Polymer Clay And The Ozone Layer [April Fools]
Video #501: Recent scientific studies reveal new findings about the blue pigments in polymer clay… what you need to to know!
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IN THIS POST: — ozone layer — blue polymer clay — pigments — photoelectric effect — april fools — joke — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- It has been brought to my attention that UV Light has an effect on the pigments of polymer clay (specifically blue), which releases ozone depleting particles into the atmosphere.
- This is a big concern for me, since I am a big fan of all things Nature-Inspired.
- Plus, I am a huge lover of the color blue.
- So… my son Fisher and I did some extensive research and have come up with a solution for solving this serious concern.
- Make sure to watch to the very end of the video so that you don’t miss the critical information on how to do your part in keeping our planet safe.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:07 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today in the PcT Test Lab, we’re
00:00:07 –> 00:00:13 talking about the photoelectric effect that UV light has on the pigments of Polymer Clay,
00:00:13 –> 00:00:16 now specifically Blue Polymer Clay.
00:00:16 –> 00:00:23 Now it’s come to my attention that scientists have recently discovered that UV light has
00:00:23 –> 00:00:31 an effect on the pigments in Polymer Clay that release ozone depleting particles.
00:00:31 –> 00:00:38 Now this is a big concern for someone like me who absolutely is crazy about anything
00:00:38 –> 00:00:43 nature inspired, and the last thing I’d wanna do is affect the ozone layer.
00:00:43 –> 00:00:49 And another thing is that, I love the color Blue, and in no way would I ever want to have
00:00:49 –> 00:00:53 to remove that from my Polymer Clay repertoire.
00:00:53 –> 00:01:00 So my son Fisher and I went and did some research and tried to figure out what we could do that
00:01:00 –> 00:01:05 would solve this concerning problem, so I’ve just got it all laid out here to explain it
00:01:05 –> 00:01:07 to you on a scientific level.
00:01:07 –> 00:01:15 Now the photoelectric effect is the particle nature of UV light and its effect on the pigments
00:01:15 –> 00:01:21 of Polymer Clay, now I’ve got a block of Blue Polymer Clay sitting here, and I’ve got a
00:01:21 –> 00:01:29 UV light source here…now the UV light source could be anything like sunshine or a UV lamp,
00:01:29 –> 00:01:34 something along that line, and I’ve got the UV rays coming down and penetrating the block
00:01:34 –> 00:01:35 of Blue Polymer Clay.
00:01:35 –> 00:01:40 Now this is a raw block of Polymer Clay that’s just freshly been opened, once the UV light
00:01:40 –> 00:01:47 has penetrated it, it releases an ozone depleting particle that goes off through the atmosphere
00:01:47 –> 00:01:51 and burns a hole in the ozone, now we don’t want that.
00:01:51 –> 00:01:55 Now this is a sort of a temporary process, it only happens in the first 24 hours when
00:01:55 –> 00:02:01 you open up a package of Polymer Clay, but what Fisher and I discovered is that we could
00:02:01 –> 00:02:06 solve this whole issue by containing those particles and letting them dissipate before
00:02:06 –> 00:02:08 they had a chance to destroy the ozone layer.
00:02:08 –> 00:02:14 So what we’ve done is we’ve taken a block, a 2 ounce block of Cobalt Blue Polymer Clay
00:02:14 –> 00:02:21 and put it into this jar…a Mason jar, now you want the largest jar that you can get,
00:02:21 –> 00:02:26 so that the particles have more room to dissipate inside, then you wanna seal it up…so as
00:02:26 –> 00:02:30 soon as you open up your clay, put it inside the jar, seal it up, then what you need to
00:02:30 –> 00:02:33 do, is you need to expose this jar to UV light.
00:02:33 –> 00:02:38 Now, there’s a couple of options for you, one thing you can do is you can set this in
00:02:38 –> 00:02:43 the window sill, now you wanna make sure that it is a North facing window sill, not a South
00:02:43 –> 00:02:49 facing one, the South ones would be too hot and they would cause your clay to prematurely
00:02:49 –> 00:02:54 bake, so put it in a North facing window, and let it sit there for about 24 hours.
00:02:54 –> 00:02:57 Now that…you know, if you’re in a big hurry, you’re working on a project; that could be
00:02:57 –> 00:03:00 a little bit of time you don’t wanna waste.
