How To Make Polymer Clay Look Like Metal
One reason that polymer clay is so great is that it can be made to look like anything. In fact, if you were wondering how to make polymer clay look like metal, then you will not be disappointed by the power of polymer clay.
This tutorial will show you how to make polymer clay look like metal. There are a few different techniques for making polymer clay look like metal, but we are going to focus on some of the easiest ways so that you can start creating immediately!
We are going to make three different types of metals and three different types of shapes. The great thing about the techniques we will show you today is that you can switch up the different shapes and colors to achieve different looks and effects.
You will need:
- Yellow polymer clay
- Ochre Polymer clay
- Grey polymer clay
- Jacquard pigments
- Slicing blade
- Pasta roller
The first technique is going to be how to make polymer clay look like gold. For this step, take some yellow polymer clay and roll it out to get a thin slab. Then take some small circle cutters, and cut out a bunch of small circles.
Finally, cover all sides of the circles in a good coating of gold colored pigments.
Now, you have a bunch of tiny gold coins that look great as small details with some sunken pirate treasure or treasure horde guarded by a dragon.
If you want to take the coins to the next level, you can create a tiny stamp to press on the tops of the coins to give them a pattern or design. You can glue some together too to look like a stack of coins.
If you were originally wondering how to make polymer clay look like metal, you now know how to make polymer clay look like gold coins.
The second easiest metal to make is silver. Make a small slab of grey Papa’s clay using the thickest roller setting you have. Cut it in half and stack your two pieces.
Now, all you need to do is use a slicing blade to cut out a rectangle, but angle the blade away from the silver bar so that you get some angled cuts to look like a bar of silver.
Again, take a Jacquard silver pigment and cover the whole thing making sure to get all sides, including the bottom.
After they’ve been baked they’ll come out looking great. And when you combine the silver and gold pieces together, you can really start to see the two looking great as part of some treasure.
Now you know how to make polymer clay look like metal, specifically silver and silver bars.
This time we’ll mix it up a bit to make some copper pipe instead of precious metals. Making copper pipes is easy, but it requires an additional baking step, so it takes slightly longer to make than the coins and bars.
Roll out a thin snake of ochre clay. Bend it in the middle so you get as close to a 90 degree bend as possible. Don’t worry, it won’t be a perfect angle and that is quite alright.
Just like the other steps, cover your clay with the copper pigment on both sides, then bake it for the next step.
Once your pipe has cooled down, make a thin slab of ocher clay. Cut a little strip of that and wrap it around the side of the bend, then do that for the other side too. Blend the two sides together as best as you can, then cut off any excess clay so it looks like you have some straight lines.
Cover the new clay with some copper powder and you are all set. This type of detail looks great in a steampunk or factory setting.
After following these easy steps, you should be an expert on how to make polymer clay look like metal. If you want to take your creations to the next level, you can experiment with adding some additional texture or shading to make everything look even more realistic.
Check out our live tutorial on our YouTube channel: