Using Playing Cards to Measure Pasta Machine Settings
Video #426: A unique method to standardize thickness references for all brands of pasta machines.
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IN THIS POST: — thickness guide — pasta machine — playing cards — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Making a playing card thickness guide for your pasta machine.
- There are a gazillion different pasta machine brands around the world, and each one measures thickness differently.
- As an instructor, when I’m teaching a technique in a tutorial, it is very important that everyone uses the same thickness, otherwise the cane design or the technique, may not work out very well.
- A while ago, several polymer clay artists came up with the idea of using playing cards to reference their pasta machine thickness settings. It is a great idea since the card stock thickness of playing cards is pretty standard because of strict regulations in place in the casino and gaming industries.
- To the best of my knowledge, it was Maggie Maggio and Sage Bray who originally came up with the playing card measurement idea.
- In today’s video, I demonstrate how to measure and record the number of cards that it takes to document the settings on your pasta machine.
- Finally, we can now speak the same language… at least when it comes to determining exactly how thick our polymer clay sheets need to be for any given technique. No longer does it matter that your Pasta Machine Setting #5 is different from mine.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today’s Studio Tip is making a
00:00:08 –> 00:00:12 playing card thickness guide for your pasta machine.
00:00:12 –> 00:00:18 Now, a few…I don’t know, it was a year ago or a little bit more, a bunch of the artists
00:00:18 –> 00:00:24 kinda got together and talked about the fact that all the different pasta machines that
00:00:24 –> 00:00:29 are out there, every setting seems to be a little bit different, and there needed to
00:00:29 –> 00:00:34 be a bit of a standardization between everybody, so that we knew what we are talking about,
00:00:34 –> 00:00:39 because some machines…like in my case, this one goes from number 1 setting all the way
00:00:39 –> 00:00:47 down to a 9, and the 1 is the thickest, some pasta machines it’s the other way around;
00:00:47 –> 00:00:53 the 1 is the thinnest, some go to 7, some go to 5, you know all that kind of stuff.
00:00:53 –> 00:01:00 And as an instructor, when I’m teaching a technique in a tutorial, it’s very important
00:01:00 –> 00:01:06 that everybody has the same kind of thickness, otherwise the cane design or whatever it is
00:01:06 –> 00:01:08 that you’re working on won’t work out.
00:01:08 –> 00:01:14 So, now I think it was Maggie Macchione and Sage Bray were some of the artists involved,
00:01:14 –> 00:01:20 but I don’t know exactly everybody, but this idea came up where you use playing cards,
00:01:20 –> 00:01:27 you know, your standard deck of cards to measure the thickness of your pasta machine.
00:01:27 –> 00:01:31 So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna just show you…I’ve got it at the thickest setting
00:01:31 –> 00:01:38 which is a 1 on here, and I’m just gonna see how many will fit through, and I keep taking
00:01:38 –> 00:01:43 them away until I get a number that will fit through.
00:01:43 –> 00:01:51 So that one fit through but the previous one didn’t, so that would be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
00:01:51 –> 00:01:56 7, 8 cards, and you do that for each setting all the way down.
00:01:56 –> 00:01:59 Now you can write it down on a little chart or whatever, but one of the things I like
00:01:59 –> 00:02:05 to do is I have one of those little label printers, so I just made a sticker that I
00:02:05 –> 00:02:08 stuck right down to my pasta machine here, and you could just use a piece of tape if
00:02:08 –> 00:02:16 you don’t have a label maker, and I just put the number 1 setting equals 8 cards, the number
00:02:16 –> 00:02:23 2 setting was 7 cards, you know…all the way down, and my…when I got down to 8 and
00:02:23 –> 00:02:32 9, they were pretty close, 8 would fit 1 card, I’ll show you here, but…this is stiff from
00:02:32 –> 00:02:46 this angle, 8 got 1 card, kinda, and 9 barely could get it through, so what I considered…
00:02:46 –> 00:02:51 8 is the 1 card, and 9 is half a card.
00:02:51 –> 00:02:55 By the time you’re getting down there, it starts rippling and doing funny things anyways,
00:02:55 –> 00:02:57 so it doesn’t matter that much.
00:02:57 –> 00:03:03 But that way, when I’m using this pasta machine here at the studio and I’m making up a design
00:03:03 –> 00:03:09 and then you’re making it out there with your own machine, if I say it needs 4 playing cards
00:03:09 –> 00:03:15 thickness, then you know exactly what we’re talking about and you can set your machine
00:03:15 –> 00:03:19 to suit it perfectly, we’re on the same page that way.
