Sculpey Safety

Is Liquid Sculpey Dangerous?

I hope you can explain to me how I set my brand new toaster oven on fire when I put Liquid Sculpey over a scanned photo (I scanned it at CVS).

I placed it on a piece of glass and put it in at 275 degrees as per instructions.

I breathed in the nasty fumes as I was trying to put out the fire.

Now I'm afraid to use Liquid Sculpey and my toaster oven.

Help!!

Jocelyn

I'm so glad no one was injured.

I'm no expert, nor have I seen any actual evidence, but I suspect the problem was caused by your toaster oven. I investigated each element of your disaster (Liquid Sculpey, photo paper, glass, toaster oven), eliminating them one by one until I got to toaster oven.

The process you used is almost exactly the same as Sculpey's directions for making transfers with TLS (Translucent Liquid Sculpey). The company notes that you can use an oven temperature of 300 degrees Fahrenheit for more transparency and color intensity.

The temperature at which paper catches fire is 451 degrees Fahrenheit, so it wasn't the fault of the paper per se.

Glass has an even higher burn point. That leaves the toaster oven.

When I searched the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) database I found 320 consumer complaints lodged about toaster ovens. The majority had to do with fires and, running a close second, were reports of exploding glass doors (most likely linked to overheating as well).

A search for consumer complaints about polymer clay yielded 94 hits, but none of them seemed related to dangerous incidents involving polymer clay.

They were about improper labeling or clay battery parts breaking or asbestos found in papier maché clay (dangerous perhaps but not related to polymer clay).

There were no complaints or incidents reported against the companies which make Fimo or Sculpey.

Though they were certainly unpleasant, you needn't be concerned about the fumes you inhaled. A representative of Eberhard Faber, the maker of Fimo, told us that hydrochloride gas fumes can be released if polymer clay is heated to 392 degrees F, but the amount that a human can tolerate before running from the room, would not do any immediate harm or cause any long term damage.

He said, "A man chained in a room with hydrochloride gas developed from polymers could suffer an irritation of his mucous membranes."

Consumer Reports did some testing of polymer clay a few years ago and found no incidents of poisoning, either from fumes or from eating the clay (think babies and pets).

In 2000, the Art & Creative Materials Institute (which certifies the safety of art supplies) reevaluated the safety of polymer clays at the request of polymer clay manufacturers and again found polymer clays to be perfectly safe.

I recommend you contact your oven's manufacturer to replace your toaster oven.

Alternatively, you may want to report the incident to the CPSC. In that case, hold onto the oven and do not clean it any further.

If the Commission follows up on your report, they will appreciate anything that will help them in their tests. In any case do not use the oven again until it has been tested and certified safe.

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