Liquid polmer clay w/ inks

Help.... I have been trying to mix liquid polyclay with pinita inks. They are suppose to bake transluent however every time i do this they turn out cloudy. What am i doing wrong. I have baked then longer. I have varied the amount of ink ect.. lost in the world of jquard products. i bought the complete kit so that i could play. However i have just striked out over and over. The only thing i have had success with is the powders.

[Nicole]

Hi cheri and welcome,

I am sorry to say that I have no idea. I haven't worked with either of these products.  Is there someone else out there who can help?

[Metalman]

Some thoughts

1] I have read about certain bubbling problems when coating the poly clays - this indicates a certain amount of offgassing when fired. - could this cause your clouding?
2] Is there any chance you are getting a small amount of water in the mix? that might could your materials as it interacts with the alcohol base of the inks
in these cases you may need to fire your base clay, do your next round of work - then do a 2nd firing
3] I pulled this from a site descibing the pinata inks: "Intense, transparent colors, waterproof and permanent. Any surface, acid free, dilute with Claro Extender or alcohol, clean with Pinata CleanUp Solution or alcohol. Dries on raw clay or cured. To mix with liquid clay, drop ink on top of clay, let sit undisturbed for half an hour or more to allow alcohol to evaporate.
Hope this gets it

[Nicole]

Thanks Metalman!

I have baked the clay form first. then mixed my liquid clay with the ink. then i  let sit over a half hour before baking. it still clouded over. i just don't get it !!

[Metalman]

If i read that note right [i'm not sure here]
you should mix the ink and the liquid clay and let the mixture sit for 1/2hr. before you use it on your piece.
i suspect, having heard a few more details that the alcohol clouds the poly clay

[JudyD]

You might want to try bumping up the temperature just a hair.  Some of the liquid polymer clays specify a curing temp of 300 deg F.  Do not do this though if you are at all unsure about the steadiness and reliability of the temperature in your oven.  Going over 300 will definitely cause burning of the clay, and potentially nasty fumes.

I find I get the most clarity with Kato's brand of liquid polymer clay.  Sculpey liquid polymer generally will be cloudy.

When mixing in the Pinata's you do want to give the alcohol of the ink time to evaporate.  Otherwise you could get bubbling.  The nice thing about these products is that they will not dry out if you leave them sitting for awhile.

HTH,

JudyD

[Polly]

Cheri,

Reading metalman's post and yours, I noticed a difference:

You're mixing & ink together, and letting the clay sit for half an hour, but the instructions instead say to put a drop of ink on the clay and let the drop sit there for half an hour (to evaporate the alcohol) before you mix the ink in with the clay.

--Polly

[amyonlyone]

when you are done run you piece as soon as you can under really cold water. Or drop in to a bowl of ice water. This will clear up the liquid sculpy some.

[kgedrich]

If your using sculpey transluscent liquid clay or kato sauce when youve cured your piece hit it carefully with a heat gun and it will clear up before your eyes.