I've made a great many small sculptures and decorations from polymer clay (mostly the Sculpy products) and have not had any problems painting them with acyrilics. You have to cure the item first, then paint it. Are you trying to paint the uncured piece?
That won't work....
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.