Clay, clay, CLAY!
I’ve used a number of different clays with the things I’ve been making, and thought it would be a good idea to explain why I use which clay for what and why, and my thoughts on its good points and bad points and some general tips and tricks I picked up along the way. It’s not going to be a very extensive review, and I’ve included a mention about some clays I’m interested in using, but here it goes:
Polymer clay:
Fimo
I only used Fimo for a little while at the beginning, and it was with a small block of white transparent Fimo. I used it for making the charms, and you would generally bake it for 30 minutes at 130ºC, depending on the thickness of your work.
GOOD: When baked properly, it’s a very durable clay, and hardens to rock-hardness. When you work it at the beginning, it softens to a good malleable and smooth consistency, and can be easily shaped into whatever you want it to be. It takes on impressions well, and you can make your work very detailed with it, and you can mix colours. It’s best used to make charms, figurines, beads and canes. It can be sanded, drilled, carved and painted with acrylics. Does not dry out, it can be left on the work table for ages and it’ll still be fine.
BAD: Before you work it, it’s quite crumbly, so I had bits and pieces falling off, which I had to mop up with what I had on hand. So that was a tad annoying at the beginning, but of course, once you warm it up and etc, it’s not crumbly. The baking time for it was a bit too long for my liking, being the impatient person that I am, it’s just a personal dislike on my part. It’s also a bit more expensive compared to Sculpey, and I’ve only found a small amount of it in two shops so far (Jackson’s and Riot) and they only come in those little blocks, not those lovely half kilo blocks that Sculpey comes in. Gets a bit sticky in hot weather, and would need to be stuck into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up. It will also bake a bit if you leave it too long in a hot car, for example. So store it in a cool dry place.
Sculpey
I have used this a lot more, especially Super Sculpey and mainly for charms and some figurines. You bake it at 130 ºC for 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of course) and Super Sculpey only comes in semi-transparent flesh colour. I also have SculpeyIII, and that comes in lots of colours and little 90g blocks.
GOOD: Also very durable, hardens to a rock. Pretty easy to condition to a soft consistency, and takes on details very well. Super Sculpey can be coloured with SculpeyIII, although I have yet to try that out to see how much it would need to colour it. And of course the SculpeyIII can be mixed with itself to make different colours. It comes in a nice half kilo package, and cheaper compared to Fimo. It can be sanded, drilled, carved and painted with acrylics. Can be bought at Spotlight, and they have a huge range there. Does not dry out at all if you accidentally leave it out in the open air. Good to use to make charms, figurines, beads and canes.
BAD: The big block only comes in that flesh-toned colour, and it also becomes a bit sticky in hot weather, and would need to be stuck in the freezer for a bit to firm it up. And it may bake if left is a hot place, so make sure to store it properly.
Air Dry Clay:
Fuwa
This came in the mould kits that I bought, and it comes in refillable packs. And so far I’ve used it to make some charms, and I also got the Fuwa whipped cream for the icing for the cupcakes as well. And it will set dry in 24 hours, so no baking needed.
GOOD: Comes in pink, blue, green, yellow, white, brown, caramel, chocolate brown, and glittery versions of those colours. The colour is very appealing, and you can mix them to make different colours. It is very soft to handle, and it is a very light material. It can be softened even more with water, and can even be reduced to a liquid-like consistency if needed. For the Fuwa clay and whipped cream, it comes in green, blue, pink, yellow and white. It does not shrink in size when it dries, which is a very good thing. The Fuwa whipped cream is very versatile to work with, holds piped peaks very well and won’t flop over, and consistency can be altered with water if needed. It can be cut, painted with acrylics or coloured with acrylics and more Fuwa can be added to an already dried model. I use if for icing, magnets, and figurines.
BAD: It’s not very durable at all, since it’s quite foam-like when it is dried and can be easily crushed or broken, not good for making charms. It will dry if left out in the open, and when models are dried, it’s not waterproof. It will absorb water if it is splashed. If it is needed to be waterproof, it can be glazed quite easily. I also found with the icing one, that sometimes when it dries, it will dry with cracks, but that can be easily repaired with some more of it - although I suspect the cracks occurred because I didn't mix the water in properly, or allowed more time for the water to be absorbed in before piping. It attracts dust a bit, but can be easily cleaned by brushing it away. It’s more expensive to the Paper Magiclay one, and comes in small blocks, with only white coming in the bulk ones unfortunately - and can only be bought online, there is none readily available in shops here.
Crayola
It came in a big 1kg tub, and it comes in white, and brown. It needs to dry for 24 hours to set, so again, no baking needed.
GOOD: Cheaper than the Fuwa, but is not a paper air dry clay, it’s just air dry clay, and comes in a bulk tub which helps a lot and can be bought at Spotlight. It’s good to handle, firm consistency, and can take details well. It’s a heavy material, and good to use for figurines and models and it dries to the texture that you would usually find with the clay that needs to be fired in a kiln, so its dry and hard to the touch, but a bit fragile. It can be painted and glazed, and won’t absorb water as easily as Fuwa when it is set. It can be sanded and carved, and it can be coloured with acrylics, so you can have coloured clay and don’t need to paint it. And it can be added to an already dried model, so you can alter your model even if it’s already dried.
