Thread: A material for the masses

Yeah you could defiantly back the stuff. My suggestion is to have the blank already cut so that you can roll right onto it then remove the backer carefully and bake. I do not think that it shrinks much but to be sure I would make my blank about 1/8" bigger all around. I guess you could just bake it on the backer. People make models using armature wire to hold the form so I do not think that would have any impact on it.

Let me know. I was thinking of using larger that normal washers or wrapping the exterior with a thin metal.

I'm not adventurous enough to try this yet. I just wanted to add a thought.

Great Thread!

Unfortunately i found it only now.

I had the idea to use polymer clay, as a scale material too, and made some research.

The polymer "clayers" (i'm not sure this word exists... ) say, that the clays are a bit different in stiffness. Have You tried FIMO yet?
I have some if it, and will try it soon.

About shrinking: The wiki about polimer clays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_clay) says, it doesn't shrink at curing.

About the material: It's some kind of PVC, so be careful with it! When You overheat it, the fumes can be harmful!

Has anyone else tried polymer clays yet? I am trying it for a full tang knife handle and it is good stuff to work with. Possibilities of layered patterns are endless.

I tried making some test pieces out of Fimo. They didnt seem suitable to make razor scales out of, at least without a backing. The clay wasn't rigid enough and didnt seem to retain its shape very well when torqued. I cooked it using the directions that were on the web and also the directions that came with the clay, so I don't think that it was preparation.

But the stuff does seem to be good for making wedges, and would prolly work for spacers, too.