00:03:19 –> 00:03:24 So I hope that tip was helpful for you, now my question…
00:03:24 –> 00:03:29 oh if it was helpful, make sure to click that like button that would be great.
00:03:29 –> 00:03:38 And my question for you today is, are you gonna use this tip, I mean it is a neat one,
00:03:38 –> 00:03:43 it will really help you regulate things, so if you are gonna use it, put that answer in
00:03:43 –> 00:03:45 the comment section below, that would be great.
00:03:45 –> 00:03:52 And make sure to subscribe, we have new videos that come out every week and you’re not gonna
00:03:52 –> 00:03:53 wanna miss them.
00:03:53 –> 00:03:55 So we’ll 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:
- Maggie Maggio: Smashing Color for the 21st Century
- Sage Bray: The Sage Arts
- Related Video: Polymer Clay Pasta Machine Cleaning Tip 1 Baby Wipes
- Related Video: Pasta Machine Cleaning Tip 2 Scraper Build-Up
- Related Video: Using Translucent Clay To Clean Pasta Machine Tip 3
- Related Video: Keeping Your Pasta Machine Station Organized
- Related Video: Black Streaks from Pasta Machine on Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Unboxing My Brand New Atlas 150 Pasta Machine
- Amazon: Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine **
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Howdy, Cindy’s Groupies! (And I include myself in that, absolutely!)
I just found something at Fire Mountain that they sell for polymer artists to use for rolling out clay. They carry sets of acrylic slats which are 6 inches long. These slats come in sets of 2 each of 6 different thicknesses: 0.25 mm, 0.5 mm, 0.75 mm, 1 mm, 1.5 mm, and 2 mm (1 to 8 playing cards thick). The thicknesses are different colours, so it is easy to match the pairs. The price is showing as $US14.86 for if you buy 1 to 14 items (remember, Fire Mountain discounts on how many items you buy, not how many of each).
Sometimes my pasta machine doesn’t want to cooperate to roll a flat sheet. I can see these being useful. And cheaper than buying knitting needles, even at WalMart!
I have been making p.c. Bracelets on a metal base. They are about 10mm thick, and am having a hard time figuring out length of time to bake. Lots of errors here!!!! I’ve listened to several of your tutorials (love them) but I don’t have any playing cards, could you tell me in mm’s?
Thank you in Advance, Dotti
Hi Dotty, I bake everything I make with Premo clay for 1 hour at 275F no matter the thickness. And as far as the cards go, you can pick up a deck of cards for $1 at the dollar store… it is much easier than trying to measure the difference thicknesses of a sheet of clay. As a last resort, a piece of cardstock should be pretty close to the thickness of a playing card… close enough anyway. If you have more baking questions, just type ‘baking’ into the search box at the top of the page and you will find the info you need. Thanks for commenting!
My mashine only takes six cards. Either it doesn’t produce gorgeous thick sheets of clay or my cards are not the right size (I have a fimo mashine).
Hi all, this is kind of off topic but need some help in using Ultra Dome. I love this stuff but everytime I use it, I make sure there are no air bubbles and everything is clear when I place the light fixture over it. I still get little air bubbles when the resin is set and am getting frustrated. I use a candle lighter and pass it over the piece to make sure there are no bubbles visible and have even left it under the light for longer than 25 minutes. Should I be letting it set for awhile before I cure the resin? Sometimes I get lucky and a piece will come out perfect with no air bubbles but more times than none it doesn’t. Any help or suggestions would be very appreciated.
Dixie, I only worked with the Ultradome twice, but I found that by using a very thin needle (seed bead type) and dragging it very slowly up and down then sideways through to the bottom of the the Ultradome, it released a lot of bubbles, which I then torched.
I think your idea of letting it sit for awhile is good too.
The first batch had a few bubbles, but, as I slowed down and used the thin needle in both directions, torching as I went, the second batch came out almost bubble free.
Hi Dixie Ann, most of that bubbling that happens later is because of other issues rather than the resin. It can be air that is trapped on the sides or underneath your piece trying to get out. It can be the air that gases off of glue that is still dying. It can also be a reaction to a foreign material like oils on the metal bezel or container your putting the resin into or a few other things that may forever be a mystery. I now have found that if you let your piece sit for a bit before curing (in addition to dealing with the other possible issues I mentioned) so that the second set of bubbles can come to the surface, you can pop the bubbles with a lighter again without much issue. Hope that helps! Let us know if this solves your problems!
I picked up a pack of 4 sets of playing cards in the” dollar store” a few years back. I used them as little mats when making metal clay pieces.
