1. Style

Forum Discussion: Is Fimo/Polymer Clay Jewelry Safe?

From Karen L. Hudson, About.com GuideJanuary 25, 2009

Follow me on:

Polymer clay, once baked, converts into a plastic material (thus, the polymer name). Plastic can't be cleaned with alcohol (it would break it down) and it can't be autoclave sterilized. It can also be rather porous, even if you don't see them, and those little impurities can be the basis for a bacterial nesting ground.

That being said, it's not necessarily "dangerous" to wear polymer clay jewelry, but they should be washed thoroughly with warm soap and water before putting them in and you should only wear them for short periods of time. Then your piercing should be washed thoroughly when you remove them.

Also be aware that polymer clay is sometimes treated with a coating to give it a sheen or to smooth out the impurities. Depending on what the coating is, it could conceivably cause an allergic reaction.

Comments

January 26, 2009 at 12:42 am
(1) William Rafti says:

Polymer clay is PVC plastic based which is non-reactive with alcohol; in fact it is sometimes dyed with alcohol ink (before or after curing).
The bad reaction between alcohol and plastic is crazing which only happens with some thermoplastics, not PVC and alcohol. PVC is not a thermo plastic. Acetone (the active ingredient in nail polish remover) dissolves some thermo plastics into syrup (that can then be used to mold new plastic parts).

March 15, 2009 at 7:08 am
(2) VahIdedoVom says:

Excellent site tattoo.about.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. It’s taken me literally 2 hours and 08 minutes of searching the web to find you (just kidding!) so I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor :)

October 6, 2010 at 11:22 am
(3) unpariarp says:

I’ve been attempting to locate a replacement retailer to provide a few personalised award embroidered patches to grant to prosperous salesmen inside my establishment. Hopefully, I will have the capacity to seek out a very good dealer.

Leave a Comment


Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

©2012 About.com. All rights reserved.

A part of The New York Times Company.