How To Sand And Buff Polymer Clay Pieces Efficiently
Posted by Rituparna Ghosh on
It's no secret I love the natural shine that's achieved after proper sanding and buffing of baked polymer clay pieces. Today I want to share with you how I do it efficiently.
A lot of people think sanding takes too long, but if you follow the grit sequence properly, it’s actually very efficient and gives an amazing natural shine.
Sanding:
I usually start with 600 grit sandpaper to remove imperfections, then move to 800, 1000, and finally 3000 grit for a smooth finish. Here if you want to hand sand your pieces, obviously it will take longer.
Which is why, I prefer using rotary tool like Dremel and round sanding head to make it easy on my hand, and speed things up a lot.
Once sanding is done, I rinse the piece in water to remove all residue.
Buffing:
Now it's time buff and get the shine back on your smooth sanded pieces. Here I apply a small amount of Renaissance wax and buff using a soft buffing head.
Again, you can always hand buff the pieces, but I use Clay Mate Pro to hold Dremel in place, so I can hold clay pieces in my hand for efficient and comfortable buffing.
From start to finish the whole process takes about 5 to 7 minutes/ piece, depending on how complicated the style is. So you can finish about a dozen earrings in an hour.
This entirely satisfying process adds an amazing smooth finish and subtle shine to the clay pieces. The shine you see is the clay itself — no resin, no varnish, just properly finished polymer clay.