Mixing And Applying Chalk Pastels With Polymer Clay
Video #705: Pastel chalks stick surprisingly well to polymer clay. In this video I provide lots of ideas to try it out for yourself.
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IN THIS POST: — chalk — pastels — chalk pastels — oil pastels — soft pastels — premo — polyform — liquid polymer clay — translucent liquid sculpey — tls — kato liquid polyclay — kato poly clay — fimo — fimo liquid — staedtler — golden — precision blue — pymii — liquitex — picreator enterprises — renaissance wax — ren wax — finishes — glazes — michaels — artistsloft — loew cornell — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
In this video are examples of different brands of Chalk Pastels (Not Oil Pastels), and examples of finished polymer clay pieces that have incorporated Chalk Pastels.
In these examples from previous PcT tutorials, the chalk pastels have been used on, both raw clay and mixed into liquid polymer clay.
Chalk pastels come in many colors and quality standards, ranging from Student Grade to Artist Grade. The artist grade chalk pastels tend to have a higher pigment level than the student grade ones.
Chalk pastels stick very well to polymer clay and usually don’t need to be sealed unless they will receive high wear, or you are worried about them getting dirty.
You can use any polymer clay safe finishes to seal your chalk pastels if you wish.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and in today’s Studio Tip, I’m gonna
00:00:08 –> 00:00:13 show you how to use chalk pastels on Polymer Clay.
00:00:13 –> 00:00:21 Now last week, we did a video on using chalk finished paint, and this is quite a bit different,
00:00:21 –> 00:00:30 we’re gonna actually use chalk pastels, and I’m just gonna clarify what types of… the
00:00:30 –> 00:00:33 type of chalk pastel that you wanna use…what I’m talking about today.
00:00:33 –> 00:00:38 There’s lots of different things available out there, and I’ve got three different brands
00:00:38 –> 00:00:39 here.
00:00:39 –> 00:00:47 This one is Cornell, and they’re calling them drawing pastels, these are small little ones,
00:00:47 –> 00:00:51 they’re a pretty high quality one, they have quite a bit of pigment in them and you can
00:00:51 –> 00:00:54 see that they are quite hard.
00:00:54 –> 00:01:01 Now, the funny thing is, is that some of these other pastels here, they will call them soft
00:01:01 –> 00:01:08 pastels, like this set I got from Michaels called…made by Artist’s Loft…this is
00:01:08 –> 00:01:14 a beautiful set by the way, it wasn’t very expensive I think, it was only about $6 or
00:01:14 –> 00:01:20 $7 bucks or something like that, and the quality is really quite good, it comes in a lot of
00:01:20 –> 00:01:27 colors and even though they’re calling this a soft pastel, it is quite a hard piece too,
00:01:27 –> 00:01:31 much more like chalk than pastel.
00:01:31 –> 00:01:36 Here’s another brand, this is something that I think my Mom was using in her elementary
00:01:36 –> 00:01:44 school classroom, so a real student grade one, this would work too, but this one is
00:01:44 –> 00:01:50 a little bit lower quality and you can see it when you work with it, the pigment level
00:01:50 –> 00:01:55 isn’t very strong, so you need a lot more of this chalk to get the same kind of look
00:01:55 –> 00:01:57 from it as some of these other ones.
00:01:57 –> 00:02:02 Now, just to show you the difference, this is an oil pastel, this is not the same at
00:02:02 –> 00:02:08 all, this is quite creamy, oily, you’ve probably seen these and they’re a different
00:02:08 –> 00:02:11 product altogether…I actually haven’t tested these on Polymer Clay yet, it’s something
00:02:11 –> 00:02:18 I plan to do, it’s on the list, so I have no idea whether it’s compatible or not, but
00:02:18 –> 00:02:21 we’re not talking about oil pastels, we’re talking about chalk pastels.
