Polymer Clay. ??

[KarlB]

Hey folks. I have done a lot of inlay with my woodturning. A lot of bleed comes from moisture in the wood. When u put it in the oven  etc, the moisture in the wood escapes and causes the pigment in the clay to bleed. Even if your wood is kiln dried its at about 6-12% moisture..I have found that sanding sealer does help in some cases.

Interesting.  I wonder, could you put a piece of wood in the oven for a while to reduce the moisture content, then let it cool and then apply the clay?  Would this inhibit the clay from bleeding?

Karl

[daliclimbs]

It will probably help. A lot of times it depends a lot on the wood. Softer woods bleed is just kinda a fact of life that requires sanding. One way I go about it is to put the wood in for roughly the amount of time it will take to bake the clay. Then put it in a second time with the clay actually in the piece. This helps get the wood to emc at that temperature. I don't use polymer to much any more with my turnings. I use CA glue and embossing powder, it requires more sanding and takes some time but I get better results. There are tons of inlay techniques, and I have tried a lot of them LOL.

[daliclimbs]

I forgot to mention that I have had good results firing with a heat gun also. Keep in mind it needs to be a gun strong enough to strip paint, hair dryers etc don't get hot enough. It takes a little practice but it works. One benifit is it does not heat all the wood, as a woodturner that's good because it reduces the threat of splitting. The down side is it is fairly time consuming..

[dunk]

Thanks to everyone for their feedback.