[April]

Hi!
I had a questions regarding polymer clay and resin. I know that I can’t bake resin so I have a bit of a dilemma. I have some resin crystals that I cast and I would like to make the bails out of polymer clay. The bail would have tendrils or tentacles that would wrap around the crystal. Since polymer clay needs to be baked but resin cannot be, how would I accomplish this? My first thought was to find something of similar width/length and bake it on that then I could attach it to the crystal once cured. Is that the only way? Any recommendations?
Thanks in advance!
April

[Katherine Swift]

Hi April, if it were me, I would create the two pieces separately. You could then adhere the bail to the resin using a little bit of mixed resin or an adhesive like E6000. https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/tools-and-supplies/products/e-6000-epoxy-jewelry-adhesive

[Jade]

April, FWIW, I have baked resin into polymer clay several times and had great results. I was using Premo clay and baked it for 20-25 minutes at 275F (so on the lower end of the clay’s temperature requirements). I was careful to let the pieces cool for several hours before I made any attempt to touch or move them, just in case the resin softened. Everything came out fine and there was absolutely no sign of scorching, melting, etc and no smell beyond what normally occurs when baking the clay.

That said, I get why people would hesitate to undertake this process and I can also confirm that the techniques of using E6000 or resin (maybe one of the quick “30 minute” epoxies from the hardware store) also work great. If you’re having trouble getting the clay off the resin after forming it, try laying a bit of tissue paper between the resin piece and the clay. It can make it easier to lift the clay off without deforming it.

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