00:02:21 –> 00:02:28 Alright, so let me just show you quickly a few projects that I have done using chalk
00:02:28 –> 00:02:35 pastels on Polymer Clay…these are all from previous tutorials, this one is from a Faux
00:02:35 –> 00:02:43 Rust tutorial, and the Black areas are done with some of the chalk pastels.
00:02:43 –> 00:02:51 This is from a Faux Rainbow Raku tutorial, and all the rainbow-y colors in here are all
00:02:51 –> 00:02:55 done with chalk pastels.
00:02:55 –> 00:03:02 This is from a Daisy tutorial, and I’ve got a little bit of the Green chalks in here around
00:03:02 –> 00:03:05 the center.
00:03:05 –> 00:03:09 This is from the Poinsettia Tutorial, and it’s got a little bit of Green chalks on there
00:03:09 –> 00:03:12 as well.
00:03:12 –> 00:03:20 This one is a cute little Snowman bead tutorial, and his little blushed cheeks are using chalk
00:03:20 –> 00:03:27 pastel, chalk pastel really has a soft dusty look that you can get.
00:03:27 –> 00:03:32 This is from a little Pear tutorial, and the different coloring on it can be done in chalk
00:03:32 –> 00:03:33 pastel.
00:03:33 –> 00:03:40 This is from the Cymbidium Orchid tutorial I have, and all the Purple-y colors here are
00:03:40 –> 00:03:47 all done in chalk pastel, and there’s some Blacks and some other colors as well.
00:03:47 –> 00:03:55 This Fairy Door tutorial was all done using one solid color of scrap clay, and same with
00:03:55 –> 00:04:00 the base here where the stones and the brick are, that was all… and the door, were all
00:04:00 –> 00:04:05 colored in chalk pastels, and treated in different manners, some you can see are quite matte,
00:04:05 –> 00:04:11 and here it’s quite shiny, there’s a lot in that tutorial that uses the chalk pastels.
00:04:11 –> 00:04:19 And then finally these two pieces here are from a Faux Enamel tutorial, and I mixed the
00:04:19 –> 00:04:25 chalk pastels with Liquid Polymer Clay and stenciled it and did a few cool things, this
00:04:25 –> 00:04:30 one has a lot of shine to it because I was using Kato Liquid Polymer Clay that’s quite
00:04:30 –> 00:04:37 shiny when it’s baked, and this one was using TLS, and so it has a much more matte finish.
00:04:37 –> 00:04:45 Now, you can use the chalk pastels…a lot of people use them for, you know, coloring
00:04:45 –> 00:04:49 faux bread and little miniature food and all that kind of thing, I’m just gonna show you
00:04:49 –> 00:04:55 a couple of little things about the pastels, so the way you wanna use them…I’ll use this
00:04:55 –> 00:05:02 big set here, is you can use a little brush if you like and try to get it some color off
00:05:02 –> 00:05:08 of here and then dust it this way if you want to, but if you need a lot of the color, all
00:05:08 –> 00:05:14 you need to do is just take your piece and just scrape a little bit off, and then you
00:05:14 –> 00:05:19 have the powder right there all ready to go and you can use it that way.
00:05:19 –> 00:05:25 Another thing you can do with the chalk pastels, really easily and nicely, is if you mix them
00:05:25 –> 00:05:31 together, so I’ve taken a Blue color and a Pink color, and I can actually make quite
00:05:31 –> 00:05:38 a Purple-y color by mixing them together, so you can get really unlimited colors with
00:05:38 –> 00:05:42 that…and here, look at how beautiful they are, you can use them in stencils and you
00:05:42 –> 00:05:49 can rub them on with your fingers, all kinds of stuff, it sticks remarkably well to raw
00:05:49 –> 00:05:56 clay, in fact these bricks all here, there isn’t even a finish on here and it’s on there
00:05:56 –> 00:06:02 really tough, you can’t scratch it off, so it really bakes in there, once it’s baked,
00:06:02 –> 00:06:06 it’s in there, but you can protect it if you need to.
