What is a Polymer Clay Template?
Polymer clay templates are flat templates for measuring poly clay. Some measure the thickness of a ball, or roll of clay. This type usually has various sized notches cut out in a section of metal. Others have the block outlines of the most common brands of polymer clay outlined on a small cutting surface, showing the amounts of clay needed from a new block to make balls of particular sizes. Most templates include Sculpy III and Premo clays and Fimo Soft, Classic, and Cernit The ones with the block outlines usually also have cutouts with various ball diameters so you can check the circumference/diameter of your ball.
Mixing Consistent Colors Using a Template
If you will be producing lots of items with custom blended clay colors you want to reproduce in the future, templates are useful for measuring the amounts of particular colors you blend. In addition to the template, you will need a recipe or file card to note the color number, amounts, and brand types you blend. This only works if you measure exact amounts of colors and blend them together, starting with 1/4 of a block and adding new colors in in precisely cut amounts. The templates accurately measure up to 1/64 of a block. If you like to mix by adding a bit of this and a bit of that, the template won't get used.
Checking the Diameter of Canes
If you do a lot of caning (making patterns in the center of rolls of clay) templates can be useful for making consistant sizes of canes. You can use the template to make a design in the largest diameter circle on the template, and roll it to the smallest diameter, knowing what type of reduction will occur in your cane. This is very useful for miniaturists who are just starting to make miniature food, and who have trouble repeating the same result with small amounts of clay. (How many tiny lemon slices do you actually need?)Checking the Diameter of Beads
The templates are also useful for making consistently sized circles or beads of clay. This is most useful in making full size jewellery, but miniaturists may also find the measured circular cutouts useful for making paper plates, evenly sized polyclay plates, or saucers. You can lay the circular template over your layer of polyclay and mark even circles for cutting out into a set of dishes or other items that need to be the same size. If you don't already own a circle template, many polyclay templates have circular cutouts ranging in size from 1 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch.
General Measuring
The plastic poly clay templates come with rulers in inches and millimetres. The inches are marked in 16ths. These flexible rulers printed on the edge of the template can be handy for measuring flat or curved surfaces.
Will You Use A Template?
If you like blending colors by mixing it until you get the shade you want, and only need to make that color generally, and not precisely, you probably won't need the template for mixing. You can always work from measured 1/4 inch squares of your clay, rather than using amounts from particular block sizes.
If you already own an artist's circle template, you don't need the openings on the poly clay template. If you don't have a circle template, this is an easy way to combine basic circles and a ruler with a cutting surface for clay.
Make Your Own Template.
You can easily make your own template by marking an inexpensive flexible cutting board with standard measurements using an indelible felt pen. This way you can customize a cutting surface for your purposes (maybe you work in Kato clay, or like using actual lengths instead of sections of commercial blocks). The commercial templates are not particularly useful for rolling out clay as they have circular holes cut through the middle. If you don't need the circular holes, you can put the markings you use most on a larger flexible cutting mat to use as a work surface.
Warning! Clean Your Template
If you do buy a commercial template make sure you clean any traces of polymer clay off the printed side before putting the template away. Clay remnants appear to dissolve the printing.
