sculpey drip tips - make em shine?

[JewelzBagz]

I've been watching the youtube vids and seeing all the pics people post on here making their own drip tips, so I decided to try some too. They came out pretty well, but despite buffing with a nail buffer, they're not really shiny. What do you use to make them glossy looking? Coat with clear nail polish? I guess that would be okay on the lips since nail biters eat nail polish all the time. Any other ideas?

 

[saraf3m]

With my plastic drip tips I took a towel and some baking soda and just rubbed (twisted) and got a really good polished product. Time consuming, but am happy with the results. idk if it will work with polyres or clay, but is a cheap/easy try?

 

[Para]

In this order:

1500 grit sandpaper
4/0 Steel wool
PlastX (Auto polish)

....will shine like glass

 

[JewelzBagz]

saraf3m-well I have those two items in house so I will give it a try. Thanks Oh wait-did you wet the BS or use it dry?

Para-that looks amazing! It's a clay tip polished that beautiful? Is the PlastX available at walmart or is it something I need to go to an automotive store to pick up?

 

[VictoryNotVengence]

if you get it figured out let me know. those drip tips look awsome, love the color. and would like a few shiny ones of my own.

 

[JewelzBagz]

Well I found a site online with instructions to make a shining wheel for the dremel. I didn't have the exact materials so I used a few pieces of white t-shirt and kitchen twine to tie it. It worked a lot better than I expected it to. They're much nicer now, except now I can see the imperfections a lot more. I will pick up wet/dry sandpaper to try on the next batch prior to shining. The instructions can be found here, scroll down to "Anita's stitchless cotton sheet". Here's a pic of them after the polish.

I expect if I had the proper super fine sandpaper to use first the t-shirt would probably have done an even better job. Hopefully the next batch, with the right materials, will turn out even better.

 

[VictoryNotVengence]

Do Want! How bout selling me a couple or better yet giving them to me to "beta test".

 

[lynleestar]

Those look great~! I bought some sculpey and tried but I'm no tip maker

Now I have an entire package of sculpey in different colors and I don't know what to do with them~!!

 

[hairball]

I really love how they turned out. Awesome job. I wish I had the patience to do something like that.

 

[JewelzBagz]

Thanks everyone They really were not difficult to do, I just played with the sculpey while sitting on the couch watching tv one night. I'll be trying a second batch once I get the right sandpaper to use on them. I think that will be the key to making them look super smooth and hopefully super shiny. I also want to try adding o rings to them. They fit the atomizers nicely, but are loose on some of the xl cartos I have.

lynleestar- I also saw a vid where the girl made a stand for her ego out of the stuff. I'm thinking about giving that a try as well. Looks like it'll be a lot less intricate than the drip tips, so maybe you can try something like that to use up your sculpey.

crippledbazooka-I'm not looking to sell them, but once I get some that I feel are good enough to share, I'll send a few your way to "beta test". I also saw on the vid I watched that the sculpey is breakable if you drop it, so that's something to bear in mind. But heck, for the cost to make em-no biggie. Plus they're kind of relaxing to make.

 

[VWFringe]

what little I know about this sort of thing, you are either removing material or adding material, and possibly both to mitigate thinning of the material. When removing, the goal is to remove material in a perfectly flat manner until you reach the level of the deepest scratch.

i'd suggest rubber banding sandpapers to something stiff and flat, like a toothbrush handle, so you can smooth the surface as you take it down.

i.m.o. polishing compounds and small diameter dremel buffing wheels won't get rid of the bumps and imperfections (and the small wheels can create lots of new ones), but maybe just being shiny is enough (your nail polish idea).

Real good job on the color mottling, and bottom margins (how it looks at the bottom)

 

[JewelzBagz]

I thought it was-till the shine highlighted all the imperfections! So next time around I'll be sanding first.

