Why I use Translucent clay in almost all of my work
Translucent clay in my experience, is definitely the most difficult to figure out at first. The main reason being, It won’t look translucent until baked. When you mix in different colors, you don’t truly know how transparent you have made your mixture until it’s in the oven.
For this reason, I would suggest baking a test piece first and write down the ratio you used before working on a big project.
The Translucent polymer clays I've used are Sculpey III, Sculpey Premo, and Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS) polymer clays. I use all of them for different purposes and my preference.
I sculpt mostly miniature food, and to achieve realism, opacity definitely plays a big part in that. Below i have broken down the purpose i have for each one.
SCULPEY III - It’s the softest in your hands, and is not quite as clear as the other options. It tends to have a faint, warm tint to it if used on it’s own. But I never use it by itself. Because of its softness, I typically use this one when I'm needing to add a little bit to lessen the intensity of a color I'm mixing. I almost never use any colors straight from the package for making miniatures and always mix a little translucent along with whatever else I need to change the color a bit.
SCULPEY PREMO- in terms of translucency, I've found it to be the clearest. If I'm using clay for something very clear like gummy bears, pickle slices, or onion slices, I choose this one! It also has a more firm feel than Sculpey III which makes it much easier to use when making thinner pieces or plan to use it for caning techniques.
(*the caning technique is kind of like making a loaf of bread. you sculpt a design that you gradually stretch longer in length. Once completed, you can slice it, and will have an identical design throughout)
TRANSLUCENT LIQUID SCULPEY- This one I use for absolutely everything. It is a liquid consistency similar to ketchup and can be used for adhering clay pieces to each other. I also use it to make faux sauces, gravies, jellies, glazes, dips, frostings, etc. for miniature food.
Recently, Sculpey has come out with other colors besides translucent for their liquid clay line..but that was not an option when i started many years ago!
To color it, I usually use soft pastels and shave off the dust with an x-acto knife and mix it in. This gives the most realistic look in my opinion because soft pastels are already less opaque naturally than acrylics or colored clay.
If I'm making something thicker like frosting or dips, I will add little chopped pieces of colored polymer clay to it and mix until I achieve the perfect texture.
Overall, to get the best results with translucent clays, you should make sure you bake it at the proper temperature or a bit lower if you don’t have an accurate oven thermometer. I usually bake it a bit lower and longer. The thinner you make the translucent clay, the clearer it will be. If you make it really thick it will be more foggy.
What really brings everything together is glazing the finished product. I’d suggest using a glossy resin, or a varnish in either satin or gloss. If you use a matte finish, it tends to dull things and really leaves translucent pieces looking less clear. Glazing really helps bring everything together and look its’ best. It also protects it from the elements like when you wear it for jewelry.
I used translucent liquid sculpey mixed with different brown soft pastels to make the gravy on this piece. I also did the same with deep red soft pastels and added little chunks of deep red polymer clay for the cranberries and sauce.
The celery chunks in the stuffing are mixed with a bit of Premo translucent clay.
All the other foods were mixed with a bit of sculpey III except for the green beans because i forgot.. Can you tell how much more intense the color is compared to everything else? It bothers me every time i look at it haha! It does make for a great example though!
I glazed most of it with resin, and used a satin varnish on the stuffing!
Products mentioned:
Sculpey III translucent clay
Sculpey Premo translucent clay
Translucent liquid Sculpey
Soft pastels ( I use Blick artist’s pastels, rembrandt, and pan pastels)
Sculpey’s satin glaze
epoxy resin
x acto knife
