In this tutorial I will show you the results of coloring lumina clay and what works and what doesnt.

On the package of lumina it says you can color it with acrylic paint, oil paint, colored hearty clay to create custom colors.

Since Im never one to try the conventional lol I decided to first try it with ink. I wanted to see if using ink it would help increase the translucent nature of lumina clay.

I added about 2 drops of ink to a little chunk of clay and it blended easily and smoothly. Then as I was blending the clay after a couple of minutes I started to feel the clay dry out a bit.

So I added a bit of water
*and I do mean just a bit just a tiny tap from my finger tip was a bit much
When you add water to lumina it does get a bit tacky which is actually good because it helps the clay blend smoothly. I found that after I add water for about a minute or so after I can let it rest or keep blending it the tackyness will go away. I will be left with a perfectly smooth non dry piece of lumina clay. I really love that part about it.

When you do add water though, a very tiny bit may stick to your fingers but you can just flake it of as it dries fast on the skin. Here is a picture below for you to see what I mean

Now when I got back to blending I started to see like white residue all over the clay. At first I thought it was because I thought it was starting to dry out but the clay was still soft but it had this powdery residue all over it.

It wasnt until later in the day I realized that was just residue from the alcohold evaporating from the “alcohol inks” duh sometimes the answer is so simple lol

so after I let the paper thin sheet of lumina dry I just wiped some water on it and the white residue came right off

oh and if you’re wondering about the hearts you can see the answer HERE

I then decided to mix in some acrylic paint. The paint mixes in beautifully of course no residue with the acrylic paint.

The only problem I had with mixing in paint was when I was trying to make the lumina clay red. It has nothing to do with lumina but more so on the paint I was using.

Im going to share it with you because pigment strength is really one of the most important things we need to have to achieve the perfect color you’re after.

Most colors are really easy but RED you really have to have a paint with alot of pigment.

I was using ceramcoat acrylic red paint at first.

now mind you this is like at 2 AM haha yes Im a night owl at times. So I couldnt really make out the colors but I knew that red color just didnt look right. So when I started mixing to my surprise hmmm a pastel pink ball of clay grrrrrr .

so then I thought I’ll just add some more “red paint” that should make it red right. hmmmm

NOOOOOOOOOOOO….. Hot Pink…. now while sitting in my dark craft room barely lit by a glowing yellow light im thinking this doesnt make any sense since my other red paints always turned my clay red and not pink.

dont worry I’ll get it in the next 5 minutes haha

Sidenote * If you look in the picture above you’ll notice some specks of pink in the clay. Thats because when you first mix in the paint once you got it fully mixed the clay will dry out some as the paint is drying. At this step you’ll notice the dry paint on your fingers … well dont make the mistake that I did go and wash the dried paint from your hands. What I did was I put some water on my hands while I still HAD the dried paint on it and really all I did was mix in dry specks of paint into the clay. So make sure you dont do that.

Wash the dry paint off and then you can add additional water to the clay to further blend the clay and avoid the specks.

Here is a piece of clay done the right way… see no specks of dried paint

anyway , this is still like like 2 minutes later, theres still like 3 minutes left before I get the tada moment that lets me create truly red clay haha

so now Im rolling out the pink clay still a bit sad its not red but hey its pink and who doesnt love pink

as you can see even with acrylic paint when rolled thin its still extremely translucent.

here is a different chunk of clay showing you the different depths and that its only translucent when rolled thin

here is the same clay just lying down with no light shining through

the beautiful thing about lumina is when the light shines through it.

So anyway yayyy we are now at minute 5 and I get my DUH moment and I realize that I really should be using my artist grade paints with lots of PIGMENT

cuz the truth is ceramcoat red is not really red its really more like magenta which is why my clay turned pink

so i took out some of my strong oil paints and decided to mix those in and see would it turn red and of course it did

as you can see in the picture my oil paints are actually red and not pink like the ceramcoat “red”

here you can the pieces of clay and how they came out. The ball on the left was made using the cadmium red and the ball on the right was made using the crimson red and the pink sheet on the bottom was using the ceramcoat red

Hope these tips help you out and now on to PART THREE OF THIS LUMINA TUTORIAL

and dont forget to read PART 1 which is my LUMINA REVIEW

Today I will be sharing my review for Lumina Clay. I have been wanting to try this clay out for a while and I am very excited to share my thoughts on it.

