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Uses for Scrap Clay

If you work with clay long enough, you’ll eventually build up a stock of “scrap clay”—leftover bits and pieces, such as the ends of canes, projects that didn’t go as planned, etc. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you can put these scraps to use. Here are a handful of them:

Mix some new colors.

Work on your color-mixing skills by blending scraps together. By combining tiny bits of different colors, you can come up with a larger, more useful amount of clay in a new color. If you’re inexperienced with mixing colors, here are two tips to get you started: First, you’ll find it hard to go wrong if you group like colors before mixing. (Blues go in one pile, reds in another, and so on.) Second, if you want to branch out beyond mixing only like colors, try mixing tiny bits of the colors to test out combinations before committing to mixing the whole piece of clay.

Marble the colors.

Even small amounts of clay can make attractive marbled effects, which can be used to make beads, buttons, and so on. Start by choosing colors that are pleasing in combination. The secret to marbling well is to mix the two or more colors of clay enough that there are interesting swirls or striations of alternating colors, but not so much that the different colors blend completely into a single, new color. When you are pleased with the swirls of color, stop! Carefully manipulate the clay only as much as you must to get it into the desired shape. Continue too far and you’ll completely loose the marbling effect.

Try a retro cane.

Relatively little clay in three or four coordinating colors can be combined in a clay extruder to make an interesting “retro cane”. For instance, take the following tutorial, only scale it down to the amount of clay you have on hand and apply the cane to whatever you like (or have enough to cover).

Mod Light Switch Plate Tutorial
By Kathy Weinberg
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_clay_other/article/0,1789,HGTV_3239_4246672,00.html

Make Natasha beads.

Natasha beads (sometimes called “magic beads”, “mirror beads”, or “Rorschach beads”) are mirror image beads that look deceptively complicated. All you need is a small pile of scraps and a few well-placed cuts with a clay blade—- and the secret to reassembling the cut clay. Clayers frequently use this technique to transform the distorted ends of canes into fashionable beads, but any scraps of clay will work. Refer to the following tutorials for a few different takes on the Natasha bead and other projects that take advantage of the mirror image.

Natasha Technique
By Leigh Ross and Kathy Rue
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/poleigh/natasha.html

Natasha Beads
By Natasha Flechsig and Diana Crick
http://members.shaw.ca/clayquilt/natasha1/index.htm

Art Deco Beads
By Kelly Keniston and Diana Crick
http://members.shaw.ca/clayquilt/artdeco/index.htm

Feather Beads
By Emma Ralph
http://www.pcpolyzine.com/november2001/feather.html

Elissahearts
By Elissa Powell
http://www.pcpolyzine.com/february2001/eheart.html

Swirl some lentils.

Swirled lentils are a popular and addictive bead shape. Take whatever scraps you might have lying around, manipulate them a bit, and before you know it, you’ll be rewarded with lovely swirls of color that look like they took hours to make. The “swirl” technique can take a little practice to perfect, but it’s worth the effort. Take a look at these tutorials for step-by-step directions:

Barbara's Scrappy Swirls
By Barbara Fajarado
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/swirls.html

Lentil Swirled Beads
By Desiree McCrorey
http://www.desiredcreations.com/howTo_CALentilSwirl.htm

Apply powder or wax.

Sometimes your color-mixing experiments go awry or for some other reason you end up with an ugly color of clay. If you have lots of scrap clay in a color you don’t like, you can always cover it in mica powders or metallic waxes. Simply form the clay into the desired shape, then apply the mica powder or metallic wax to the clay. (Mica powders are usually added prior to curing, while metallic waxes should be applied after curing.) You can apply multiple colors to one piece for an interesting effect. Also consider texturing the clay before applying the powder or wax. These products can effectively mask the color of the clay, but they’ll probably need a couple coats of protective finish to seal them properly. A coat or two of acrylic paint (metallic or not) can also mask an unattractive mix of scrap clay.

Create molds & stamps.

Scrap clay is ideal for those times when you want to make your own molds, stamps or texture sheets. It won’t matter what color the clay is for those projects, so just use whatever you have on hand. Take molds of your favorite textured buttons, beads, and other found objects—or use something you’ve made yourself from polymer clay. Just be sure to use a release agent. Once you’ve baked your mold, you can use it repeatedly to create identical shapes from polymer clay. The same goes for homemade stamps and texture sheets. The key is to remember the release agent—not only when you make your polymer clay tools, but also each time you use them with raw clay.

Make homemade tools.

In addition to the texturing tools mentioned above, scrap clay is useful for making other homemade tools. Use scrap clay as handles for a variety of tools—- needles, toothpicks, knitting needles, shaped wires, linoleum cutters, skewers, straight pins, and so on. You can also use a wad of scrap clay with one or more needles or skewers in it as a makeshift tool for curing and varnishing beads or other pierced objects.

Use it as filler material.

“Ugly” colors of clay or clay with inclusions (intentional, like sand or spices, or unintentional, like lint or pet fur) can still be salvaged. Condition it well and use it as “bead guts” or the innards of small figurines. Anything that will eventually be covered in a decorative layer of fresh, “pretty” clay can have a scrap clay base. It won’t show, and no-one need ever know!

Mimic stone.

Muddy earth colors that wouldn’t work for most other projects can still be useful for faux stone effects. Consider mixing in a little sand or other inclusions to vary the texture, then shape it as you like. Try shapes that mimic natural rocks, or use molds to create pieces that look like hand-carved stone. You can even stamp or carve them with words or pictures, which will pop out beautifully once they’ve been “antiqued” with acrylic paint.

Clean your pasta machine.

Some clayers like to run scrap clay through their pasta machines to help clean them. The idea is that the scrap clay will pick up any tiny bits of clay that may have been left in it the last time it was used. However, if you try this trick, remember that the scrap clay itself may leave some residue in the pasta machine, so try to use a color of scrap clay that corresponds to whatever color clay you’re using next, or wipe the pasta machine clean afterwards with alcohol on a lint-free cloth.

Prevent cane wastage.

In the process of cane reduction, the ends of the cane usually distort and are not useable as cane slices. (Of course, when this happens, you can just use that clay as scrap clay!) To lessen this problem, some people put large plugs of scrap clay at each end of a cane before reducing it. Each plug needs to be the same diameter as the original cane. Each plug should also be fairly long—- about half the length of the original cane. Smooth the seams so that the original cane and the plugs are like one new cane, then reduce as usual. (You can also put plastic or metal discs at each end of the cane to reduce the amount of distortion and waste.)

Keep your work surface clean.

If you have pets in the house—- or if you live in a world where there are such clay contaminants as lint, dust, glitter, and so on—- you’re sure to find bits of unwanted things in your clay, from time to time. These can be fairly easily removed with the tip of a craft knife or a piercing tool, while the clay is still raw. Keep a little piece of scrap clay pressed down off to the side of your work surface, where it will always be ready to “receive” these tiny bits of “stuff” from the end of the craft knife. Just stick the tip of the craft knife into the scrap clay, where it will deposit the contaminant, and continue working. You can also use a small piece of scrap clay to pick up glitter or dust from your work surface. Sometimes clay picks these things up more effectively than a baby wipe or dampened paper towel.