00:03:00 –> 00:03:06 So you can speed up that whole process by using a UV lamp, now I’ve got a UV lamp here
00:03:06 –> 00:03:13 that I used for curing the UV resins and I’m just gonna remove the bottom of it, and we’re
00:03:13 –> 00:03:20 gonna set this up on its end so that the jar has a spot to be exposed to the UV light.
00:03:20 –> 00:03:27 Then I’m gonna turn on the light…and there it is, you’re gonna set your timer for 15
00:03:27 –> 00:03:32 minutes, let it be exposed to the UV light so that the light can penetrate inside the
00:03:32 –> 00:03:34 clay and disperse those particles.
00:03:34 –> 00:03:40 Then after 15 minutes, you let it set inside the jar for another 15 minutes… for the
00:03:40 –> 00:03:48 particles to disperse and basically dissipate and become inert, so then, you can open up
00:03:48 –> 00:03:52 your jar and use the clay like you normally would.
00:03:52 –> 00:04:01 So I hope that made sense for you, and if that didn’t maybe this will.
00:04:01 –> 00:04:08 April Fools…I hope that was funny for you.
00:04:08 –> 00:04:13 No, Polymer Clay… especially Blue Polymer Clay is not gonna burn a hole in the ozone
00:04:13 –> 00:04:20 layer, so you don’t need to cure it first… that was Doug’s idea.
00:04:20 –> 00:04:24 If you liked it, make sure to leave a comment in the comment section below.
00:04:24 –> 00:04:29 And I promise you the next time we have a PcT Test Lab that the information will be
00:04:29 –> 00:04:33 a little bit more scientifically sound than that was.
00:04:33 –> 00:04:35 We’ll see you next time and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Related Video: Baking Polymer Clay with a Magnifying Glass
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That was too cool!! Loved it!!
Cute, that made me smile, thank you.
k.
That was the best April Fool’s joke ever. You had me hook line and sinker on that one! Love your never ending valuable information and sense of humor.
Karen from Colorado
THAT was a particularly cruel and unusual punishment! Also extremely funny!
You gave an Oscar winning performance and we love your wonderful sense of humour. You were quite convincing even as we poo-hooed your message. What a relief to know you didn’t believe all that nonsense :-)
We never suspected it was an April Fool’s trick. Well done!
Hi Cindy,
I just saw the video……you are a fun person! contineu this way, the world needs it !
Efrat
The Nederlands
You brat!! You kept your face straight through the whole thing!
Good one, you totally had me. All I could think was, “Great! How many mason jars can I drag out of the dusty basement” “How can I set up a shelf in my north facing window?” “Do we use that much blue polymer clay?” “A hole in the ozone layer, what about my lungs for god’s sake!”
Thanks for the chuckle! (I’m not sure if I will ever trust you when your wearing that white coat)
Marilyn from Saskatchewan
What a stinker! LOL You had me through the whole video. Too funny.
Love to see a little fun video! It makes me smile! You and Doug put a lot of work into making the great videos and it is nice to have fun too!
Thanks for making me try to figure out what I could use as the “biggest”jar and believe it or not I was trying to think where I could buy a compass because I have no sense of direction. I know east and west but that,s all.you always get my mind working every time I get the new video, and this was no exception. Ha ha, great one Cindy. Mahalo.
One of the reasons that this was believable is that blue is a special color for in a couple of ways.
Blue fades in fabric more easily than other colors.
And somewhere here I read a comment that blue is one of the most popular colors. One of the reasons could be this: as people age and their vision deteriorates as cataracts grow, blue is the color they can see least clearly. The medical speculation is that a strong desire to see that color [“I like that color”] develops as it becomes more of a “strain” to do so. Am I stating that clearly? Weird, hmm?
After cataract surgery, BTW, the color becomes visible again.
After watching the whole thing, I love it. All the way through, though, I kept thinking that someone should have thought of this when they were taking that other stuff out of polymer clay and that it probably wasn’t much of a problem if they didn’t think of it. Good job thinking through it and bringing it to us so seriously. You’re good (but then we knew that before).
Thanks everyone! We had a lot of fun doing this one. Doug suggested the Ozone thing and the Jar treatment and I thought through the science part and a way for it to make sense. After putting thought into how it ‘worked’ and how to teach it to you guys, I almost started to believe it myself! Wasn’t that hard to keep a straight face when you’ve decided that it all makes sense… was harder to think about it being fake when I got to the end!
