Liquid Sculpey® Faux Agate Slice Coasters

Getting Started with Liquid Sculpey:

Please make sure your work area is covered and you are not working on an unprotected surface. We recommend working on the Sculpey® Oven Safe Work Mat, wax paper, metal baking sheet, or disposable foil. Uncured Liquid Polymer Clay may damage unprotected furniture or finished surfaces. Be sure to cover your crafting area appropriately. - Stir Liquid Sculpey® completely. Thin with Sculpey® Liquid Clay Softener as needed - Wash hands after use (we have found that baby wipes work best)

Baking:

• It is important to use oven thermometer when you bake the liquids so that you can ensure your oven is at the correct temperature. • Do not microwave the liquids. They must be baked in a Preheated oven at 275 ºF (130 ºC) for liquid colors and 300 ºF (149 ºC) for Clear – Do not exceed baking temperatures. • If your piece is less than 1/4” bake for 15 minutes. For thicker pieces that are 1/4” or above bake for 30 minutes. • If your liquid project has become yellowed or discolored in the oven, when you remake it, tent it by placing either – folding an index card in half and placing your project under it or by using aluminum foil over your project.

Stir all the liquids carefully. If any of the liquids feel like they are overly thick, they can be thinned by adding a few drops of Sculpey® Clay Softener and Thinner to the bottle. Just add a few drops at a time to make sure the thinner is mixed in completely. After stirring, lift your stirring tool out of the Liquid Sculpey® (LS) and see how quickly it drips off of the stirring tool. This is a good indication of the thickness of the LS. You can use this lift and drip technique to compare the thickness of the liquids to each other. Projects usually have the best success if the liquids are comparable to each other in thickness. Especially projects like this one where we want the lines between the colors to blur a little with partial mixing.

To start the agate look, fill the very inside corner of the four parts of the mold with Peacock Pearl. Try to make the outline of the Peacock Pearl as random and natural as possible so it looks organic. As we apply more colors to the mold, we will do our best to keep the edges of the colors in an organic pattern instead of straight and rigid.

Pour a small amount of Translucent Turquoise LS in a small silicone baking cup. Add iridescent blue chunky glitter and mix it in completely. I stirred the amount shown in this photo completely into the Translucent Turquoise and then I added this much again and stirred it completely in. I want the liquids to be fairly saturated with the chunky iridescent glitter so that it really shows up after baking. Wipe tools clean with paper towel.

Add the iridescent Translucent Turquoise to the mold next. It should touch the outer edge of the Peacock Pearl and then spread organically outward. As we add colors we don’t have to be concerned about filling the mold completely to level just yet. We can do that later. For now, we just need to mark the space that we want with each color.

Squirt a bead of White LS next touching the edge of the iridescent Translucent Turquoise.

Continue adding thin beads of color. A bead of Translucent Turquoise (without glitter), Gold, Peacock Pearl, and another bead of White LS.

Next make sure the Clear LS is stirred completely well. Clear LS will have a layer of sediment that naturally forms in the bottom of the bottle. This sediment layer needs to be mixed completely back into the liquid layer in order for the Clear LS to be ready to use.

Pour some Clear LS out into a silicone cup or glass dish. Add iridescent chunky glitter saturating the LS with glitter. Mix in really well. Wipe tools clean with paper towel.

Add a wide band of the iridescent Clear.

Add a bead of Peacock Pearl to the very outside of the mold shape leaving a gap between it and the iridescent Clear band.

Pour Translucent Turquoise into another mixing cup. Add iridescent blue and iridescent purple chunky glitter to it and stir in completely. Wipe tools clean with paper towel.

Add the purple/blue iridescent Translucent Turquoise to the space between the iridescent Clear and the Peacock Pearl.

Add a bead of White and a bead of Gold just inside the outer Peacock Pearl edge.

Tap the mold on your work surface to help the liquids fill in all the gaps and to release air bubbles. Look for stubborn air bubbles that can be released with the Needle Tool. Back fill the mold to level by filling more of each color on top. Tap the entire mold again on the work surface to release air bubbles. You can also create some slight movement among the colors by gently lifting and then dropping the mold straight down onto the work surface. This slight movement helps the edges of the colors to blend slightly.

Bake the filled mold following the baking instructions for Liquid Sculpey®. When the piece comes out of the oven the colors will be so bright and pretty.

Anytime I work with any of the translucent or Clear colors of Liquid Sculpey®, I like to pump the colors up a notch by hitting them with my heat gun. While the mold is still hot from the oven, I use hand protection to transfer the baking sheet with the baked items on it to my heat gun area. Once again, I do this while the mold is still hot to take advantage of the heat that is already in place from the oven. Then I turn my heat gun to the hi setting and I apply heat to the molded pieces until the Clear areas turn really clear and shiny and the translucent areas deepen in color. Then I remove the heat.

Also, after my first baking, I felt like my mold could have been fuller. Once the mold was completely cool, I backfilled all the low spots in my mold with Clear LS and baked it a second time. After the second baking, I made sure the Clear LS that I added was completely clear again with my heat gun.

This photo shows the side of the project that was face down in the mold.

This photo shows the side of the project that was the open side of the mold. Both sides have been additionally heated with the heat gun.

A look at the finished coaster set.

If you look carefully, you can see my fingertips through the Clear areas. I’m really happy with the way these turned out.

If you find that there are any rough edges to your baked pieces, these can be cleaned up with small sharp scissors.