10-31-09 - draft (needs pictures)

You're new to polymer clay, how exciting.

What's wet sanding, as I type with dried out hands that sound like parchment when I rub them together. LOL

Wet sanding is done with wet/dry sand paper one gets at the hardware store. I put a squirt of liquid dish washing soap in the water before sanding and that keeps the polymer clay from sticking to the sand paper. Wet sanding is better than dry sanding for two main reasons: (1)  the dust goes into the water and not in the air around your work space; (2)  the dust falls into the water instead of sticking to the sand paper.

Some clayers say, "I make my things smooth, without finger prints, so I don't need to wet sand." I wish I were that good and no matter how smooth I think something is, after curing there's always areas that are raised and others that are lower, like with striped beads, even though when they went into the oven they were all the same level.

When working with red, like I've been doing with the Tongues of Fire beads, that red gets everywhere. There's no way I can keep it off of the white areas. Wet sanding cleans the surface of the bead and the true colors can be seen.

After wet sanding I apply a coat of a discount acrylic floor polish. I used to use Future brand of floor polish but the discount brand from Costco works just as well for less money.

Let me get you a link from when I first discovered wet sanding cured polymer clay.

http://www.norajean.com/Biz-Archive/MSAT/ClayArt/workspace/SandBead-Grp.htm

That's the main section but I'll pick out pages that most important.

http://www.norajean.com/Biz-Archive/MSAT/ClayArt/workspace/SandBead-007.htm

That's the big tip of the day. The sheets of wet/dry sand paper come in different sized grit. The lower the number the coarser the grit. I was making myself crazy trying to keep track of which bit of sand paper was what grit and Leigh Ross of PolymerClayCentral showed me this tip when I was visiting her in 2001.

Take your sheets of wet/dry sand paper and cut them into 4 pieces.

Stack the different grit sizes, like 320, 400, 600, and staple them at one corner of the stack.

On the other corner, diagonal to the staple, cut the edge of the wet/dry sand paper like stairs.

Then when you need the next size grit, it's right there. Fold over the sheet you're done with and just run your finger down the stair steps of sand paper and free up the next sheet. Easy Breezy.

"This is dedicated to the one I RUB"

http://www.norajean.com/Rambles/10-sand-tips.htm

10 observations when exploring the joys of wet sanding.

There are some things I do a little different from when I first discovered wet sanding. I don't use the "C" clamps anymore because I found a way to keep the beads from coming off of the bamboo BBQ skewer, make them more snug on the skewer before curing.

http://www.norajean.com/2007/WorkTable/04-20-SandingGranny-Index.htm

Check out the newer wet sanding section. The beads that can be wet sanded all in a row, on the skewer, will stay on the skewer during the curing, wet sanding, and applying the finish, just so I'm not chasing beads around individually, making myself crazy. It makes storing cured beads easier too.

http://www.norajean.com/2009/10-03-WorkTable/001.htm

Like that.

When I want to free the cured, wet sanded and finished beads from the skewer I RE-HEAT them, second tip of the day. Heat the oven to 275F/130C and put the beads on the skewer in there for 5-10 minutes. Using gardening gloves to protect my hands I then pull off the hot beads off of the skewer and let them cool off in a disposable roasting pan, or something handy.

But what I've been moaning about is the beads that can't be wet sanded in a row, the beads that stick out from the necklace cord, like snakes...

http://www.norajean.com/2008/01-03-TEsnakes/Index.htm

or leaf shapes

http://www.norajean.com/2008/07-11-TEnecklaces/015.htm

or all of these Tongues of Fire beads (except the tube beads which are easy breezy to wet sand)

http://www.norajean.com/2009/09-11-TOF-Snakes/Beads.htm

I have to wet sand those beads one by one, which can lead to injury if one is not really careful.

Now some folks use a tumbler, like rock collectors use. But I don't have a tumbler and I live in a small space with other family members and having a tumbler going for a couple of days will cause a mutiny because of the noise. So wet sanding by hand is the only option left to me if I want to have a surface on my finished clay item that is smooth and the colors look as good as they can. 

CITY-0-Clay

ClayAlley

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