00:06:06 –> 00:06:09 Another thing you can do…and I’ll talk about that in one second, another thing you can
00:06:09 –> 00:06:19 do is you can mix it with liquid clays, this is Sculpey Liquid Translucent sometimes called
00:06:19 –> 00:06:25 TLS…I haven’t opened…oh yeah I haven’t opened this one yet, but I’ll just put a
00:06:25 –> 00:06:34 little drop out here, and you can mix it with right…the powders right in there and get
00:06:34 –> 00:06:36 some really cool effects.
00:06:36 –> 00:06:41 Some people make like a liquid…they’re making like a little bowl of soup or something, and
00:06:41 –> 00:06:47 they want it to look like broth, they would use some colors that were little more broth
00:06:47 –> 00:06:55 like and just mix it right in and they could make themselves a soup base and pour it in
00:06:55 –> 00:07:01 a little cup and it would look like soup…I’ll just mix this together with this end here,
00:07:01 –> 00:07:06 but you can see, it mixes in really well, and you get kind of a speckled, really cool
00:07:06 –> 00:07:14 translucent…colored translucent when you do it that way, and that’s when I was doing…oh
00:07:14 –> 00:07:21 where did it go, these pieces here, you can really see the different colors of the chalks
00:07:21 –> 00:07:25 and things within the liquid and it looks very, very cool.
00:07:25 –> 00:07:35 Now, you can also use Kato Poly…Liquid Poly Clay or Fimo Liquid…I have not used Fimo
00:07:35 –> 00:07:40 Liquid yet, it’s brand new to me, so I haven’t had the opportunity to mix it with anything,
00:07:40 –> 00:07:46 but of the three different translucent clays I was just showing you, Fimo Liquid is supposed
00:07:46 –> 00:07:52 to be the clearest of the three, so I have some future testing to do on those products,
00:07:52 –> 00:07:56 and if you would like me to get right on that, leave a comment below, and I can get onto
00:07:56 –> 00:08:00 that…I can bump it up the list if it’s something you’re interested in.
00:08:00 –> 00:08:07 Alright, so to protect it, after it’s baked… if you are worried about it getting rubbed
00:08:07 –> 00:08:12 off or something like that, you can use a variety of different products, this is PYM
00:08:12 –> 00:08:19 II, we’ve talked about that in a previous video, this is Golden Glazing Medium…I do
00:08:19 –> 00:08:25 have a video that has all of these different finishes in it that talks more about that,
00:08:25 –> 00:08:33 and you can also use Renaissance Wax, whatever you like to protect it, and that’s about it.
00:08:33 –> 00:08:38 You can come up with all sorts of very cool things to do with these colored clays, like
00:08:38 –> 00:08:43 I said, you could mix it in…you could actually mix it into Translucent clay, you can add
00:08:43 –> 00:08:48 it on top of the clay, or you can mix it in with Liquid Clay, alrighty?
00:08:48 –> 00:08:54 So I hope that was helpful for you, if it was, do let us know if you liked this video.
00:08:54 –> 00:09:00 And if you have a product you’d like me to test or a technique that you don’t know anything
00:09:00 –> 00:09:05 about, and you’d like me to do a video on it in the future, leave your suggestions in
00:09:05 –> 00:09:07 the comment section below.
00:09:07 –> 00:09:13 Also we have done so many videos, so there is a pretty good chance we might have already
00:09:13 –> 00:09:17 done a video that you are looking for, so make sure to search through the videos we
00:09:17 –> 00:09:21 have and see if you can find it there, alright?
