Perfecting the ombre effect can often be challenging, but the results can be SO beautiful! I remember the first time I tried it, and it was a mess. It took watching many tutorials, reading blogs like this one, and trying over and over until I got it right. I’m here to give you a few tips! These are a few things I have done that really helped me achieve this beautiful ombre.
To start, I would recommend using an equal amount of each color. I went with 3 different colors; you can do less or even more if you’re feeling up to the challenge!
Another tip I would recommend to add a little pop is mixing Sculpey Pearl into your colors to give your slab a stunning shimmer!
I used these gorgeous pastel colors that I felt would go well together. That’s something to definitely take into account as well! What colors are going to look beautiful next to each other and what colors will BLEND well together!
It’s important to line up the colors like pictured above, not entirely mixing them quite yet but just placing them close together to make the blending process much easier. It’s also recommended you use a clay roller machine if possible! If you do not own one, it is possible to create the ombre effect, but it may take a little bit longer.
Once you have your colors together, you can begin putting them into the clay roller machine and flatten everything out. The next time you put the slab into the clay machine, you will need to ensure you fold the slab in half and make sure the colors line up! Little by very little, when you fold the colors over themselves, you will overlap just a little into the other color. You want to repeat this process over and over until the colors slowly start blending into each other. This is a process you want to take slowly and not try to rush the colors blending into one another, especially to make sure you have a beautiful seamless blend.
Some issues you may come across could include your slab getting bigger than you wanted or bigger than it fits into the clay machine. Feel free to cut pieces off if that begins to happen! As long as it is on the edges and not affecting the ombre, it will only make things easier for you.
This is a process that you should go into with a lot of patience! It can often be trial and error, sometimes you may need to start over! And that’s totally okay. You can usually salvage the colors you were using by cutting up the slab and starting over from the first step which was smooshing the colors together and putting them into the clay machine.
The results from an ombre effect are SO beautiful and the challenge of creating an ombre effect is fun, so don’t give up if it gets a bit frustrating! As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I had to try a few different times before I grasped exactly how to make it all work and I couldn’t have been happier with my results. I even decided to add a few little clouds and stars to my ombre slab to make it look magical.
Blog written by Ilia Hernandez, Sculpey Design Squad Member 2024
