Cernit Varnish Glossy 30ml

$5.59

SKU:: 00413381

Reviews (1)

Cernit Varnish is a water-based sealer for polymer clay, made in Belgium by The Clay and Paint Factory. Being water-based it cleans up with water, has little smell, and is safe over alcohol ink — solvent varnishes and dimensional glazes dissolve alcohol ink and make it run, so this is the type to reach for if you have colored a piece with Cernit Alcohol Ink.

It also means the varnish ships by air, unlike the inks themselves, which are restricted to ground carriers.

On the gloss finish: gloss sealers are more particular about what they are painted onto than matte ones, and this is no exception — on some clays it goes on evenly and on others it can bead or cloud. Test it on a scrap of the clay you are actually using before you varnish a finished piece.

Test first, always. Every polymer clay sealer behaves differently on different clay brands, and a varnish that is perfect on one can stay tacky or bead up on another. Bake a scrap of the clay you are working in, varnish that, and leave it a few days before committing a finished piece.

Supplied as a 30ml bottle — enough to seal a good number of small pieces, and the sensible size for trying it on your clay first.

Ginger Davis Allman put 41 sealers through the same tests in Testing 41 Polymer Clay Sealers at The Blue Bottle Tree, brand by brand. Her Understanding Polymer Clay Glazes, Sealers, and Varnishes is the place to start if you are not sure whether you need to seal at all.

Cernit reference: CE3050030003C
Finish: Glossy
Size: 30ml bottle
Base: Water-based

Reviews

Reviews (1)

Lisa Jan 8th 2026

Glossy finish without paintbrush lines

I've just spent the week varnishing hundreds of pairs of earrings as I'm moving away from the toxic resin and the extra weight. I'm very satisfied with the results. I can see a few spotty blemishes in the final results, but I was not expecting a resin like result. They varnish dries in an hour and can have as many layers as you'd like. I did two and three on some. Then I followed the instruction of baking for 15 minutes at 239 F and letting rest for 48 hours. The finish is hard enough to be durable, but soft enough that I can still hand drill through the clay and varnish. The clay is still bendable, unlike with resin. Also, unlike some varnishes, once dried and cured completely, it does NOT stick to itself, so you can still store your finished pieces in the same container and not worry about the items sticking together. TLDR: Very good and easy to use. Just follow instructions.