 

[VictoryNotVengence]

crippledbazooka-I'm not looking to sell them, but once I get some that I feel are good enough to share, I'll send a few your way to "beta test". I also saw on the vid I watched that the sculpey is breakable if you drop it, so that's something to bear in mind. But heck, for the cost to make em-no biggie. Plus they're kind of relaxing to make.

Hey thats awsome! I'm not worried about dropping it, if my PV isn't on my hand its resting on a cloud with wings...very safe.

 

[Vchick]

Beautiful job!

I'd recommend not using clear nail polish, polish can contain toluene and formaldahyde. It could also become sticky when applied to the polymer as well as giving off fumes if it's to close to the atty. I'd stick with refining the sanding and buffing techniques.

 

[JewelzBagz]

Thanks vchick. I did read about that, so I nixed the nail polish idea. I went shopping today and picked up the sandpaper and steel wool that Para recommended. I goofed on the auto polish though-stupid me didn't write it down and bought polishing compound by mistake. Haven't read the fine print cause I didn't have my glasses, but have a feeling I'll discover it's not safe for my lips. I'm going to get working on some fall colored ones next so I'll see how the right sanding improves their looks.

crippledbazooka-I won't even mention where my ego lives when not on its charger, except to say it's also a cloud like location

 

[CharlieGirl]

Polymer clay is the most amazing, versatile material! It can be made into anything you want, in any finish you can imagine! You want it to look like opal? jade? metal? glass? the list goes on forever! Google "polymer clay tutorial" and add whatever you want to emulate and chances are someone can tell you how! The "pearl" colors have tiny bits of mica in them, and there are techniques to obtain a cool effect known as mica shift that makes it look as if a pattern has depth, and yet it is perfectly level and smooth! The stuff is addictive, I must have a gazillion pounds of it! LOL Oh, by the way, once it is baked correctly according to pkg directions, it is very resilient stuff and won't break easily. The temperature and length of time baked are critical to it's durability... an oven thermometer is a great tool for that as every appliance is different and a dew degrees can literally make it or break it. Great job for a 1st effort, I bet you will be finding lots of uses for it! I'm a jewelry designer and I use it all the time! It's a life saver when you are trying to tie unmatched elements together, or have an idea for something that doesn't even exist...ler me shaddup, I can go on forever about it! Enjoy!

 

[ma811]

I've been watching the youtube vids and seeing all the pics people post on here making their own drip tips, so I decided to try some too. They came out pretty well, but despite buffing with a nail buffer, they're not really shiny. What do you use to make them glossy looking? Coat with clear nail polish? I guess that would be okay on the lips since nail biters eat nail polish all the time. Any other ideas?

They're so cool! Been searching YouTube and only found one vid. Do you have any links? Much appreciated!

 

[DeviantDe]

Those look great~! I bought some sculpey and tried but I'm no tip maker

Now I have an entire package of sculpey in different colors and I don't know what to do with them~!!

I used the small amount of sculpey I had and made 2 pv holders for the desk/end table/wherever.

I only had one color so I ended up painting them, even lined one with velvet for my Silver Bullet lol. I made a really long skinny snake like piece and wrapped it around an old prescription bottle wrapped in wax paper(otherwise the sculpey sticks to it) made a wider base so it wouldn't tip over, removed the bottle and baked it. Turned out pretty good. Holds the SB nicely, would hold about 6 or 7 510's I think lol. There's a pic in my album here that has one of them in it.
Don't know if I'd be able to make a drip tip though. I would probably just frustrate myself trying lol.

 

[locke2121]

I've just started to make some stuff out of Sculpey...I lost one of my Delrin tips...and now I'm having to vape through one of those tiny generic rubber tips you get with clearos....like trying to suck an apple through a coffee stirrer!

 

[Prettycat191]

I use polymer clay to make and sell jewelry, but I wonder if it's safe to vape through? I had a thought of making drip tips with it, but I remembered that the package said not to use tools with it that you'll use for food because it will contaminate it, and to make sure the room is well ventilated when baking because the fumes when it's heated are dangerous. Think I may have to make a PV holder out of it though...