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Polymer Clay by Tamila J. Darling Artist-Designer-Instructor featuring the
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Every purchase of our disks will come with a printed instruction sheet. These instructions are here for you in case you lose or misplace those instructions. It is not necessary for you to print these if you are placing an order. PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE USE! GUN PREPARATION These disks are for use with Sculpey, Darice and Kemper brand clay guns, or similar brands. The disks can be used with the Sugarcraft gun with our special
adapter. Without the adapter the disks will not work in the Sugarcraft gun. For Regular Gun Users – Sculpey, Darice, Kemper ¨
Select the disk you want to make an extrusion with. ¨
Place disk into the cap of the clay gun*, verifying that it fits flush with the lip of the gun cap.
Placing the disk into your gun cap with the logo facing out and the shiny side towards the barrel. The disk will work either way, but clean up later will be easier if you follow this step. NOTE: Because all guns can vary slightly, if the disk is not flush, use a piece of sandpaper and lightly sand any area that causes the disk to not fit perfect. Wipe the disk across sandpaper
once or twice and check for proper fit. Do this process until the disk is flush. Do not over sand or it may compromise the strength of the disk by sanding away too much of the outer edge. Regular
sand paper can be used; also emery boards have been proven to be very easy to use for this sanding process. Screw the cap onto your gun. *When manufacturing the disks, the largest size cap available was used for measuring the disks provided. Check ALL of your caps if you have multiple guns, you will find that each cap varies slightly and you
may have a cap that will require only a minimal amount of sanding (or maybe none) for the disks provided. Once you have a cap that your disks fit into, we recommend that you either mark it or keep it with your disks for future use. For Sugarcraft Gun Users
¨ Select
the disk you want to make an extrusion with. ¨ Place
the Adapter Ring into the cap of your Sugarcraft Gun. ¨ Fill
the barrel of the gun with clay. ¨ Place disk into the cap of the Sugarcraft gun, Placing the disk into your gun cap with the logo facing out and the shiny side towards the barrel. The disk will work either way, but clean up later will be easier if you follow this step. ¨ Begin
to screw the cap onto the barrel and use a needle tool to position the disk so that it remains centered inside the Adapter Ring. Screw the cap on the barrel until the fit is relatively snug. DO
NOT over-tighten. CLAY EXTRUDING ¨ The
clay needs to be soft enough to extrude. ALL clays MUST BE warm and thoroughly conditioned immediately
prior to extruding. ¨ Do
not fill the gun to full capacity. Fill ½ to ¾ full, this helps to minimize the stress put on the disk during the first few moments of extruding. While it is possible to extrude a full gun of clay, this does put extra stress on the disk. Until you get the feel for how the disks work, we advise using smaller portions of clay initially and then working your way up to
larger quantities. ¨ You
can use a clay gun pusher (or similar extruding device) to help with extruding. Please use caution when extruding and keep the amount of force used to a minimum. Extruding slowly is the key! ¨ To
help with the stress factor, place a finger over the opening of the disk until you feel the clay is ready to come out of the disk, while this isn’t necessary, it will help maximize usage. ¨ YOU
MUST extrude slowly to keep stress on the disk to a minimum. ¨ As
soon as you have finished extruding the amount of clay you need, immediately remove the disk from the gun. Clean with rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush. Finally, wash in
soap and water to remove any remaining clay residue. If you do not follow this crucial step, the clay will react with the plastic disk and ruin it. ¨ Store
disks in a “clay friendly” container, when not in use. Do not leave disks on your work surface where they could come into contact with raw clay. CUTTING & BAKING ¨ Cool
shaped extrusions by popping into a refrigerator or freezer for 5 to 10 minutes and then cut with a tissue blade. ¨ If
you are patient, let the extrusions sit a few days and then slice with a blade. ¨ Baking the extrusions prior to cutting has proven to be the best method for retaining definition of the shapes of intricate designs. Not too mention it provides more instant gratification. ¨ In
testing we found that baking these extruded rods for approximately 5 minutes works the best. After removing from the oven, let the rod rest for a minute and then cut with a straight edge razor blade while the rod is STILL WARM.
¨ If
your rods have cooled too much, re-warm the rod slightly, set on a heating pad or put in the oven for 30 seconds and then cut. ¨ After cutting your pieces, return them to the oven and bake the cut pieces according to the manufacturers instructions on the clay packaging. Keep in mind that most of these extrusions are extremely small in diameter, so take that into account when calculating bake time. APPLICATIONS
& USES ¨
Depending on the thickness shaped rods are cut, pieces can be used for miniature cookies, ornaments and unlimited other types of dollhouse accessories & miniatures. ¨
Cut the shaped extruded rod thicker; drill a hole through the pieces and use for beads in jewelry. ¨
Use smaller pieces as embellishments on clay and other craft items. ¨
Use the geometric shapes to build canes. Let your creativity take over! OTHER NOTES ¨
These instructions are your basic guideline geared in the most part for the preparation and extruding of clay shapes.
Depending on the brand of clay you are using and the applications you want to use them on, you will have to do experimenting. ¨
As with any new clay technique or tool, experimenting and learning which methods do, and do not, work for your
own applications is the best route to success. ¨
Simply Darling Creations, Inc. and Tamila J. Darling make no guarantees implied or otherwise. ¨
Simply Darling Creations, Inc. and Tamila J. Darling are not responsible for the replacement of damaged disks.
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Kindly respect the work of the artist and/or guest artists who appear on this site. All photographs and each piece of work is copyrighted by the artist and/or guest artists who have provided them. Any use of these without written permission of those artists is prohibited, unless otherwise noted on this site. All rights reserved.
Send e- mail to Tamila with questions or comments
about this web site by clicking the feedback button.
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