How to Make Color Gradients With Polymer Clay

There are many ways of blending polymer clay for color variations, but a smooth color gradient blending from one color to another is one of the most impressive. Using a pasta machine, you can make color gradients with polymer clay blending two colors or as many as you like. With a little patience and experimentation, you can even create a rainbow.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• At least two colors of polymer clay
• pasta machine (dedicated to polymer clay use)

1. Work each ball of clay with your hands until it is soft.

2. Feed each ball of clay into a pasta machine set on a thick setting. Repeat this process as necessary to create a large, smooth sheet of each color.

3. Cut a neat rectangle of the same size from each sheet of polymer clay.

4. Start by learning to make color gradients with two colors. For this combination, cut each rectangle in half diagonally.

5. Make a new rectangle using triangles of two different colors. Carefully run these triangles through the pasta machine together to attach them.

6. Fold your new multicolored sheet in half lengthwise, and run it through the machine again.

7. Repeat this process until the colors are finely blended and you don't see any lines.

8. Use the sheet as-is, or roll it into a snake lengthwise if that is more useful for your project.

Tips & Warnings

• If you want to blend more than two colors, cut a diagonal strip of each color and line them up side by side to feed them through the pasta maker. This method is trickier, but uses the same basic principles.
• Darker colors can be much more potent, so your gradient may not come out balanced with equal areas of each color. Experiment with different ways to divide the original rectangle. You need a diagonal line or curve so that the colors blend together, but you can use just a small wedge of a dark color combined with a large sheet of a light color, for example.