Polymer Clay Safety Issues | Is Polymer Clay Safe for Food

Believe it or not, uncured clay can melt plastic and even damage furniture! Avoid placing polymer clay in hard plastic containers because you might end up with some sticky goo, or the clay seems to be stuck to the plastic. Uncured clay is incompatible with specific type of plastics. So plastics that have a recycling number of 2, 4 or 5 are usually fine for storage.
It's best practice to never leave uncured clay sitting around for long periods of time on unprotected surfaces like tables or countertops, as well as painted, varnished, or lacquered surfaces. Improper storage can ruin the clay or damage objects in your home that are made of wood or certain types of plastics. This is because polymer clay is bond together by what's called "plasticizers" which is a chemical that makes plastic soft and flexible. This is also the reason why it may not play well together with other plastics. Once the clay is baked, it is inert and chemically inactive and therefore cannot harm furniture.
Jennifoo's List of Recommended Tools:
MARCATO Atlas 150 Pasta Machine (this is the machine I use!):
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Sculpey Clay Blades 3 Set Pack (for general cutting):
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Tissue Blades (dedicated thin & sharp blade for cane slicing)
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Sculpey Satin Glaze (for sealing surface treatments):
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Acrylic Roller and Tiny Hole Cutter Set:
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Large Circle Cutters:
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Cute Earring Clay Cutters:
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Is Polymer Clay Food Safe?
Can you eat from objects made with polymer clay?
While polymer clay is rated as nontoxic, you also can't eat or drink from objects made of it, nor can you borrow things from your kitchen for clay usage. Cured polymer clay is very porous and bacterial can use it as a breeding ground if food particles get stuck in pores, nooks, and crannies, and almost impossible to clean adequately after using with food. Polymer clay is not going to withstand sanitization methods like using hot water, disinfecting liquids and will break down after repeatedly using it in a dishwasher.
Now let's talk about safety with clay tools:
Kitchen tools used for working with clay should remain craft or clay dedicated. As a rule of thumb, once you use an object for polymer clay, set that aside for clay usage only and take it out of the kitchen so others do not accidentally use it for food. This is because it's difficult or near impossible to remove all clay particles from some utensils like a pasta machine where it hides in nooks & crannies, and the plasticizer from the clay can remain on porous surfaces like plastic.
Sanitizing after working with craft clay
After working with clay there is usually some residue on your hands which soap and water will not remove. There are various products you have use to dissolve the clay on your hands, and then follow with ordinary dish soap.
You can rub some hand sanitizer to dissolve the clay residue.
Another option is to use a pumice based, waterless hand cleaner.
If you don't have that, rubbing alcohol is another option.
A more gentler option is to rub a little bit of olive oil onto your hands to break up the clay particles. After dissolving the clay with any of the methods mentioned above, follow with soap and water to finish cleaning it all off especially before you eat or cook.
Baking polymer clay
Do not bake polymer clay at really high temperatures where it might burn at around 350 degrees F. If you're unsure if your clay is completely baked all the way, you can get away with baking the clay for longer periods of time or even raising the temperature 10-15 degrees higher, in fact, that can help strengthen the clay. However, be wary over temperature fluctuations that can occur with inexpensive ovens. When baked as directed, the fumes are not toxic. However, at really high temperatures, it is close to burning or starts burning, it releases hydrogen chloride gas which can cause eye, nose or mouth irritation. Different brands will have different baking times, but from what i've seen, it ranges from 212F - 300F.
Contents of this video
0:00​ - Polymer clay melting plastic containers
0:60​ - Safely storing polymer clay
2:01​ - Is polymer clay food safe
3:02​ - Clay tool and kitchen safety
3:36 - Cleaning hands after working with clay
4:22​ - Are polymer clay fumes toxic when baking
5:24​ - Polymer clay protective goggles and mask
Music: [sunny rasta] by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
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Credit photo used:
"Alien Movie Poster" by theglobalpanorama is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
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