Can poster paints be used for polymer clays?

Question

Can poster paints be used for polymer clays?

Answer 1

You can't paint sculpey clay with watercolors or poster paints - you'll put a lot of work into something that won't last. It will rub off. Try acrylic paints, but don't thin them out too much with water. Good luck!

Answer 2

Yes, they can be used but there will be several problems.

Those won't stick as easily to the clay as other types of paint because the baked polymer clay is usually fairly smooth (you can sand the clay a little to give it tooth first, and always clean off any oils/etc with alcohol, and/or you can paint on original white bulk Sculpey since it has more tooth... that's a weaker brand of polymer clay though so if your clay will be thin, perhaps just use a layer of original Sculpey over a stronger brand of polymer clay to do the actual painting on).

If you use a non-permanent paint like poster paint or watercolor, you'll need to seal it after painting to make it waterproof.  

You can use various kinds of sealers (see your other question for those), even including permanent white glue thinned 3 or 4 with water as the cheapest.  

But you may want to use an acrylic gloss *spray* for the first coat or two (a light coating) to set and seal the paint before brushing on a heavier coat of  liquid sealer (which could dissolve and smear water-based paints too quickly).

Acrylic paints are the most commonly used ones for "painting on top" of the clay when you're not just using colored clay (often requiring two coats, or one coat of gesso and one coat of color... and the "artists'"acrylics in tubes are thicker than craft acrylics so can give better coverage too).

Alcohol inks can work well too though, and some other paints, chalks, etc., can be used as well... some may need sealing.

If you want lots more info about all those paints and colorants, or info mixing your own colors into the clay or mixing clay colors together to get new colors, check out these pages at my site:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/paints.htm

(...click on Painting on Top of Clay, and also on Acrylics, especially)

http://glassattic.com/polymer/letters_in...

(...click on Alcohol Inks)                    

http://glassattic.com/polymer/color.htm

HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 3

No , Acrylic paint works the best ;)))