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Styrofoam warning!

Feb 11, 2012

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    1. Last night I was reading posts about cores for heads and bodies out of Sculpey and saw reference to using styrofoam as your base which then shrinks away in the oven. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT STYROFOAM (ALL KINDS) PRODUCES DEADLY POISONOUS GAS WHEN MELTED!!! I think it is cyanide. I was hospitalized and had transfusions following an over-exposure many years ago while using a hot knife to carve carousel horses for a play. I recovered except for a violent reaction (vomiting) when exposed to cooking styrofoam, some cleaning compounds and other chemicals. I love carving styrofoam and had used it before with little incident before. The toxic fumes from Sculpey seem very minor by comparision.
       
      #1 Janeve, Feb 11, 2012
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    2. Yes, when baking with sculpey you should have a dedicated oven preferably located outside and leave your pieces outside until they're cooled completely as well. Personally I would never bake a sculpey piece indoors, and would /never/ use my food oven for sculpey or baking any sort of plastic in, you just don't know what sort of chemicals and residue is being left behind that may end up on your food. Melted foam is highly toxic of course, but I wouldn't trust polymer clay either (either baked or raw).
       
      #2 crowtree, Feb 11, 2012
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