As all the cards are numbered what I did was stick the amount of cards together with super-glue and put the corresponding pasta machine setting number on the top i.e. 4 card thickness = 4 of hearts.( As I do not have a label machine) Then just wrote with a sharpie the pasta machine number on front of cards. Saves shuffling cards. So now they are clipped together with a bulldog clip from 2 card thickness to 9 card thickness. Suppose if I had to go higher I would use the King Queen and Jack at front for 10, 11 and 12, but I only have to go to nine. They hang up on the clip and people always ask what kind of game I play with them? Well it’s not Poker. …….cheers xx………….
Brilliant idea – making up card stacks of the various thicknesses, with the “index” card on top of the stack and the corresponding machine setting Sharpie’d onto it.
If you use the stacks themselves as rolling guides you’d need two of each stack, of course, but sets of cards are so cheap at the dollar stores this isn’t any problem.
Cindy I love the playing card standard thickness in referring to clay. It sure makes it a lot easier since we started using it. I use a Dream Machine, the numbers on it range from #1 to #10 and the #1 setting is the thickest which is also thicker than the #1 setting on a standard Sculpey Pasta Machine. It takes 11 playing cards to fit through this #1 setting where the one you demoed only uses 8 cards. That is quite a bit of difference. With the playing cards I never have to guess anymore. I am hoping to see this standard set across the board just like your teardrop blend you taught us which I now refer to as the Lietz Teardrop Blend.
Thank you, for your quick answer and solution to my member login issue today. This is always a pleasure to see your work and learn with you.
Have a nice day
Veronique from France
Let me tell you I love your channel because of your kind of videos (what works and what not, comparisons, tips…) Very useful!
I remember you telling us this a while back and I must say it is still the best way out there – I wish everyone that makes tutorials would use this card system instead of #1 on your pasta machine… thanks for bringing this tip to even more people Cindy:) I wish all teachers would use this standardized way – would make life easier…
I first saw this in an article Sage Bray wrote for her magazine and it makes as much sense as anything. I know that when I see instructions that say something like “I used setting #2 on my machine” I think well, that’s helpful only if you also tell me what sort of machine you have!
And hopefully playing cards don’t invoke the same sort of emotions as do the two main systems of measurements for thickness. Having a science background I am completely comfortable with the metric system but I frequently encounter people who are not, though I would think most would not find 5/64 of an inch easier to measure than 2mm. ;-) Playing cards are a physical standard that is commonly and cheaply available, in units that are easier to determine than tenths of a millimeter or fractions of inch.
It is something I’ve been meaning to do but you’ve inspired me to break out my labeled and do as soon as return from my trip. :-D
LOL Bertha! Here in Canada we switched from the Imperial system to the Metric system when I was in Grade 10. By then, most of my thinking was in Imperial, but because the Metric system made so much more sense, I learned some of the measurements very quickly and forgot the other stuff I learned in Imperial.
I use Celsius when I talk about water boiling and freezing temps but Fahrenheit when I cook. I use millimeters when I measure beads but inches when I measure wire. Etc. Etc. Let’s just say my brain is a little muddled over which one to use!! :D
Fan-tastic!
Good thing to know! If you don’t have a pasta machine and want to be able to roll out the same thickness, you can purchase something called graduated slat set. I have seen them on ebay as well as Rio Grande. They run about $16 or so. I have never used one but I thought I would put the option out there. Keep up the great tips, they are very helpful!
Hi Laura, I have seen the graduated slats that you speak of. I think they might be handy if you were doing larger flat pieces, but nothing beats a pasta machine for mixing clay and doing Teardrop Blends or Skinner Blends. Having one is well worth the few extra dollars. In fact I would consider the pasta machine pretty much an essential polymer clay tool. It will make your job much easier, faster and more consistent. I’d put one on the top of your to buy list, if it were me. (Just so you know, I waited a few years before buying one, and kicked myself all around the studio for not buying one sooner. I felt I was holding myself back by not having one.) :)
I’ve labelled my pasta machines with a variety of thickness references including numbers of playing cards.
I like the fact that the playing card method is accessible even to people who don’t use pasta machines, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. My brain still thinks in millimetres first, with descriptive terms like “thick”, “medium” and “thin” (etc.) second. Numbers of playing cards are a very, very distant third!
That’s funny Sue! I can’t say I think in cards thick, nor do I think in any of the measured thicknesses… I go by feel and then look at my machine and label to see how many cards thick it was so I can tell you guys. I am really glad though to have a standardized method that works world wide. It really makes it easier for the student and the teacher!