00:09:21 –> 00:09:23 We will see you next time and bye 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: Americana Decor Chalky Paint On Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Faux Flaking Rust Tutorial
- Related Video: Faux Raku Macrame Bracelet Polymer Clay Tute
- Related Video: Daisy Flowers Polymer Clay Tutorial
- Related Video: Poinsettia Christmas Charms Tutorial
- Related Video: Christmas Snowman Beads Polymer Clay Tutorial
- Related Video: Polymer Clay Tutorial Anjou Pear Fruit Beads
- Related Video: Cymbidium Orchid Polymer Clay Tutorial
- Related Video: Fairy Doors Video Tutorial
- Related Video: Faux Enamel And Viking Knit Polymer Clay Tutes
- Related Video: Sealing Polymer Clay Best Practices
- Amazon: Chalk Pastels **
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How do I make freckles on a terracotta figurine?
Thank you,
Jan
I have never worked with terracotta clay, so I am not sure how to help you. Perhaps someone else might know?
Hi Cindy, could you help me? I want to use chalk pastel on my polymer (fimo) and want to keep the granulated look of the shaving of my chalk . unfortunately when I bake it it is not fixed and when I want to glaze it after it melt into an uniform colour. Any idea how to fix that chalky look? Could I try an hairspray? Will it not stay sticky? after curing sure?
Thanks a million in advance for your suggestions.
Kind regards , Francoise
Hi Francoise, that is an interesting question. You could try a couple of different ways to get that granular look. You could try coating your piece with liquid clay first and then adding the chalk. That would help the chalk stick better to the piece. If it sunk in deep enough You may even be able to add another layer of liquid clay to seal it. I have mixed chalk with liquid clay before and it tends to have a granular look to it when it cures. I think it is because it is oily rather than water based. SO the color doesn’t bleed that much… especially if the chunks of chalk are larger
Another way would be to ‘fix’ it like you suggested. I would not use hairspray. It would be very difficult to know what was actually in it and you may end up with some compatibility issues, getting sticky over time. I would use PYMII. It is polymer clay safe and you could easily add a thin mist to protect the chalk and then seal it however you like with your glaze without worrying about it bleeding out.
Just type PYMII in to the search box at the top of the page to learn more about it.
Do let us know how your tests go…
Hi Cindy,
Another Cindy here from Cape Cod.
I enjoy all of your tutorials. Everything I’ve learned about working with polymer clay has come from the internet and you are one of my favorite teachers. I love your scientific approach to using various materials with polymer clay and your product demos.
I have two questions.
First, have you tried these new uv curing glues that are advertised on tv, not sure if you have them in Canada. They have names like laser-bond. It is a pointy tipped glue applicator on one end and a uv light on the other. I used some to glue posts to some pc disks I made from molds I made of buttons and now I wonder if this was wise… I believe the cured glue is like a plastic so maybe it is ok?
Second, when applying powders (mica, pastel, whatever) to the surface of clay to highlight the texture, have you found anything that works like a fingertip but is more precise? When I brush my mica powder covered fingertip across a textured pc surface I love seeing the image pop. But sometimes my fat fingertip can’t be as precise as I want. However, nothing else I have tried works like a fingertip. Brushes get the powder into the cracks instead of only on the surface which can create an interesting effect but not what I’m looking for.
I have been making these cute 20cm-ish button duplicates in one color but some of the designs would look good in 2colors if I can figure out how to apply them.
Any ideas welcome and keep up the great work.
Always looking forward to your next video,
Cinth (a childhood nickname I like to use… kind of unique. To most folks I’m Cindy)
Hello to another Cindy on the opposite coast! I have not tried any of the uv glues yet, though that does sound interesting! Do let us know how your piece is after a few months. Sometimes it can take a awhile before you can see any long term incompatibilities.
As far as another tool you cool use for adding mica powder, have you tried a Q-Tip or a make-up sponge? I would think either would do the job nicely. I have seen a tool out there called Sofft for Pan Pastels which is basically a tiny makeup sponge on an applicator.
Cinth is a great nickname! My uncle used to call me Cin Cin and now that he has passed I often think about how sweet he was, and how he made me smile when he called me that.
Thanks for commenting!
