Polymer Clay: Rules and Regulations For Creating

Maybe I'm my own worst critic. Probably. But last night I learned another lesson.

I was happy. I was creating. I couldn't stop. Finally, there it was! Another master piece, I swear! In my excitement, I popped it into the oven and ran to get things ready for the next day, so I could go to my real job. In the morning, just before I left for work, I grabbed the master piece out of the oven and looked it over. Very disappointing.

Never do this. Never bake anything that you made, until it has set and been observed for a while. Look it over. Smooth it out. Any lumps and bumps become permanent upon baking.

The cool thing about polymer clay is that you can play with it and play with it until you bake it. When you bake it, it's done! It's over! There's nothing left to do but light sanding and maybe a coat of clear polyurethane.

Master pieces require long and steady attention to detail. And no, you cannot create a master piece in a day. So I need my own rules and regulations for creating with polymer clay.

Have a project in mind when sitting down to work with polymer clay. No more playing, have an end result in mind.

Have instructions, even if I wrote them myself.

Never, ever, bake anything until it is ready to be baked.

I'll be posting these on my wall in front of my face and maybe, just maybe I will be able to show this much self-restraint.