Faux Dragon Vein Agate Polymer Clay Tutorial

How to Make Faux Dragon Vein Agate from Polymer Clay

• You need four sheets of polymer clay:
  • Two sheets made up of a mix of 1 part white to five parts translucent.
  • Two translucent sheets.
  And two alcohol ink colors. I'm using Adirondack Sailboat Blue and Turquoise.
• Tint one of your two white mix sheets using a couple of drops of your Sailboat Blue alcohol ink. Run the clay through your pasta machine to blend in the color.
• Tint one of your two translucent sheets using about 8-10 drops of your Sailboat Blue alcohol ink. Run the clay through your pasta machine to blend in the color.
• You should now have a Sailboat Blue translucent sheet, a plain translucent sheet, a lightly tinted white mix sheet (your color should resemble Robin's Egg), and a plain white mix sheet.

• Roll each sheet of clay into a log about half a centimeter in diameter.
• Lay them next to one another and trim off the uneven ends.
• Slice the logs into small pieces.
• Take a piece of each color and place them in a block of four.
• Stack groups of four one on top of the other. You can choose how much of each color to use. (See the video for more info.)
• Roll and squish each stack together and start to slowly twist as you roll and stretch. (See the video for more info.)
• Keep going until your lines are very fine.
• Gently squish your snake back into a slab, back and forth until you have about 5cm of clay. (See the video for the process.)
• Flatten your slab and then roll through the pasta machine on the thickest setting, being sure to lengthen the lines.
• Manipulate with your fingertips to distort the lines.
• Run through the pasta machine settings until you reach the middle setting alternating between stretching and widening the lines, until the sheet is flat.

• Roll five pieces of translucent Premo into logs of graduating diameter.
• Chop each log in half.
• Run a line of one color ink along one piece and a line of the other color along the other piece of each log, and roll until the outside of the log is covered. You should end up with 5 Sailboat Blue logs of graduating diameter and 5 Turquoise logs of graduating diameter.
• Lay your logs next to one another and on top of one another, varying the color and width randomly.
• Trim off the rough ends and then cut into sections of equal length.
• Take each section and turn them on their ends.
• Place them all together and squish into a rough round, then reduce to form a cane.
• Square up the cane and use your tissue blade to slice the stained edges of the cane away.
• Trim away the rough ends.

• Slice your cane into thin slices.
• Lay the slices over your agate sheet with overlapping until it is covered. Add a second thinner layer of cane slices to add interest.
• Flatten the sheet with your acrylic roller.
• Cover the sheet with a piece of plain printing paper and burnish with your roller to smooth it out further.
• Trim off the rough edges.

• Press together all your leftover offcuts into a ball.
• Press into your mold and use the acrylic rod to push it in well. Slice off the excess with your tissue blade.
• Remove the cabochon from the mold and cover with your faux Dragon Vein Agate sheet.
• Roughly trim away the edges, wrap excess around the cabochon and return to the mold.
• Roll gently with your roller until flat and then carefully trim away the excess using a stiff blade.
• Remove from the mold and smooth over with the heel of your hand.
• Reshape using the edge of your tissue blade.
• Repeat using translucent instead of leftovers underneath the Agate sheet for a different effect.
• Bake for 45 minutes at the recommended temperature.

• Sand using wet/dry sandpaper or polishing papers, starting from the lowest grit through to the highest. I sand up to an 8000 grit.
• Buff using a soft cloth or buffing wheel.
• Apply a coat of Renaissance Wax or liquid clay if you like.