That is a wonderful idea, Cindy! I’m usually pretty good at ‘finding’ things around the house to use in polymer clay and other crafts(you should see my collection of corks and those green Emerald nuts containers, and toothpaste caps… etc!) but I don’t wear makeup so none of those things are around my house! I think I tried a q-tip once and it was too fuzzy and , like a brush, it got the mica powder between the cracks. I think a foam applicator would work better since I recall they are less fuzzy than q-tips. But all q-tips are not equally fuzzy so maybe all applicators are not created equal either. When I get the chance to try it I’ll report back.
To get back to the UV glue experience….
I tried it this weekend on some button duplicates I wanted to make into post earrings. One problem is that ideally, no glue should show on the back, but the light has to get to the glue to cure it. I glued about 10 pair of earrings. They seemed pretty sturdy but I didn’t got so far as to try to pull the back off.
Next day there seemed to be a little bit of tackiness on some of them. I put them in the sun and zapped them with the UV pen again.
I wore a pair of them and when trying to take one of them off, it came apart. The glue that was ‘in the dark’ between the clay and the metal was uncured.
I don’t think there is a compatibility issue between the glue and the clay, or at least it is not yet apparent. But for connections where the glue is ‘in the dark’ it seems like a worse option than e6000 which I’ve used successfully in the past.
I’m not sure I’m prepared to rip the other pairs apart so I’ll let them be and report back after a while.
Looking forward to your next lesson!
Thanks Cinth for the UV Glue update. What you’re saying makes perfect sense. How would this glue work in most cases then, since I’m sure not everything you would want to glue wouldn’t be see through. Anyway, look forward to hearing how it stands up over time. Thanks for commenting!
Hi, I just found your site! Thank you for your amazing site and the terrific information you provide!
I’m especially interested in your video about using soft pastels with polymer clay…..
I’m an acrylic artist but I’ve always wanted to use soft pastels with polymer clay, but never dared. Didn’t know if it would stick. Now I know it will. THANKS!
BUT……. I have questions…….
I want to use the pastels dry and crumbled, on top of the clay, NOT mixed with liquid clay.
BUT……. Can I really do this? My poly oven is a convection (countertop, toaster) oven. Won’t the pastel dust just get blown around and WRECK the oven? And get in my house and LUNGS?
This is a serious issue. The high grade pastels I have can be super toxic because of the high pigment load containing things like cadmium, nickel, etc.. I know some pastel artists who actually work in haz-mat suits to try and avoid breathing the toxic dust. I don’t even use them myself because of the dangers. (They were a gift.) They just sit in their drawer, wasting space, lol.
Wouldn’t my convection oven just scatter it?
Thanks for any ideas you may have on this.
And thanks again for your awesome work!!!
Hi Sean, thank you for your question! I can understand your concerns, but let me ease your mind.
When you use the dry powder on a raw polymer clay piece, you will see that it adheres to the clay very well. In fact washing it off with water would even be a task, even before it is baked, so do not worry about it blowing around in your convection oven.
Secondly, I recommend that you tent your pieces using a tin foil pan, whenever you bake polymer clay pieces any ways to prevent your piece from getting scorched. Another reason why you do not need to worry about the chalk blowing around in your oven. There is a video on these tin foil lids on this blog, so just use the search box and you should be able to find the info you need.
And just so you know, I myself use a convection oven, with excellent results, so what you have is perfect. There is a video on that too if you want to look it up.
So there is no need to worry. You will not be creating a cloud of toxic dust in your lovely oven, so go ahead and use your chalk pastels on your polymer clay.
Thanks so much for the info. I’ll try this over the weekend!!! I’m excited to see what happens.
About the tin foil pan – does that work better than ceramic tiles and silicon sheets? I’ve used both. What is ghe relative difference between the three?
Thanks again for your quick reply!
Oh, and I should add that when I bake on ceramic tiles, I put a sheet of deli paper under the polymer piece between the ceramic and the clay. In fact I make everything on deli sheets, so it is already there. I just slide it onto a tile when ready to bake.
