If I use mica powder, that needs sealing in, or the surface layer rubs off. But what about non micaed pieces? Baked clay is very matt. It is so much so, that you find it hard to see small details in a pattern and the colours are dingy.
You can achieve this without varnishes, through a series of sanding and buffing. This really does look amazing and I would love to do this, but it is not an option for me. I suffer from Fibro myalgia, the pain it causes in my arms is significant at the best of times.
You can't just use any old varnish, it has to be a polyurethane. Some varnishes reacts with the chemicals in the clay and turns it cloudy and yellowish over time. Worse than this, some react and after a few months of being fine, it goes sticky. Not just slightly tacky, proper sticky.
Although you only have one group of varnishes ( other than resins, wich I have no experience of) it is by no means a small group. So which one to choose?
Most people start offby getting Fimo'sown varnish. It is a tiny jar of watery varnish, that costs a lot and is not that shiny. Thoroughly underwhelmed, the serch is then on.
I found a lot of really good advice (like thebluebottle.com) but they mostly talk about products you can only get in America. This is no good for me in the UK, so I tried a few different ones out.
Some seemed to take days to dry, where lacklustre, where not as strong as the clay (chipped) or did not cope with the flexibility of the clay (it is in the PVC family) so it cracked or flaked.
Then, after a few months I finally found it. The one! The quest was finally at a end, I banked the experience points, looted the dead and went back to town to get a new quest.... wait, wrong hobby. That's D&D 😄
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I GIVE YOU THE WINNER 🎆🎉🎇🎊
Ronseal ultra tough hard glaze, clear polyurethane gloss varnish.
Wile I love this varnish, I do feel that I need to point out its more negative elements. I would say using the word bad here, would really be over the top.
1) drying time
It takes a few hours to dry. I would say that it's around 4 hours, but I honestly have not timed it.
2) colour
It's not clear, it's amber coloured (does what it says on the tin, my arse!). It does dry almost clear, but if you put more than a very thin coat onto something white, it can suffer from jaundice.
I advice you practice applying a very thin coat, I have got it down to a fag paper. It does look far better with a decently thick coat and you can do this on most things.
3) quantity
comes in big tins. You want to pour some into a airtight container, I use a jam jar. This is important for 2 reasons;
A) If it gets knocked over, you would much rather be cleaning up half a jar's worth, rather than a gallon.
B) all the time you have the lid off and the varnish is exposed to the air, it will set. You will notice that you soon need to use something pointy to break through the skin that forms over the liquid varnish.
So, if you used it direct from the tin, you will have to throw half of it away.
4) brush cleaning
Your going to need to use white spirit.
I use a plastic dish that I put in the sink and then pour a bit of white spirit in. You wash the brush in that, then move the dish out of the way and put some washing up liquid on the brush and rub in, then rinse. Then move the plastic pot back into the sink and repeat it all again.
Twice through usually does it. Just make sure that you get right into the base of the bristles.
5) fumie
I don't varnish in bead (like I do with the sculpting) this is because the 3 guinea pigs that live in a humongous cage in my room, would all get high on the fumes.
You will need a well ventilated area.
6) the obvious. It drips 😲
Put down a plastic black bin bag cut open, weighed down at the edges. Have kitchen roll to hand and a tray you don't mind varnish getting on (to put bits to dry). Wear latex gloves.
7) you can not bake it
While you can bake Fimo as many times as you want, you can no longer bake it once it has been varnished.
See not that bad and most of these would be true for all varnishes.
The only time I don't varnish a creation, is when the person buying it specificallyasks me not to.
I have not looked into mat varnish, as I really don't see the point.
So when you say, "I have often heard of people's creations which after many years, have had the varnish crack and flake off and the clay itself is as good as the day it was baked" you're not talking about your varnish, are you? Yours is much tougher.
ReplyDeleteI have had it happen to a few of mine, that where done in varnish that was not the ronseal. As soon as I discovered the floor, I took them out of my shop, stripped of the varnish and revarnished them in the good stuff. They then went back in the shop, as good as new.
DeleteI have had it happen to a few of mine, that where done in varnish that was not the ronseal. As soon as I discovered the floor, I took them out of my shop, stripped of the varnish and revarnished them in the good stuff. They then went back in the shop, as good as new.
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