polymer ponderings. . .

A test . . .

my friend amy and i have been talking about polymer clay and dishwashers, as she has made some beautiful decoration on the stems of wine glasses. while i don't understand why someone would even think about putting such fine work in a dishwasher, apparently many would be buyers asked if they were dishwasher safe.....

so i did some experiments, as i had heard that buttons made of polymer clay could be put in the washing machine, i wondered what would happen if we put polymer clay in the dishwasher... so i covered the base a bit, the stem and a bit of the bowl of a small wine glass and then put it in the dishwasher...
here are some photos and the results...

just to save my dishwasher in case it all fell apart, i put the glass in a mesh bag. wasn't necessary at all, the glass as you see it has been through the dishwasher cycle. now, i did try to pick off the bits that are sort of what i would call 'free standing', the small piece on the left you can see stands up unattachedto other clay for a long narrow way... i could pick it free of the glass, but it didn't come off, i think the water got behind some of the upper pieces, but when it dried it was just as if i had never touched it. i used no glue. if i pick hard enough, of course i can start to break off the clay parts that are on the bowl of the glass.


here you have the glass turned around and you can see the tallest 'free standing' piece on the other side of the glass. the part you see on the left on this side of the glass is still firmly attached, again no glue.

so, i would say that items covered with polymer clay are dishwasher safe, but i would highly recommend hand washing! eventually, i suppose, after some number of times thru the dishwasher, some of the pieces, especially those like the one seen thru the glass, would eventually come off.....
however, the clay on the stem and base are still very securely attached.

if you want to be sure of the polymer clay remaining on the glass, i would make sure that most of the clay was attached to other clay.....