Super shiny, super happy!

So having done a workshop with the fabulous Melanie Muir (if ever you get a chance to take a class with her do!!) and seen the amazing finish on her jewellery, and watched her use her Foredom Bench Lathe to polish her cuff bracelets I just had to get one! I have been considering upgrading from my home made polishing mop on a dremel for some time but was thinking of getting a bench grinder and buying a spindle. Having seen the Foredom in action, it struck me it was very quiet and the speed is variable which I think is useful and I decided it was the tool for me and probably worth the extra money.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I polished my first thing - WOW! It changes the whole look of the material. I used to be pleased with the finish I got before but this is a whole new league of beauty! Boy was I happy! I went to bed dreaming of making the whole world shiny!

Let me illustrate

The cuff I made in Mel's workshop - finished with micromesh polishing cloths and buffed on my muslin buffing wheel on the Dremel - now it's not perfect because it as made in a workshop and it's the first one I made but I was fairly pleased with the finish. this also isn't a great photo but it had a sheen to it but not a proper shine.

Here it is after a little polishing on the Foredom, yes this is a better photo but the difference in real life is as noticeable!

I was intrigued to find out the the sanding/buffing balance Melanie used was so different to what I had been doing. I was heavy on the sanding and light on the buffing and she is the opposite. Needless to say that has raised a whole heap of experiments I want to do to find out the optimum process for maximum shine vs effort. I also have several different polishing mops so want to find out how they differ. Is there a shininess scale? I will of course let you know what I find out. I have a huge, huge long list of things I want to do/should do so it may not be anytime soon.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter! I gave up on covering eggs with polymer clay as I couldn't make them perfect - more practise ready for next year (something else on that list!)

Shiny Happy People

 I can now buff to a glass like shine!!!! I am very happy!

Thank you to my husband for buying the new Dremel and Workstation, Desiree for her tutorial on making a better buffing wheel, my children for donating the cotton muslin (stole one of my son's comforter cloths - well he is nearly 6 now and doesn't really use them any more and he does have several - I am not that mean a mum!) and all the other clayers who have given me advice on blogs, in forums etc....

Here's what I did....

handmade cotton muslin  buffing wheels

2 buffing wheels mounted on standard dremel spindel

Dremel mounted on the workstation (the stuff in the back is my husband  mending his bike in the dining room so we are 'together')

After buffing! Lost a few threads! I look like I am covered in yellow fluff!

Top one is my hand buffed spoon, the bottom one was hand buffed and has now been made even more shiney with the dremel. Hard to see in photos but the difference is very clear to the eye. Dremel buffed is twice as shiny!

So where next? Need to sort out some wire for holding small beads for buffing. I shall try making some more buffing wheels - will try a tighter woven fabric in the hope I loose less of it! Going to see if I can squeeze another on the dremel mandrel - will probably try making a modified mandrel as suggested by Desiree. Oh and I shall be rebuffing all my things to make them even shinier!

Buffing with the Dremel - part 1

Having sanded and buffed a load of beads by hand last week I decided to try buffing with a dremel. I wanted to get a really shiny buffed finish and I had read that you could only achieve this with mechanical buffing. I only started sanding recently and have  been buffing by hand  on a tea towel . I have never used a dremel before, I am borrowing one from my parents.


I tried the dremel buffing wheel (sewn muslin one that comes with the Dremel) last week and managed to make some nasty grooves in my work. The surface was horribly dull and the grooves took a lot of sanding to remove. I then went and read up about buffing with a dremel. I found some good information at
http://desiredcreations.com/  and http://www.glassattic.com/. Seems that the stitching on the dremel buffing wheel makes it too harsh for polymer clay so something softer was required.

So today my Dad (it's his turn to look after us this week, giving my mum a well earned rest)  and I sat down to try out buffing with the dremel again. I made a new buffing wheel from some polyester fleece fabric I happened to have in my sewing box. I cut some circles, about 7 cm in diameter and fitted them to the mandrel that you screw the regular dremel buffing wheel onto. I used 5 layers of fleece cause I couldn't screw the mandrel together with more and didn't stitch them together at all.

Fleece circles being threaded onto the screw for the Dremel mandrel

I tried it on one of the sides of the large bead I ruined previously and eventually it came up pretty shiny. It took quite a long time and it still wasn't as shiney as I hoped. It wasn't the miracle I was after ;) I think perhaps it would be easier if I had a stand for the Dremel as I am having to hold clay in one hand and Dremel in the other.  I might have another go at making a buffing wheel stitching them together - look what this one looked like after just a little use.

I am currently sanding using 240, 400, 600 and 1000 grits (what I had available). I have just ordered a set of sandpaper with 10 different grits from 180 to 2500 grit!  I don't imagine I would ever have the patience to use them all, or that it would be necessary but I will experiment a bit to see if I can start of with a smoother finish to buff. I am also off to investigate the best place to buy a rock tumbler from for my round beads - they are so hard to sand by hand!

My dad was convinved that waxing was the answer to sheen and applied the last dregs of our furniture wax and then some natural (clear) shoe polish to some of my beads (which he kindly sanded first - taking the skin of one of his fingers- ouch!). He applied the wax and then buffed it on a piece of fleece stretched over some wood (held in place with some staples). Then he continued buffing on the otherside of the wood with some clean fleece, the other side was now waxy fleece. It did come up looking pretty good but it was quite hard to tell (in my opinion, dad could see one) the difference between the with or without wax beads buffed on fleece.

Previously I had found a linen tea towel the thing that got me the best shine when buffing (from the limited selection of things I tried). Today I tried a buffing on linen and buffing on fleece to compare and the bead buffed on fleece was definitely more shiney. I have now cut a piece of fleece for my clay box.

So more experimenting is needed. I need to perfect (well improve would be a start) sanding, find a better way to mechanically buff to a high shine and  I want to try out some varnishes. I have only used the Fimo Gloss varnish on polymer clay and I am not that impressed with it. I would like to have a range of finishes at my disposal so I can choose how I want a piece to look. 

If you have any advice on buffing/sanding/polishing then please let me know it might help this part of my journey go a little smoother. 

Thank you for following me on this adventure with clay.

Cara