Lumina clay is an air dry polymer clay. On the package it says that it is waterproof, Translucent, Highly flexible, durable, acid free and non toxic. On average it cost about $10 to $12 dollars online for a 5.25 oz block of clay but if you use a coupon you can usually get it for half price. Lumina clay is made in japan but easily found online in american shops. I think its starting to become more popular now since it seems a couple of years ago it wasnt as readily available.

When I first got the package of lumina in the mail I was a bit shocked at the amount. I guess since I was used to alot of air dry clays that have alot more volume since other brands are puffed up with air. Lumina clay is totally different than other air dry clays. Since this is an air dry polymer clay and not an air dry paper clay it really does feel different than other air dry products.

As you can see in the pic below it fits in the palm of my hand

Here are 2 comparison shot next to a block of sculpey III so you can get a feel for the size of the block of lumina clay

Here is how it comes wrapped

In japan polymer air dry clays are really popular and they are usually called resin clays. On the package of lumina it doesnt say exactly what is in but Im assuming that its like alot of other japanese clays. Those clays are usually a mix of polymers also called resins and starch which allow it to air dry. I also think that because on the package it says to keep away from heat and flame and the polymers they use are probably some sort of thermo plastic that would start to soften at higher temperatures.

Another crafter named camille young ” who by the way makes beautiful flowers with lumina clay” said HERE – In her lumina review that in high humidity her flowers soften and became a bit droopy but as soon as the air wasnt humid her flowers hardened and returned to their original state.

That makes me feel like they do contain some sort of thermo plastic. Camille also mentioned that the block of clay grew a bit of mold when let out. I assume that was due to the starch the clay may contain. Since she probably lives in a humid area the plastic wrap that the clay is in probably beaded up with bits of water. When the condensation appeared in the plastic wrap without drying out the starch must have absorbed it, broken down into a sugar which then feeds mold spores which grow into yucky furry patches. I dont think pieces that are drying out will grow mold. I think the block itself could grow mold if while wrapped condensation gets to it.

I think to avoid mold or the clay drying out and to keep it maybe for a couple of months you have to wrap it properly. You can keep it in an air tight container. If you do live in a humid area you may want to keep it in the fridge. Or just keep it wrapped in the plastic wrap just make sure it doesnt have condensation if in a humid area or unwrapped because if its not wrapped air tight it will dry out.

Here is a picture of the back of the clay package. Also notice the package has a stamp date on it mine says 9-12-09 so my batch is about a year old. I think this is important because it probably does have starch in it which can go bad after a while and they probably need to really know the shelf life on this type of clay.

Here are a couple of pictures of how lumina clay looks when a chunk of it is pulled away. It looks a bit like laffy taffy and it feels actually a bit like really warm squishy translucent sculpey. Lumina clay is not sticky and very easy to work with.

Now the best part about lumina clay is that its translucent. Now the key word is translucent not transparent, it just allows for light to shine through which makes it fantastic for making flowers.

In the picture below you can see how the light shines through very thin pieces. The clay must be rolled very thin for it to be translucent. In thicker pieces it wont be translucent at all. Since it is very flexible it wont crack when rolled paper thin.

I also think lumina clay would be beautiful as miniature lamps for dollhouse since if you light them up the light would give a fantastic glow.

If you have any questions feel free to ask away

Also dont forget to check out my other lumina articles

PART 2: LUMINA CLAY COLORING TUTORIAL
PART 3: LUMINA CLAY TIPS AND TRICKS

I hope you enjoyed reading this review

It cost 3.99 for a 4 oz block. When I compared the amount of a regular block of 2 oz sculpey III you’re getting the same amount 2 oz vs 2oz so at that rate pluffy clay cost around .75 cents more for the same amount of 2 oz , pluffy clay just comes in double the size.

