craftgrrl | Sculpey / Acrylic Water Concerns

I have a little dilemma, and I'm hoping that someone around here has had experience dealing with something similar, and might be able to suggest what I should do with this project.

It all started a number of months ago. I wanted to make something special for my grandfather. I pictured a fish, hooked, in a bowl. I figured I could make the fish from polymer clay, put it in a large vase bowl, and use some of the acrylic water I have seen in craft stores.

My major concern was the color bleeding if I used water based acrylic paints on the fish, then used the acrylic water. I tested a small piece and it seemed to work fine. So I went ahead and put everything together in the bowl.

The acrylic water I used is called Everlasting Elegance. I had to use one whole box, and then some. The problem is, the stuff has to be mixed together in portions, and obviously has to be mixed together very precisely or else you won't get the desired results.

Well, I didn't get the desired results:

The surface of the stuff remained tacky after I finished. I figured it needed some time to sit, so I gave it time. It is still tacky, and it's been well over a month. I've kept it covered with newspaper just to keep dust off of it. Otherwise though, it should have dried.

The test runs I did set fine. Now I am unsure what I should do. I worked really hard to sculpt the fish. Should I try adding in more of the Everlasting Elegance acrylic water, with more parts of the hardening solution? It suggested somewhere in the directions that you might have to do so to make it firmer in certain areas of the country.

I just don't want to ruin it any more than it has already been ruined. If I have to, I'll try taking the fish out. I just can't tell how far down the tackiness goes.

The other concern I have about adding more of the acrylic water, is that when it sets and dries, it will leave a line between the new and old layer. So I thought perhaps I could just pour in enough to lightly coat the surface and hope with enough of the hardener solution it will set and work right this time.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Also, I'm looking for some good sculpey sites that show how to work certain textures into the clay. Specifically for doing fur and feather textures with animals. The more realistic, the better.