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Astrid,
Polymer clay and spray sealers usually do not mix--I believe it's the
propellants in the sprays that react with the polymer clay normally.
From what I understand, Rustoleum is one of the few companies that make
a spray sealer that can be used on polymer. But, I recently chatted with
a woman (the one I mentioned before who's used spray sealers on her
dolls) who uses a brand called Mr. Super Clear on her polymer figures
and has never had problems with it. I've never tried it on polymer clay
so I can't vouch for this. Mr. Super Clear is a very popular spray
sealant for ball-jointed doll owners who want to protect their resin
dolls from the sun and/or paint or do body blushing and face paint on
their dolls. It's a Japanese brand and isn't easy to find but you can
order it from Volks, USA (http://www.volksusa.com/tools---materials-painting.html
near the bottom of the page) and, usually, from Junkyspot (http://junkyspot.com/obindex.html).
Junkyspot doesn't list items that aren't in stock but you can click on
the link for "supplies" and check if it's there--when they have it in
stock, that's where you'll find it.
When I first started using polymer clay, the only sealer that anyone
recommended was Flecto varathane (now Rustoleum) and Fimo Glaze (I think
that's what it was called). The Sculpey glaze wasn't even recommended
because, at the time, people were having problems with it flaking off
over time. I've never tried the Fimo or Sculpey sealers because I
couldn't justify spending so much money for such a small jar when I
could get Future floor finish so cheap. From what I understand now, you
can pretty much use any water-based, brush-on sealer on your polymer
clay these days. It never hurts to run a test to be sure and if you want
to go with the tried and true stuff, then just stick with the Rustoleum.
Any of the acrylic sealers should work on air-dry clay. The only reason
you might pick a spray over a brush-on is to avoid smearing the color or
paint on your piece. Otherwise, it really shouldn't matter which you
use.
As for getting a red color on your flower petals, I have two
suggestions. The simplest is to paint over the petal after you've
sculpted it, rather than trying to make red by mixing it in white. The
second suggestion would be to get some pure pigment powder (I'd
recommend getting a bright red and, possibly black or dark grey). I
can't guarantee it would work, but straight pigments without any binder
in them will give you a much more saturated color so might be able to
get a deeper red using them. Adding in a pinch of black or grey will
darken the color a bit and, hopefully offset the white some, although
you might not need to do that, depending on how bright you can get your
red on its own. Your biggest problem is that you're working with white
which adds opacity and lightens your pigment. Not sure how deep you
could get your red, but you'd probably get it darker than by using
premixed acrylics or even pastel powders. I'm also not sure how the
added pigments might change the consistency.
Places to find pigment powders:
http://www.earthpigments.com/products/red-pigment.cfm (my
favorite pigment place--they tell you how old the color is/how long it's
been used and where it comes from; good prices; my suggestions for reds
for you--Cinnabar, Natural or Red 140)
http://www.dickblick.com/products/sennelier-dry-pigments/ (Sennelier
is extremely pricey)
http://www.sinopia.com/redpigments.aspx (good selections,
back to being pricey)
Eva
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