This article by @handxmade is free for personal use ONLY, any reproduction is prohibited.
If you’d like to show your appreciation for these articles through monetary means, you can send me a ko-fi! ☕️

This post will mainly focus on ball tools and what do I use them for!

To be very honest, I think their use is pretttttty obvious, but I thought it'd be good to share the links to purchase them, and also show some gifs of what kind of textures they leave when used! 😀

Most of them are more frequently called dotting tools that nail artists use (I call them ball tools haha, but I guess that's the "proper" term?), but they're great for polymer clay work too! So you can find them in places that sell nail polishes or nail art 😊 I bought mine from Amazon, and also in a local art/pottery store.

Despite having SO MANY ball tools, the most common ones that I always have it with me is this three! I have so many of them mainly because they come in a set, and you also can see I've eliminated the whole bunch of matte wooden ones hahaha.

It's good to have extras for their size though, but I shall start with why I don't use the matte wooden ones.

Well first, they are quite annoying to hold and feels kinda...dry? It's probably due to the fact that they're untreated wood, I assume. Imagine holding a chalk..I really don't like that feeling 😶

It's not untreated to the extent that you'll get a splinter, but it does feel like it might get dirty real easy - the wood absorbing the dirt and paint (if any) etc 🙃 Granted, I didn't use them enough so I can't say for sure, but it does feel like it might happen haha.

Another reason why I don't use them because it feels quite......inefficient? As you can see on the left, they are all of different size, but the other side is the EXACT same size! 😱 That to me can cause confusion when I'm crafting, and it's just more effort to search for the right size when they have so many repeated size 😅

Also, they are ridiculously light, and I personally like it better when my tools have some weight - it just makes it easier to control in my opinion. If you're the type to like light tools, this will be for you! But it's definitely not for me.

So yes, they're left in the pile of unused tools 😶

If you would like to get them nonetheless, you can get them here. I couldn't find the exact same set, but this actually has a tapered tip which is quite a plus so I'd recommend this set instead!

I'll be posting some gifs for these three tool specifically later since I use them the most! Just to not cause any confusion, here's how they look like haha.

Alright now to the gigantic ballz 😀

This particular set is the only set I found, and they always comes with a rubber holder. As you can see, the biggest one got semi-destroyed by my love bird but it's still usable hahaha. It's basically a metal rod, but I don't recommend taking the rubber off cause it's not easy to hold the tool without that width!

I love how they all have different sizes! That's what a proper tool should be imo hahaha. I use the one on the furthest left the most. The other three is just kept in my tool pile, waiting to be used when needed 😆

I'm a hoarder, but I do believe in keeping at least one of each size - you never know when you'll need them!

Here's the smaller side of the ball tool that I always use! As you can see, other than just poking holes, you can also "draw" lines with it, and the good thing is that it's not as harsh as let's say, using a needle/curved tool to do. Sometimes you just need a smoother/thicker line and this just works better!

Different pressure also affects the imprint that gets on the clay, so it can be a bit tricky if you want it to be consistent.

The bigger sized ball also draw the "faintest" lines because of the surface area and it just feels easier to control imo.

(gif is sped up 2x)

For the bigger tools.....Honestly I still haven't found a good use for them yet 😆 The things I make are usually small so I really don't need them as much. But I guess you can make a bad and uneven bowl from it? HAHAHA.

I'm sure they'll come in handy some time down the road....will update if that happens! 😝

You can purchase this set of tools from here.

I even found one set that includes the previous untreated wooden set, so if you want to have those plus these big ballz to hoard like me *wink*, you can get them here. I think this set is exactly the same ones I have above!

Now theseeeeeee has unexpectedly became one of my favourites. I got them from a pottery store, and promptly replaced them with all my untreated wood set 😆 They have different size, wood feels treated so it feels more comfortable (not to mention pretty hehe), and there's a nice weight that comes with it - not too heavy, but not too light either 👍🏻

The actual tool which is the metal part, didn't tarnish at all even after so long! If you look at the other set they kinda have some sort of tarnish...but they're still usable so I don't really care HAHA. Just extra info 😀

This size of the ball tool is one of the most used side hahaha. It doesn't really draw very good lines in my opinion, just because it has such a small surface area and focused. The lines usually comes out too sharp, and if you see clearly some of the clay actually got "scraped" out 😆

The other side definitely can draw much better lines!

The other one! I use this dotting tool for the eyes for my figurines btw 😉

The bigger end! As you can see the lines are almost nonexistent here hehe.

Here's the texture they made with the tool itself! 😊

The blue rubbery one actually has one that is the same as the wooden one on the right, but I use them anyway because the rubber ball tool has a nice size in between, and since they're different colours it's easy to know which ball tool I'm using haha 😊 No need to waste time looking for the right size!

A close up for better comparison 😊

Unfortunately, since I bought it from a local store that doesn't have an online shop, and I honestly forgotten where it was and the shop name...I have no link for the exact tools.

BUT. I think I actually found it in amazon right here! It has the same treated wood look that I was drawn to and feels better with even though the size of the ball itself is different from what I have, AND it's a set with the big ball tools above!

Another good use of the ball tool (especially the medium sized ones) is that they are quite nice to use to blend clay together as shown in this gif 😊

It does take a bit of practice to make it even, and sometimes I just use my finger to smoothen and flatten it a bit more if needed!

Sometimes this is even better than other blending tools imo because the weight from the ball tool really helps to manipulate the clay and change the part of the clay's shape you want to change easier. Instead of pushing only part of the clay (for smaller metal tools like my curved tool), due to the surface area of the ball tool, it kind of smooth it out instead without distorting too much of both the clay being smoothen out AND the clay that is being blended with!

Another example 😊

Like I said, there WILL be some parts that will be uneven but by this stage, there's nothing a gentle rubbing with your fingers won't do!

You can even use the side to blend, like so!

Metal is just perfect to use for polymer clay, so if you have any other metal tools you see that you think might work for you, I urge you to give it a try 😊 Sometimes you might just find one of the perfect tools you've been looking for this way 😉

Another kind of usage for ball tools would be to use the handle as a mini rolling pin! I've never tried that myself, but I HAVE seen them being used like that and I thought "hey that's quite convenient!"

However, you'll NEED a ball tool with acrylic handle like these one (very common).

I quite dislike this though aesthetic wise HAHAHAHA so I don't use them at all and I don't even know where mine are 😶 But if you don't mind or like the pattern, and would like that extra perk of using it as a mini rolling pin, you can find it here. 😊

Hope this post was helpful, and as usual, let me know if you have any questions that I might have missed out! ❤

BALL TOOLS