Tumbling Polymer Clay Beads

In the past I tumbled Polymer Clay with sandpaper. But I didn't like it because the sandpaper sticks together and it is a pain. So I bought some tumbling grit -- the kind they use for rocks and have been experimenting.

The kind I got is labeled step 1 , step 2, step 3 and so on.

I started tumbling with step 4, this definitely sanded the beads a lot leaving them with a sanded finish. I have continued and am now on step 6. They are looking pretty nice and don't seem to have any fingerprints any more.

This is removing a reasonable amount of clay so it would be bad if I had thin slices of cane applied to my beads. I don't though so I haven't had a problem.

I have ordered another tumbler so I can run two at once. I got another toy one but I had to order it. Michael's doesn't carry that brand anymore.

I took one of my old (6 mo? a year?) canes and reduced it in size. The reduction seemed to work fairly well although the cane was brittle to start. I sliced it up and will use the slices for testing out the tumbling.

The plan is to take some beads from untumbled through all of the steps and keep some from each step for comparison. I have some other old beads I am going to try too.