I’ll check out your recommended video though to see if it might work better, especially for the ones with a sprinkle of pastels. I’m really wanting to trap it, just in case. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I have to trap it or abandon the idea, just for my own peace of mind!!!
Baking on a ceramic tile with deli paper on top is just fine. The foil lid goes over the top. Alternatively, you can get two foil pans, large enough to fit a til in the bottom and use one for a lid. Then use binder clamps to hold the top and bottom together. Make sure to do a search on baking. There are many videos to watch that will answer your questions. Good luck!
I love this video, Cindy – best of all, it pointed me to other interesting videos I want to watch. I bought a set of chalks a year or so ago and haven’t used them much yet – partly because I didn’t realize how many amazing things you could do with them. I’ve always been fascinated with fairy doors and didn’t realize chalk could be so helpful with them.
Would be interested in the Kato liquid clay if it bakes up clearer. What about the time for baking and temperature? Would it still be the same? Thanks for the wonderful videos! Can’t wait for January.
Hi Cheryl, the Kato Liquid Polyclay is definitely clearer. The instructions say bake at 275F until set. (Which basically means bake until it goes clear.) I have found it is usually set within 30 minutes and you can always hit it with a heat gun to finish it off, if it is still a little cloudy.
Hi Cindy!
Thanks so much for the continuing expansion on products to incorporate into our ployclay-ing :)
I would be interested to hear about how & if the Oil Pastels fair – I have so much of those left over from other artist classes … and maybe what about regular crayons? or is the wax too much in baking?
Also does anything happen to the clay if you use too much – do you loose the ‘clay’ aspects? i.e. it gets too hard to manipulate or mold?
Oh aaaaaaaaaaand just because I am such a noobie here, the top coat or protectant is AFTER the clay with the chalk is baked correct?
thanks again!!!!
-Cris
Hi Cris, I have put oil pastels on the list of stuff to test. I have used crayons though. Just type crayon beads into the search box and you can watch a video on how to use them. And as far as how much of anything that you can add to clay… well that depends… You kind of have to play that one by ear. If it is getting too crumbly or too sticky (depending on what you put in it), then you added too much and you’ll need to add more clay to the mix, to get it to behave for you. And for your last question, yes you add the top coat after it is baked. Welcome to our community btw. I hope you enjoy it here!
Interesantisimo
gracias Wendy
Cindy — just a note about Fimo liquid. ( I “think” it’s still called decorating gel), I have used it for quite a number of years because it truly IS transparent. It’s hard to find, though — I ordered mine online through Amazon because I can’t find it in the craft stores near me.
I bought Fimo liquid just to make dewdrops – it’s great for that!
Thanks, Cindy! I always wanted to know about the different chalk pastles. Glad the Michaels’ brand, Artist Loft, is a good and least expensive one to try. I’m actually getting ready to make some bracelets using the Faux Enamel and Viking Knit tute! I’ve done the Viking Knit but haven’t tried the Faux Enamel. It’s very gloomy and rainy here in MI so, it will be a Very Clay Day!!
Sounds like the perfect whether for claying Catalina! Have fun!
I had run out of red clay so decided to use chalk pastels and got my Artist Quality ones from the cupboard. As I wanted a bright red I shaved half a block of a red pastel and mixed into some pink clay.
(I though it would take that much!)
My hands turned red and it took a lot of scrubbing to get it off. So beware, you will only need small amounts as a quarter of what I mixed would have been too much, but it was a beautiful colour when baked. Should have waited until today, after this tute Cindy…Lesson learnt..cheers xx
Well it sounds like you learned something from your experiment Elaine… and that isn’t a bad thing. :)
Have you used a product called the Best Glue Ever from ScraPerfect? I’m using polymer clay things in some multi-media pieces and I need a glue that will stick clay to canvas/metal/fabric. Thanks. I love your videos.
I have not used that glue before Joy, so I can’t help you with that, but I have used E6000 for situations like you have mentioned, and it works very well.