Please Note: A general prerequisite for all of my weekly tutorials is that you have a good understanding of the polymer clay basics, including: conditioning clay, using a pasta machine, clay blade and other simple tools, making Skinner Blends or Teardrop Blends, baking clay, as well as sanding and finishing. So… coming up tomorrow (Friday August 12th 2011) in the Vol-039-2 members video at the Polymer Clay Tutor Library, not only will I be demonstrating how to get the stunning Crackled Paint affect on your polymer clay projects, but I will also share my unique recipe for making metallic acrylic paints that work perfectly with this popular technique. ~Sherry-LĬindy has this uncanny knack of taking a complex technique and simplifying the process. ~Bette-LĬindy – I really appreciate your cost-cutting tips.

You always come up with the most inexpensive way to get around things. To make this long story short, the answer I was searching for was right under my nose… and I would like to share it with all of you! AND since batches can be mixed up in small amounts, it would hardly cost a thing to have tons of colors. This way you know the they will be compatible…. I thought, why not just use readily available polymer clay supplies and materials to mix up metallic paints in any color that you choose!?

Then it hit me… as I was was stirring the color around in one of my containers of metallic paint. But I still really wanted to teach you the Crackled Paint technique, because it is such a simple thing to learn, and it looks so fantastic. Whenever possible, I try to avoid teaching techniques using materials that are difficult to source. And the paint brands that work can be hard to find, which usually means extra costs to have the product shipped. Sure there are products that work beautifully, but they tend to be on the expensive side at over $6.00 per color. Others are too flexible and just keep stretching, not cracking at all. The problem you see, is that not all acrylic paints work for crackling on clay. But rather… which paints to recommend for using with your polymer clay. Well, not really the crackling part since that is something that many other clayers have been doing quite successfully for a while now. This was the case with my crackled paint technique. I’m talking so dead simple that you wonder why there was even a problem in the first place. More often than not, the answer to a complicated problem is usually super simple. Video #216: “At over $6 per color (plus S&H), to buy paints that’ll crackle on your clay, I couldn’t help but think there must be a better way!” ~Cindy Lietz

Video crackle paint effect