BAD: It will shatter if you throw it onto the ground. It’s too heavy to use to make magnets, unless a small amount was used. It has to be smoothed and softened with water, as it doesn’t make smooth surfaces very well on its own. It will dry out if not covered or stored properly. It can’t be drilled, as it will crack far too easily if you try doing that, and as you work it, it does leave a chalky residue on your hands which I absolutely hate at times, since after a while, you just got to wash your hands. You can’t condition it too much before it starts to dry, so water is always needed to help. When it dries it shrinks in size, it will be approximately one fifth smaller than when it first started out, and it’s noticeable when you compare.
Paper Magiclay
Something I bought a while ago and have yet to try out. It only comes in the little packs of 50g, and it’s a bit cheaper than Fuwa, but I would have to colour it myself. I will update this when I get the chance to use this one. :D
Hearty Clay
I’ve been reading about this air-dry clay and I’m curious as to what it’s like. Insofar, I have yet to even buy it to try it, but it seems worthwhile to take a look at. As far as I know, it comes in a large range of colours, and they come in little 50g packs also, and it’s way cheaper than Fuwa, since a 25g of Fuwa would be the same price as a 50g Hearty.
Resin Clay:
I have used resin clay before in some packs I bought and tried out, but they were terrible and I'm not sure if they were proper ones, so I want to try out these resin clays that I've read about and interested in buying and trying in the future, :D These are the air-dry types, and of course when I do get around to using them and trying them out, I shall update!
Cosmos
These come in packs of 200g, and only in white as far as I can tell.
Grace
These also comes in packs of 200g, but is cheaper than Grace, and comes in a few colours.
Sukerukun
Also comes in 200g packs, more expensive than Grace, and dries to a transparent white.
And just for fun, some pictures of how my things are being stored at the moment:
A stack of storage boxes, that are currently chock full of magnets, charms (the missing tray is the charms actually), and cupcake memo stands. And next to it, an almost equally high pile of fleece on the far right.
And here is the tray full of charms. It so did not look all organised as this, all in it's individual bags and labelled and put into columns. Geh, I had to make do with them in labelled plastic bags which were a bit hellish to go through when a customer wanted to buy something! But it's far better now, and next year would be better!
And finally, biiiig plastic bags filled with plushy/fleece hats and pricing supplies. Fun. Reminds me that I still need to sort and fix them, geh geh geh - oh, and stick clothing labels onto them too - maybe.
^_^
Polymer clay:
Fimo
I only used Fimo for a little while at the beginning, and it was with a small block of white transparent Fimo. I used it for making the charms, and you would generally bake it for 30 minutes at 130ºC, depending on the thickness of your work.
GOOD: When baked properly, it’s a very durable clay, and hardens to rock-hardness. When you work it at the beginning, it softens to a good malleable and smooth consistency, and can be easily shaped into whatever you want it to be. It takes on impressions well, and you can make your work very detailed with it, and you can mix colours. It’s best used to make charms, figurines, beads and canes. It can be sanded, drilled, carved and painted with acrylics. Does not dry out, it can be left on the work table for ages and it’ll still be fine.
BAD: Before you work it, it’s quite crumbly, so I had bits and pieces falling off, which I had to mop up with what I had on hand. So that was a tad annoying at the beginning, but of course, once you warm it up and etc, it’s not crumbly. The baking time for it was a bit too long for my liking, being the impatient person that I am, it’s just a personal dislike on my part. It’s also a bit more expensive compared to Sculpey, and I’ve only found a small amount of it in two shops so far (Jackson’s and Riot) and they only come in those little blocks, not those lovely half kilo blocks that Sculpey comes in. Gets a bit sticky in hot weather, and would need to be stuck into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up. It will also bake a bit if you leave it too long in a hot car, for example. So store it in a cool dry place.
Sculpey
I have used this a lot more, especially Super Sculpey and mainly for charms and some figurines. You bake it at 130 ºC for 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of course) and Super Sculpey only comes in semi-transparent flesh colour. I also have SculpeyIII, and that comes in lots of colours and little 90g blocks.
GOOD: Also very durable, hardens to a rock. Pretty easy to condition to a soft consistency, and takes on details very well. Super Sculpey can be coloured with SculpeyIII, although I have yet to try that out to see how much it would need to colour it. And of course the SculpeyIII can be mixed with itself to make different colours. It comes in a nice half kilo package, and cheaper compared to Fimo. It can be sanded, drilled, carved and painted with acrylics. Can be bought at Spotlight, and they have a huge range there. Does not dry out at all if you accidentally leave it out in the open air. Good to use to make charms, figurines, beads and canes.
BAD: The big block only comes in that flesh-toned colour, and it also becomes a bit sticky in hot weather, and would need to be stuck in the freezer for a bit to firm it up. And it may bake if left is a hot place, so make sure to store it properly.
