Sculpey Ultralight

I have fallen in love with Sculpey Ultralight Polymer Clay. Polymer clay is already pretty light so I didn’t really see the point. Then the first time I played with it, I was not terribly thrilled to say the least. It definitely feels weird, unlike other polymer clays. Crayola’s kids air dry clay feels somewhat similar.

The biggest problem I had the first time I used it was using water as a release for textures. Water turns Ultralight into a sticky mess. ugh… It’s so different, you really need to fiddle with it with an open mind. I still have a lot to learn and explore about the stuff, but I am really excited about it so far.

What do I like about it? First of all, the incredibly light weight. While it didn’t seem that important to me, I have come to appreciate the advantages of really light weight for many designs. You can make super thin and light as air earrings or beads or work much larger. Marie Segal had a huge bowl in the Rave exhibit at Ravensdale that would have been impossibly heavy in a traditional polymer clay.

It takes texture really well. I’ve been texturing it and glazing it with tinted liquid sculpey for lighter Bisque Beads. It’s great for Gwen Gibson’s Tear Away technique, which makes it handy for texturing PMC. I owe Patti Kimle for that lovely tip.

It takes color really well. You can mix it with regular polymer clay for an in-between weight that feels and behaves a bit more like regular clay. You can color UL with alcohol inks (so much fun!), stamp on it with a stamp pad, coat it with mica powders. I haven’t tried drawing on it yet, but I am guessing that will work because it has a bit of “tooth”.

What don’t I like about it? It feels weird raw and baked. Raw it’s very squishy, almost fluffy. Baked it feels a bit like a Chinet paper plate. The water thing. lol Not a big thing really, but it requires a conscious change in my work habits. If you overwork it, UL can get sticky and little bits cling everywhere. And yet, oddly, it doesn’t really like sticking to itself.

I haven’t even played with it that much so I have loads more to discover. Marie Segal has some great tips on working with Ultralight. Leigh Ross has a great tutorial for thin and light Snowflake Ornaments. She had some of her snowflakes with her at last year’s Clay ConneCTion Retreat and they’re magical.