymer clay has been discussed at one time or another.
Thanks Cindy! I think I’ll try both methods and see which works best for me.
And I’ll let you know how it goes!
A…xxx
Hi Anna, yeah I guessed you liked it around here! :-)
If you make a molds you could try making one for the outside and one for the inside. bake them and then make your piece from new raw clay. To keep the pyramid from distorting you could bake it in the mold but you would definitely need to use lots of cornstarch between the mold and the raw clay so it will come off the mold later.
Alternatively, you could make triangles from sheets of clay and glue them together into pyramids after they were baked, which I think may be a lot easier. You’ll have to play around with it a bit.
Let me know what you come up with. I’d love to hear!
Hi Cindy, guess you know already I love the site! I was wondering if you could help me with a little project. I want to make a set of Icehouse pieces (looneylabs.com/whybuy/treehouse.html) from polymer clay. They have to have specific dimensions and it would be nice if they were nestable/stackable like the plastic pieces.
I have a plastic set that I could use to create moulds from, but my problem is how to stop the raw clay pieces from getting distorted before/during baking.
Any ideas?
Thanks! Anna…xxx
Thanks for the tip chanelle!
I checked out Tina’s blog and she has some excellent info there. She also makes some really beautiful purple urchin beads with hollow backs that are worth checking out! I like her use of chalk for antiquing and will have to give that a try.
As luck would have it, I ended up winning one of Heather’s Urchin beads in a comment contest at Art Bead Scene.
The back of the bead is actually flat, so it was made in a one part mold not a two part like I thought. Also the antiquing was done with oil paint and not Acrylic.
The surface is fairly smooth rather than bumpy and is quite a bit smaller than I expected, though if I would have looked at the measurements I would have known better. The bead looks very textured so I think it was possibly sanded after coating with paint to show the texture that was hidden by paint.
It is a neat looking bead with the signature Humblebead ‘natural’ look and will be fun to make some wonderful jewelry with!
Cindy’s last blog post..Polymer Clay Treasure Hunt Contest – Win a Bead Making Course
Try Tina Holden, beadcomber, she uses chalk to weather her beads and she has 2 free tutorials on her site
Shells aren’t the only thing that make great molds. Buttons, small sculptures, leaves, keys or anything else that can leave an impression in clay can be used too. Experiment and let me know what you’ve made.
Cindy’s last blog post..7 Tips To Avoid Leaving Finger Prints on Polymer Clay Beads