Steps: Conditioning the clay
1. Condition whole packages of transparent red, transparent pink, and transparent orange Fimo Soft polymer clay.
- To condition the clay by hand, divide the package into four pieces, knead each piece in hands and mix the pieces together.
- To condition the clay with a pasta machine, slice the block in half, compress each half to a thickness of 1/4-inch with an acrylic rod. Roll the clay through the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Reset the machine to a thinner setting and roll the clay through. Reset the machine again to a medium-thin setting and roll the clay through once more. Finish by folding and rolling until the sheet is soft and pliable.
2. Roll each color into a square sheet that measures 1/8 inch thick.
Skinner Blend sheet
3. To create a Skinner Blend sheet, fold the transparent red sheet and the transparent pink sheet in half to form right triangles of the same size. Stack these on top of each other, folded edge on top of folded edge.
4. Cut the clay stack using the Nublade Kato clay tool to form a 90-degree angle to the folded edge. Make a second cut to make the diagonal side of the right-angle triangle. Separate and set aside.
5. To make the middle triangle, fold the transparent orange sheet in half. Position the red and pink triangles on the folded sheet so that the matching tips of each triangle almost touch and the folded edges are parallel to each other.
6. Using the Nublade, cut the transparent orange clay, following the diagonal edges of the two outer triangles. Remove the excess clay and press the three triangles together (figure A). Cut off the protruding edges from the rectangular shape.
7. Roll the combined clay through the pasta machine at the thickest setting, making certain that at least two colors physically touch the rollers.
8. Fold the sheet, same color edge on same color edge. Place the clay on the rollers and roll through. Repeat until the sheet is smoothly graded and there are no streaks. This will render a Skinner Blend sheet (figure B).
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