Finely detailed canework depends on contrast between the parts of the design, so place light clays next to dark ones. This depends on your personal preferences, but there are a few guidelines that will help when you're making canes. You mix clay simply by conditioning the two kinds together, or by working conditioned clay until it's thoroughly blended. For example, many clayworkers mix Sculpey with Fimo to get a clay that's easier to work than Fimo, but stronger than Sculpey. There's no problem with mixing different brands together, and you may want to do this often to obtain the properties of both clays. If you want to use a weaker clay such as Sculpey for such pieces, first make the base piece from a strong clay, then apply the weaker clay as a veneer over it. However, if you're making objects (such as boxes, picture frames, etc) from clay, or creating buttons or thin pieces that must hold up to handling, you'll want to select a strong clay such as Fimo, Promat, or Cernit. You can also mix different brands of clay to get the level of softness, color, and other qualities you want.įor making beads or covering objects, any of the polymer clay brands will do fine. Some of the clays are available in sample packs that let you try several colors in small amounts. The Polymer Clay Central FAQ includes a comparison of clay brands so does the Grin and Bear It Clay Art page. The best brand for you will depend on what you want to use it for, and also on your personal preferences and how you like to work with with the clay. Amaco also sells glazes, metallic powders, and molds for use with polymer clay. It has a porcelain, waxy finish when fired and is often used for dollmaking because of this quality of the fired clay.Īvailable in packages and as pre-made canes, ready for slicing. This brand is being phased out by Polyform as Premo is introduced.Ĭernit is the strongest of the clays. Promat has a relatively limited selection of colors, including excellent pearlescent colors. Promat differs from Sculpey in being firmer in texture - harder to condition, but less prone to smearing, stronger when fired, and flexible in thin sheets. Promat is made by the same company as Sculpey. There is also a soft formulation of Fimo that comes in a different selection of colors. Fimo has a very beautiful selection of colors, including two transparent clays, six "stone" textured clays, a glow-in-the-dark, and metallics ("perlglantz"). When fired, Fimo has a slightly glossy, "plasticky"-looking surface. Fimo's firmness lets it hold very fine detail in canework smearing is rare. It is the stiffest of the clays and the most difficult to condition. Fimo comes in 58g (about 2 ounces) and 350g (about 12.5 ounces) packages. Premo was developed by the Clay Factory, and earlier versions were known as Clay Factory Clay (CFC).įimo is a widely-available polymer clay and probably the most popular among clay artists, although you may not be able to find all of the colors locally. The colors are drawn from a "painter's palette" of warm and cool blues, yellows, and reds, so those with a background in color theory will find it easier to mix custom colors to their own specifications. This brand is fairly soft and easy to condition, but holds detail in canes well. This replacement for Promat is the newest of the clays. This clay comes in about 30 colors, including translucent, brights, metallics, and fluorescents. The light colors seem to be mixed with white and can be a little dull. The colors are strong and may overwhelm colors in other clays when mixed if you're mixing Sculpey III with another clay brand, start with small amounts of the Sculpey III and watch the color. (You can work around this problem by chilling your Sculpey canes before slicing them.) Sculpey III develops a slightly porous, matte finish after firing, which looks especially good with dark colors, but does not buff to as high a shine as finer-grained clays and is not as strong when fired. Sculpey III is the softest and easiest to condition of the commonly available clays however, it gets softer the more it's worked, and easily smears when used in canes. It comes in about 40 colors in 2-oz packages, and is usually easy to find. Sculpey III is most often used by clay artists.It's stronger and more flexible when fired than original Sculpey, sometimes used for doll-making. Super Sculpey comes only in flesh-tone in 1-lb boxes.It is a soft clay, very brittle and chalky when fired, and is the least expensive of the clays. The original Sculpey comes only in white, in 2-lb boxes.Some of the available brands are: Sculpey Polyform Products Co. There's no one answer to this question each clay brand has its own strengths and weaknesses, and different clay artists have different preferences. Polymer Clay FAQ | Choosing & Mixing Jeanne's World
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