Transparent Liquid Sculpey Tips1. General Information: Transparent Liquid Sculpey (TLS) is a liquid form of polymer clay that is transparent when baked. TLS can be used alone to make image transfers, or it can be tinted to use as a ìpaintî on regular polymer clay. TLS is fairly thick, about the consistency of honey. You can thin down the TLS by adding a small amount of Sculpey Diluent.
2. Tinting TLS: Oil paints and powdered pigments (such as Pearl Ex, Powdered Pearls and Faerie Dust) can be used to tint your TLS, acrylic paints cannot be used to mix into the TLS to tint it. You should have some type of class container (like a baby food jar) to mix and store your various colors of TLS. Pour a small amount of the TLS in your glass container and then add a small amount of the oil paint and mix well with a toothpick. The more oil paint you use, the darker the hue will be. If you wish to have a more opaque color, add a bit of white oil paint to the mixture. Do note that a little bit of the tinted TLS will go a long way. If you want to have a shimmery color of TLS, add powdered pigments. If your mixture becomes to thick, add a small drop of the Sculpey Diluent. You can also mix the oil paint and powdered pigment together in the TLS for a unique effect. As far as color mixing goes, you are only limited by your imagination!
3. Painting with TLS: First you roll out your regular polymer clay (in a color of your choosing), stamp or shape it as desired and bake it. Now you are ready to paint the tinted TLS mixtures on the baked clay piece. You can begin painting one of two ways. Paint a thin layer of untinted TLS on the baked clay, then add the tinted TLS on top. This gives a very ìdreamyî and soft appearance. You can also simply paint the tinted TLS on the baked clay piece. Try it both ways and see how you like it. When working with stained glass window pieces, painting first with untinted TLS and then swirling in tinted TLS will give you a nice stained glass look. If you change the color of the polymer clay you use as your base, it will change the appearance of the TLS because it is very translucent. For a faux enameled look, you can paint the area you wish to look like enamel with white acrylic paint, let it dry, then brush tinted TLS on top. This gives yet another unique look to the TLS. While you cannot tint your TLS with acrylic paints, you can undercoat the area with acrylic paints and then use the TLS on top once the acrylic paints are dry, and bake. Another unique effect comes from layering many colors of TLS over one area. You would paint the tinted TLS mixture on the baked clay piece, and then bake it again. Then paint a different color of tinted TLS on top of the same area, bake it again. You can bake the pieces as many, or as few, times as you like. When working with layers of TLS color like this, you should paint on very thin layers so they donít become muddied in appearance. Use appropriately sized paintbrushes to paint the TLS mixture. When you find you have a tight or small space that needs painting, use a tapestry needle to guide the TLS mixture along the path you want painted. You can temporarily set the TLS colors when painting by simply applying heat from a heat gun. This works particularly well if you have areas where the TLS tends to slide off. Paint with TLS, set it with heat, continue painting. You still have to bake the TLS though, even if you heat set it with the heat gun.
4. Cleaning Paintbrushes: A solvent is needed to clean your brush between colors when working with TLS. Note that solvents will eat through plastics, so store your solvent in a glass container with a lid. Solvents are also flammable, take appropriate precautions. Solvent also have a strong odor, use in a well ventilated area. If the odor is bothersome to you, you can get low odor solvents to use as well. Do remember that solvents are also toxic, keep away from children and pets. And, if you should accidentally try to clean your brush in your full coffee cup, get a new cup to use for your coffee and wash the other one out VERY well.
5. Baking TLS: Generally, you bake the TLS at 275 degrees for 15 minutes. The baked TLS will be very dull in appearance. The ìdullnessî will be gone when you coat it with Sculpey Glaze. (or other polymer clay friendly glaze)
6. TLS Image Transfer Technique: This is a very cool technique to use with TLS. Use a piece of glass for your work surface (like a piece of glass that comes out of a picture frame). Magazine pictures and photocopies work the best for this technique. I have also found that you can stamp on text weight paper with either Ranger Archival ink pads or Memories ink pads, and then use that for your image transfer piece. Standard dye inks do not work. Brush on a thin coat of untinted TLS on the glass. Take your picture you are using as a transfer and gently roll it (top to bottom or vice versa) onto the wet untinted TLS. This helps to push out any little air bubbles that may be in the TLS. Lift up the glass and look from underneath at the TLS. If you see air bubbles, pick up the paper and roll it back down onto the TLS again, working the bubbles to the outside area where you can pop them with a needle or other sharp tool. Before you bake it, make very sure there are no air bubbles trapped between the paper picture and the glass. Slip the entire piece of glass, with the TLS and paper picture on it, into the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 275 degrees (F). Remove from oven and let cool. Now you can peel the TLS and picture off the glass, and then gently remove the paper. Because the TLS is thin, it is easy to rip it by accident when removing it from the glass or pulling the paper off. Be careful. Once the paper comes off, you now have an image transfer which can be used with either side up.
Tyra Smith
Transparent Liquid Sculpey Tips® by Tyra Smith.
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