When I took it out of the packate this is how it look

It feels and looks just like salt water taffy except that its not as stretchy. When I first ripped a chunk of it from the package it does feel squishy and soft , its basically kind of like pre kneaded sculpey III. Its slightly lighter than Sculpey III but its no where as light as lets say Hearty Clay, pluffy clay has like a medium weight to it , its a nice weight to make pieces with I really love this about it.

When I started playing around with it, it does warm up some. When its cooler it doesnt really stick to your fingers but as it warms up I felt a slight film start to coat on my fingers it felt like oil residue.

Then I decided to see how pluffy clay accepts other pigments since I only bought white. It does come in multi colored packages though.

I first added some soft pastels in a dark purple shade. As you can see in the picture below it did change colors but the more pigment I added the clay started getting super soft and the residue on my hand went from a slight film to thick layers sticking to my fingers

Here is a side by side comparison of the purple one next a chunk of the white one.

Then I decided to add some acrylic paint in to see how it mixed with that

As you can see in the picture the clay started to really fall apart , it turned very goopy and very messy.

I went to wash my hands with some soap and at it first it was a bit hard to remove all the stuff from my hands. The oily residue really sticks to your skin and I had to scrape it off my fingers with my nails and then rewash until it was finally all gone but even then it still feels like there was a slight film there.

Next I tried to see how the clay could be textured. I tried to make a quick ice cream scoop and it takes texture really well.

I then put some clay into one of my mini molds and this clay molds really well. It really only works on shallow molded pieces because as you can see in the pic I had a big chunk of clay outside the mold to even pull it out because the clay is so squishy you cant remove it from a deep mold without deforming it.

When I tried a more shallow mold I guess the clay was still too warm and it left some residue in my mold which is HORRIBLE. First because this clay does not dry and it leaves a film its going to be hard to clean the mold.

Then I wanted to see if chunks of the clay would stick together and make smooth seams and lines. At least it works well on those matters. The clay sticks to each other pretty good when the clay is warm , the cooler it is it might not stick as well. I guess I’ll find out when I bake it.

* Also dont mind my ugly kitty sculpture lol I did that in 5 seconds with the tip of my pen just to test it out lol

BAKED UPDATE

The good news is that it does bake really hard, although when I took it out the bottom seemed to be still a bit wet, I baked several pieces at different times and they all had this issue. So I flipped them over and had to bake the bottom to get it fully dry.

PROS

• Its soft

CONS

• When the clay is warm it stuck to all my tools and my fingers
• Annoying to clean up as it can leave a thick layer of residue

I dont know how Im going to use this clay. Its fun to work with but the clean up is so annoying I dont think it may really be worth it to really use. I spent more time cleaning up my hands and my tools then working with the clay. After every step of trying to make something I had to clean my hands from so much residue being over everything. All that residue adds up to wasted material as well, so I’ll test it out more over the next few days to see if I can find a use for it that really wows me away to the point that I would buy another package of it.

I will update this post again when I bake it

I decided to make mini whipped cream dollops for my miniatures. I just squeezed some into a pastry bag with a icing tip and just like regular frosting made some whipped cream dollops. It feels like really thick frosting the appearance is just like frosting which helps it to look realistic.

It hardens externally in like 30 minutes to an hour and fully dry inside in a few days depending on how thick you make it.

When it was dry I was very excited because at first touch it seemed very hard. Sadly though even with slight pressure on the tips of the whipped cream dollops, the tips broke off.

However the upside to this material is that its good for making frosting that your lathering on instead of more detailed shapes that are thin like the tips of whipped cream dollops.

When ur frosting ur minis like cupcakes or cookies it can crack though so it resembles more of a royal icing type of frosting. It does look realistic but if you are one of the ones that likes their mini’s to be flawless I wouldnt recommend this.