Air Dry Clay:
Fuwa
This came in the mould kits that I bought, and it comes in refillable packs. And so far I’ve used it to make some charms, and I also got the Fuwa whipped cream for the icing for the cupcakes as well. And it will set dry in 24 hours, so no baking needed.
GOOD: Comes in pink, blue, green, yellow, white, brown, caramel, chocolate brown, and glittery versions of those colours. The colour is very appealing, and you can mix them to make different colours. It is very soft to handle, and it is a very light material. It can be softened even more with water, and can even be reduced to a liquid-like consistency if needed. For the Fuwa clay and whipped cream, it comes in green, blue, pink, yellow and white. It does not shrink in size when it dries, which is a very good thing. The Fuwa whipped cream is very versatile to work with, holds piped peaks very well and won’t flop over, and consistency can be altered with water if needed. It can be cut, painted with acrylics or coloured with acrylics and more Fuwa can be added to an already dried model. I use if for icing, magnets, and figurines.
BAD: It’s not very durable at all, since it’s quite foam-like when it is dried and can be easily crushed or broken, not good for making charms. It will dry if left out in the open, and when models are dried, it’s not waterproof. It will absorb water if it is splashed. If it is needed to be waterproof, it can be glazed quite easily. I also found with the icing one, that sometimes when it dries, it will dry with cracks, but that can be easily repaired with some more of it - although I suspect the cracks occurred because I didn't mix the water in properly, or allowed more time for the water to be absorbed in before piping. It attracts dust a bit, but can be easily cleaned by brushing it away. It’s more expensive to the Paper Magiclay one, and comes in small blocks, with only white coming in the bulk ones unfortunately - and can only be bought online, there is none readily available in shops here.
Crayola
It came in a big 1kg tub, and it comes in white, and brown. It needs to dry for 24 hours to set, so again, no baking needed.
GOOD: Cheaper than the Fuwa, but is not a paper air dry clay, it’s just air dry clay, and comes in a bulk tub which helps a lot and can be bought at Spotlight. It’s good to handle, firm consistency, and can take details well. It’s a heavy material, and good to use for figurines and models and it dries to the texture that you would usually find with the clay that needs to be fired in a kiln, so its dry and hard to the touch, but a bit fragile. It can be painted and glazed, and won’t absorb water as easily as Fuwa when it is set. It can be sanded and carved, and it can be coloured with acrylics, so you can have coloured clay and don’t need to paint it. And it can be added to an already dried model, so you can alter your model even if it’s already dried.
BAD: It will shatter if you throw it onto the ground. It’s too heavy to use to make magnets, unless a small amount was used. It has to be smoothed and softened with water, as it doesn’t make smooth surfaces very well on its own. It will dry out if not covered or stored properly. It can’t be drilled, as it will crack far too easily if you try doing that, and as you work it, it does leave a chalky residue on your hands which I absolutely hate at times, since after a while, you just got to wash your hands. You can’t condition it too much before it starts to dry, so water is always needed to help. When it dries it shrinks in size, it will be approximately one fifth smaller than when it first started out, and it’s noticeable when you compare.
Paper Magiclay
Something I bought a while ago and have yet to try out. It only comes in the little packs of 50g, and it’s a bit cheaper than Fuwa, but I would have to colour it myself. I will update this when I get the chance to use this one. :D
Hearty Clay
I’ve been reading about this air-dry clay and I’m curious as to what it’s like. Insofar, I have yet to even buy it to try it, but it seems worthwhile to take a look at. As far as I know, it comes in a large range of colours, and they come in little 50g packs also, and it’s way cheaper than Fuwa, since a 25g of Fuwa would be the same price as a 50g Hearty.
Resin Clay:
I have used resin clay before in some packs I bought and tried out, but they were terrible and I'm not sure if they were proper ones, so I want to try out these resin clays that I've read about and interested in buying and trying in the future, :D These are the air-dry types, and of course when I do get around to using them and trying them out, I shall update!
Cosmos
These come in packs of 200g, and only in white as far as I can tell.
Grace
These also comes in packs of 200g, but is cheaper than Grace, and comes in a few colours.
Sukerukun
Also comes in 200g packs, more expensive than Grace, and dries to a transparent white.
And just for fun, some pictures of how my things are being stored at the moment:
A stack of storage boxes, that are currently chock full of magnets, charms (the missing tray is the charms actually), and cupcake memo stands. And next to it, an almost equally high pile of fleece on the far right.
And here is the tray full of charms. It so did not look all organised as this, all in it's individual bags and labelled and put into columns. Geh, I had to make do with them in labelled plastic bags which were a bit hellish to go through when a customer wanted to buy something! But it's far better now, and next year would be better!
And finally, biiiig plastic bags filled with plushy/fleece hats and pricing supplies. Fun. Reminds me that I still need to sort and fix them, geh geh geh - oh, and stick clothing labels onto them too - maybe.
^_^