I think it is funny when people don’t watch to the end and they get mad at me for giving them information they think is wrong. It is their own darn fault for jumping to conclusions before seeing the whole picture! We will probably have to put the words ‘April Fools’ in the title after today, if we get too many more ‘thumbs down’! lol
Now the trick will be coming up with a new idea for next year! One that is equally ridiculous, while still being somewhat believable and one that is harmless should someone fall for it… much trickier that you may think! Wish us luck! :)
Nah, just put “filmed 1 April 2014” and if it still doesn’t click after several seconds, too bad! :-D
Remembered last yrs video for April fool day. You’re just so convincing. Loved it; you’re a fantastic actress. don’t know how you managed to keep it so serious.
O.M.G,
I thought, this will create a problem as have only one North facing window. Anyways all my window ledges are full of potted seeds. Sweet Pea and Runner Beans. Second snag, I haven’t got any Mason Jars. As only watched your test Lab today (2nd April). Had forgotten about the pranks our Cindy thinks up for April Fools Day. So yep! Cindy, you got me again
Had to laugh thinking of all those little Ozone eating bugs on their backs with legs in the air. But when you said watch until the end, the penny drops and I’m thinking she cannot be serious. I laughed so much the tears fell. Well done Cindy, you are awful but we like you………cheers xx……
Hi Cindy
Like so many other of the members, you really did have me fooled. Especially with the blue – I was wracking my brains to try and think what could blue could have in it to create more of these ozone-destroying- particles. Because I am only new to the community, I never expected an April fool’s day joke. You were good, very good – so convincing. I am so relieved I can use blue normally now but I won’t look at it in the same way!
Cheers
Marissa Marcolin
Don’t feel bad, Cindy’s so good she’ll get you if your not careful, she got me on the one where she was going to give up Claying, that was a number of years ago, and if mempry serves, it was my first April 1st as a follower.
Thank god girl I thought you were loosing it!……lolololol
, No how to bake the clay while on holiday? I had to come and see what your prank was going to be this year. I STILL think you’d make a fantastic actress being able to keep a straight face while filming this.
Good one!! You actually had me going there and I’m so embarrassed to admit it!
Boy -you had me right down to the end. Giggle……. Best April Fools EVER!!! TY~~~\
That was a really great April Fools joke Cindy. You can tell who got through the whole video! LOL
Just the funniest, bless you, I needed the chuckle.
Cindy, you are a riot! You almost had me on this one. I saw the post title and wondered what in the world!?! When I scrolled down to the video, I saw the suggestion of the “related” video for baking polymer clay with a magnifying glass. That’s when I remembered what day this was and knew you were at it again! LOL I could tell you were having a hard time keeping a straight face, especially when you got to the UV oven, but you really did very well until the end! Great job! I think I shall have to share this on FB! ;-)
Betty
Very cute! You got me!!!
:) :) :) :) :)
This video is rated five smiley faces.
Mari
Agreed, Mari!!
Cindy, that was a hoot! Had me going too. Because, hey, let’s face it, stranger things have been “scientifically” supported!! Lol!!
:D
Thanks for making my day!
P.S. The Hawkweed Palette is GORGEOUS!
Ha Ha! Very funny. And I get such a kick out of you when you laugh as you REVEAL the joke. It reminds me of me when I was a kid. Whenever I told a joke I would laugh so hard as I told it that I couldn’t finish telling the story. My family, of course, would laugh so hard tears would fall, and I was a very popular joke non-teller. I just watched the sun-oven video, too, and you really lost it there! That’s one of the great things about this site – your willingness to be you.
Hi Cindy and Doug
I loved the April Fools video. You had me going LOL
Barb in Kansas
THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!! All you color palets show your love of nature. We can always count on you to be a trend setter with all things in th Polymer Clay world. I really hope all the clayers out there can get this blue clay problem under control. Do all shades of blue clay have equal effect of photo electric effect. Would Ultra Marine blue do more damage because there is an Ultra level of something in the formula. Does the Colbalt Blue need more time to get rid of the Cobalt in the formula. I would hate to see us lose any more colors of polymer clay. I am sure this is why Permo discontined Violet a few years ago—–VOILET plus ULTRA MARINE =ULTRA VIOLET!!!! I hope Turquoise will always remain a safe choice.
This explains our crazy weather changes.
Thank you so much Cindy. This is right up there with last year’s discovery of the God Partical.
Oh, dear! What a dilemma, Anna! I’m sure glad Cindy provided a solution for this problem! Maybe Premo can bring back Violet clay now that we know how to deal with it! ;-)
Betty