Acrylic finish on poly clay beads?

[daverobertson]

Can you help? 

At our BEAD.FANS page, Christine Grinker O'Toole asked:

"Is it a good idea to apply an acrylic finish to polymer beads? I've made beads for a rosary. Thoughts and ideas appreciated!"

Post your answers over there at Facebook if you can.  Otherwise, I'll pick up your answer from here & pass it along to Christine.

  Thanks!!  - - - - Dave 

[NatOka]

Hello! I'm a new member of this forum as I wanted to find out some information on polymer clay jewelry, but I noticed that you have no replies to your post and it seems your post was the latest one up... do you know if this forum is active? Thank you for letting me know 

[Russ Nobbs]

Hi and welcome to our forums.

Yes our forum is active, but not terribly high traffic. Some weeks there are a number of posts while other times it is very quiet. The forum is well monitored by the staff here at Rings & Things. If you have questions, ask away. We'll do our best to answer them.

I've been active on many BBS's and forums over the past 30 years. None are as active as they were before Facebook and Twitter.

[briensmith]

    Sanding polymer clay is best done under water - either under the tap or in a basin. Use wet/dry sandpaper, starting with a grit of about 400 and progressing to at least 600. Sand each surface a few strokes with each grit of paper. When done, wipe off the piece and let it dry.

    You can buff by hand with a clean soft cloth (terrycloth, t-shirt, or the pique knit used for polo shirts) by vigorously rubbing the piece for several minutes to bring out the shine. You can also use an electric buffer with a cloth or muslin wheel. If you use a power buffer, be sure to keep the clay moving while you buff, and hold it lightly against the wheel; pressing can cause gouges in the clay. (You can buff polymer clay without sanding it smooth first, but the shine you obtain will not be as great.)

    For an alternative to heavy buffing use the fine steel wool made for wood finishing. Lightly rub the sanded clay with the steel wool, then hand-buff briefly, to bring out a bit of subtle shine.


Thanks

spam link to unrelated beads, removed

[Russ Nobbs]

This useful post by a shill for PandaHall was copied in full from http://www.jaedworks.com/clayspot/polyclay-faq/finishing.html.
If you are trying to make useful posts that the administrators wil not remove, please give credit for your source.

[Luann Udell]

Yay Russ!   

Another reason to avoid adding glazes & such to polymer...  There are just so many variables, it's hard to tell what will give you a good finish on polymer, what will flake off easily and what will turn your beads into a pulpy mess!

There are glazes meant to be used with finished polymer beads.  They used to have a distinctive odor and did not do a good job of covering fingerprints (you could still see them through the glaze unless it was heavily applied, and then the finish was so thick, it looked goopy.)

The sanding and buffing takes time, but you can achieve a nice surface (odorless!) ranging from soft matte to high gleam.  People seem to like it that my pieces are finished this way.

[papagodesign]

You can read up most polymer clay info on www.glasattic.com
If I sand I use wet sandpaper , not under water .

If I varnish I use mostly Varathane or Pearlex varnish with great success.
I mostly tumble my beads in a rock tumbler with smooth pebbles, then polish with a rotary tool because hand sanding is not an option for my hands - lots of instructions here http://www.desiredcreations.com/howTo_TLTumbleSand.htm