It mixes with acrylic paint beautifully and easily. The basic line of liquitex is suppose to be the more economy brand rather than a pro brand they also carry. I may try other more expensive brands to see if they dry to a harder finish.

So my final conclusion is I wouldnt use this brand to make whipped cream dollops. I will use to frost some cookies, cakes, cupcakes or even to make fake snow on displays.

Since I use puff paint for more precision work this new tube is really of no use to me. I prefer the regular bottles they make. I guess if you want to make something like graffiti splatters and such you might like it but you can easily get the same effect with the regular bottles and a something to smear the paint.

Plus the Paint taggers only come in a few colors versus their regular line that comes in a large amount of colors.

I do have to try the paint canon that they came out with that might be interesting to try . If I get that I’ll let you know how it goes.

I bought this clay from Joann.Com and it cost me $3.49 for this 1.75 oz package. I use it to make miniatures and with this package I estimate I can make about 130 3/4″ pieces so this can go a very long way.

This is how it looked when I first opened up the package.

It looks and feels just like a fresh marshmallow. It really is very soft , I can tell it has alot of air and not alot of moisture. When I first grabbed a piece of it, it pulls apart very easily and here is when the truth of working with hearty clay comes out. Due to the fact there isnt alot of moisture in it I can tell I cant work it too much. I tried to sculpt a few items but since it is soft and dries a bit fast the surface tends to crack some. I tried to smooth out the cracks but that didnt work out too well. I even added a touch of water where the cracks were but it didnt really smooth it out too much.

Here is a picture of the marshmallow I tried to sculpt. hehe after opening the package I just could resist making a marshmallow.

As you can see in the picture even with such a simple shape as a marshmallow it gets alot of cracks. It was because hearty clay really is not good when worked alot. I take that back, I didnt even work the clay alot , hearty clay is the lazy clay of air dry clay. It needs to get a job and get to work.

So I then decided to try it with my molds and whoila this is where Hearty clay may excel. Since it dries out quickly and doesnt really like to be worked too much this clay works fantastic with molds.

and do make sure when you use it in molds that the side of the clay being pushed into the mold doesnt have any folded lines or gaps going through it or you will get an indention as shown in the macaron in the picture below. Try to make a ball as smooth as possible to get a perfect molded piece.

Hearty Clay does shrink some. Here is a pic of a cookie I made after it dried and shrank on top of my mold so you can see the size reduction.

When Hearty clay is dry it does remain flexible. It is not very weak but it is not super strong either. I know many people want to make jewelry out of it and it could work if properly sealed which I will be testing soon. It is also extremely light so it may not handle alot of rough action.

With larger pieces like the marshmallow it still feels squishy and kind of foam like. So I decided to rip it in half so I could see the texture it produced.

To my surprise and joy it has a really cool texture alot like bread which is fantastic to make miniature cakes and other desserts that need that realistic texture. You can see also the little fibers sticking up in the air but you can easily trim those with scissors.

That texture just had me amazed so I decided to right away test my new soft pastels and see how it came out.

I think it looks like I tore off a perfect little piece of french bread. woo hoo

I then colored a few of the cookies just testing out a few different color combinations to see what I can make look more real. Its not quite right yet but its a start.

I then tested how Hearty Clay blended with soft pastel shavings and it worked perfectly. The picture below it shows the light pink donuts that I kneaded soft pastel shavings in. The hot pink ones I kneaded in some pink acrylic paint.

oh and this clay does not stick to your fingers at all. This is important because when I tested creative paper clay it was a super mess so thats a big bonus that hearty clay is a clean clay to work with.

So I do recommend this clay if you’re using it for molds as used in miniatures and decoden but I do not recommend this clay at all if you’re going to try to sculpt your own pieces. It dries way too fast and cracks when trying to sculpt a smooth piece.

I will keep this post updated as I get more techniques to test out in the next few days.

