I’ve been playing with clay, then rummaging around in my stash. Too much fun!!
Quick Cure Clay, from Ranger Ink, is an interesting, new product (developed by John Pojman). I’ve worked with both polymer, and metal clay, as well as Apoxie Sculpt, Crystal Clay, and Artist’s Concrete. All have their good, and bad points, but none is quite as interesting, unique, and sometimes frustrating, as Quick Cure Clay (QCC).
It’s a great product, but does have some ‘quirks’ that you need to be aware of, before working with it. It’s soft, sticky, you need to use nitrile gloves, and it does give off an odor. But it cures on its own, after you use a heat gun, to start the process (Warning: only cure in a well-ventilated area). When you see a small puff of smoke, turn off the heat gun, and let QCC do its thang! That’s one heck of a benefit! Imagine! No oven, no kiln, no waiting!!
They say that it will stay soft indefinitely, until you are ready to cure. After curing, you can add more clay, and re-cure (I haven’t tried this yet). Large, more complex pieces, can be built up over time. Wow!
The clay swells a bit, and can cure lumpy in spots, but with a little care, attention, practice, and research, you can overcome these minor issues. What QCC does give you, is an interesting blank slate, for colouring! I’m not going to tell you everything I know about this product, because I’m still learning, however, I will show you some of my pieces!
Playing with this clay does take some practice, and I’m still practicing. But it’s strong, apparently stronger than polymer, or air dry clay (similar in strength to epoxy clay), and that’s certainly a plus! It sticks to just about anything, with the exception of metal, silicone, and tinfoil (at least that’s what I’ve been told). But there are ways to add metal into the mix, if you’re tricky (see my bezels). Then, if you weren’t tricky enough, there’s always glue (ask me how I know, and no photo of that one to show)!!
Some people, and that would not be me, are making fine, sculptured pieces out of the clay. I’m impressed, yet I believe that they have more than a little sculpting practice in their backgrounds. Not to mention talent! I’m envious, but my expertise is not in that area, so I won’t sweat the small stuff!! But I will keep trying! Don’t you love that it sticks to driftwood? Actually, I had to make sure that it stuck to itself first, but now it’s not coming off!!
QCC takes colour wonderfully! My stash has been getting a workout, but that’s a good thing! I’ve been digging around, testing all sorts of paints, patinas, stains, inks, markers, glazes, and pencils.
So far, I’ve coated some of my pieces with Ice Resin, but I’m still exploring in this area (more options to try). I do love the resin, in combination with bezels, but I’m not as happy with the shine on some of my shard-like pieces. So, I’ll be distressing some of them in the near future! Sandpaper, for sure, but I wonder what else I can use to torture the poor devils? Bwaa, haa, haa!!! Run over them, slap them around with a chain…you get the picture!
BeadFX does stock Quick Cure Clay, but it seems to be selling out, as soon as we get it in. I think there are still a few, small packages left in the store, but I’m sure that fresh supplies will be coming soon!
Check out the Facebook group!
Have I tempted you to start playing with clay (QCC, that is!)? I still have my mad scientist hat on, more experimenting to be done, but do watch for a new class in either October, or November (the class calendar will be updated in the next few weeks).