polymer clay tiles

by lisa cook
(Australia)

Hi
I have nothing to share yet.I have just recently discovered polymer clay and as a mosaicer I would love to hear form anybody who can tell me the "how to" make tiles for my mosaic projects or guide me towards a tutorial site.
cheers
lisa

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polymer clay tiles

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Jan 24, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar		 Mosaic tiles with Polymer clay
by: Anne Cecilie

Hi Lisa,
Thank you for posting this question. You can easily make tiles for mosaic with polymer clay, and there are some variations, depending on what you want to make.
- condition your clay and mix the colors you want. Run the clay through a medium setting on your pasta machine, or roll it flat with a brayer. Use texture plates to make prints on them if you like. That can make intersting patterns in your mosaic. Cut out tiles with a shape cutter and bake the clay for 30 minutes. When the tiles are cold, you can use them as they are, or cut them into smaller pieces with a pair of scissors.

Add mica powder to some and glace them with liquid polymer clay - you can see how if you go to the polymer clay tutorial page and then to the link called glazing beads.
You can also add foil or metal leaf, paint and enven photo transfers. When you add liquid clay onto small tile pieces, they get a kind of vaulted surface. If you add the glace and then cut them, it will not give the same vaulted result.

Put your mosaic together and if the piece is small enough to bake in the oven, you can use polymer clay for grout and then rebake it.
If you make something big, you can use very fine grout or even paper mache like Silkies (only if you are going to cover it with glass or something).

- Another method with polymer clay, is to cut long strips of clay and arrange them into a pattern. Then you make the borders with a scalpel or a toot pick. Bake the piece and then fill with polymer clay or fine grout.
If you use textured tiles, use a coton swab moistened with alcohol to clean them up before you bake the finished piece.

I have found a few sites that do mosaic with polymer clay:

http://mitesserae-mosaics.blogspot.com/2008/05/polymer-clay-mosaics.html

http://www.polyclay.com

http://www.smosaic.com

There are many more, and some offer classes.
You can also search Amazone for books about mosaic. Here are a few:
- Mixed media polymer clay - Laurie Mika
- Polymer clay mosaic - Krista Wells

I hope this was of any use to you. Good luck and all the best.

Anne Cecilie

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