Happy Crafting

~Mixi

Here is a picture of how it came right out of the box

and here is what I got with all the Joanns labels taken off

and a close up

I got some:
White Hearty Clay
3 blocks of Sculpey III Clay
1 Pink tulip gellies bottle
Box of Soft Pastels
Pink Patio Paint
Teddy Bear cookie cutters
2 bottles of glass paint
Aleenes true snow

I’ll be doing a review on all the products I got soon.

Shopping at Joann.Com was easy and simple to do. It arrived quickly just took a few days and I was able to get it shipped free because I used a coupon code. I’ll share that coupon later when I look for it. The best part is , it has most of my products in one place instead of having to shop at multiple stores which some times dont even have all the products I want. This was a fantastic experience and one of my new favorite online shops.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

Okay so I bought this product so I could make transparent deco sauce for my decoden and clay miniatures. I was very excited because its air dry , its transparent and it comes in a whole bunch of colors including white which meant that I could create even more colors by just adding in pigment.

So I purchased 2 bottles of this Glass paint in 2 colors: Amber and Rose

Oh and I also bought 1 bottle of Kelly’s Non Toxic Glass Stain just to compare it to the Delta Brand

The delta brand really is transparent and dries within a few hours and sets fully after a few days. The lighter color like the rose can be put on pretty thick and its still transparent. The amber color is more transparent when layered on thinly and it wont look as brown as in the pic below it will be a transparent amber.

When it is fully dry it will shrink some and stay dimensional depending on how thick you layer it. It is rather thick and easy to use.

The kelly brand is a stain, It is very fluid , its slightly thicker than water and it can get messy if you move it around too much. As it dries it forms a nice layer of coating , Its transparent and if you want a thicker coating you’ll have to do the process of applying it and drying it several times.

In the pic below the first row is the delta rose, the second row is the delta amber and the third row is the kelly’s glass stain

overall I was very excited to have found a simple to use product that would let me make deco sauce until ………. I turned the delta bottle over to look at the ingredient and I saw the warning below.

It says: WARNING: This product contains a chemical known to the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.

I do not like using products that have dangerous chemicals especially when making jewelry since children and even adults may put it in their mouths. I like to be able to sleep at night knowing products I make will not cause harm.

Im disappointed that delta glass paint is not non toxic it had all the qualities I wanted in a transparent deco sauce. At least the kelly brand is non toxic.

I’ll have to check out other brands of transparent glass paint and see if I can find a non toxic one to use.

I hope this post was helpful.
~Happy Crafting

Creative paper clay is a fun clay to work with. It feels alot like a fluffy dough.

The site recommends that you can paint it after its dry but I wanted to see if it would change color if I mixed paint within it.

It worked pretty well

but it does stick to your fingers as you are trying to mix it in. I recommend wearing gloves or your hands will look like this afterwards.

I then tried to mix in some dry pigment

It did not take the pigment well for me

there was no color change even with the dark purple. I guess the paint is my best bet wether I mix it in or paint it on afterwards.

You have to let it dry for like 3 days to let the water evaporate from the clay as it cures and gets hard.

These are some cute deco items that you can make with paper clay

I like to make felt plushies and this helps alot when I have to cut alot of felt circles. This really is a great tool.

In the picture below you can see the rotary blade, it has a slide on the side which moves up and down to cover up the round blade. You can also see the center spike that holds the fabric in place. The center spike also comes with a cover to protect it.

In this picture you can see a few circles I cut out.

and in this picture here is my cutter on the OLFA cutting mat. I LOVE IT

THE CONS:

• with thinner fabric you have to stabalize it a bit so it doesnt glide across the fabric or slip out of your hand. I just put a book on both sides of the fabric to keep it from moving
• The ruler on the base of the cutter does not have numbers on it, but you can easily put some on with a sharpie

Overall I love this little tool so much that if for some reason I broke it I would totally but it again even at FULL PRICE , oh yes lol it is actually worth it.

I hope this review was helpful