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Community Week

Polymer clay Brands

hi folks

many people who start working with polymer clay usually do so by taking the brand they have available in a store around the corner.

For me that was Fimo, which is still a regular in my polymer clay box. I have tried several brands, though not all, thats why I borrow (with permission!) from other nice people which are credited in the bottom and in the intro, to give you a full picture. All the product pictures are copyright of the respective brands which I have written permission to use. (And got free samples from Fimo & Pardo just for asking! Thanks so much once more)

Did anyone of you know that Fimos goes back a long time and is probably the first polymer clay? It was originally invented by the famous doll maker Käthe Kruse. When in 1939 the mass didn't turn out to be used the way for doll heads as she wanted, her daughter Sophie dabbled on with it. It took another 15 years until she did perfectioned it that far that it could be sold in shops. 1954 Fimo came into the shops under the name Fimoik, which was a composition of her nickname Fifi and Mosaik (german for mosaic) 10 years later the rights where sold to Eberhard Faber and the recipe was improved and from 1966 sold as Fimo. 1978 Faber was sold to Staedler. The rest is history.

What is Polymer Clay? Polymer clay is nontoxic, man-made modeling clay material that work and feel like ceramic clay, it would not dry out when exposed to the air. The clay can be bake in a regular or toaster oven at a temperature of around 270° F / 130° C (depending on the brand) as compared to ceramic clay which are fired in a kiln at 1500° F. Once baked polymer clay can be sanded, carved, drilled, bufedf and rebaked eg.(when required to replace or duplicate broken parts or features to your clay project).

When the clay is baked at the proper temperature, varying from 230 to 270° F (110° C to 130° C) depending upon the make and color, chemical changes occur and the particles fuse into a solid mass without a lot of shrinking (Usually between 1 and 3%.

With such a wide varieties of clay, as there are available today, there are many option for artists, crafters and kids using it.

Polymer clay can combined with many other materials and accessories to enrich your artwork. You can add cabochons, beads, rhinestones and whatelse. Polymer Clay is your passport to a rich and imaginative world of shapes, textures and colors. You will be a happy and less stressful person and it will help children to develop their fine motor skills and improve hand eye coordination, motivate, and encourage them to live their artistic streak. Creative play with clay build the confident in the kids. It is the most versatile clay art medium, for the professional artists and crafters.

This article is based for a great bit on monsterkookies Battle of the Brands - The Polymer Clay Conundrum which I extended through pictures, colours, links, mixing tables etc. and added brands she didn't have on her list and edits on the brands I do know myself as well as some extras.

Each of the polymer clay brands have their own distinct characteristics, pros, cons, and baking times. These are our findings in point form:

FIMO®

Since 2006 all Fimos are phtalate free

FIMO® Classic

Baking: 230°F / 110°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• The firmest of the clays.

• I bake my Fimo at a little higher temperatures up to 130°C and have very good firm results with it. Very light colours can darken a bit at the higher temperature.

• Difficult to work with, especially for beginners as it is pretty hard. Since they changed the formula in 2008 its easier than before though.

• Needs quite a bit of conditioning, preferably by using a mallet or by using a pasta machine, because if you use your hand they wil start to hurt quite a bit.

• Tends to crumble over time, especially if poorly stored which can be helped a lot by mixing it with Fimos own conditioner Fimo Mix Quick or even Fimo liquid.

• Great for caning and firm enough to sculpt easily, great for fine detail work.

• Certain colours can darken in the oven.

• Very hard after baking.

• Comes in 24 wonderful colours, including pastels the 56g block is divided into 8 portions for exact mixing colours. Colours A pdf table on mixing is availabe on the page of Staedler.

FIMO® Soft

Baking: 230°F / 110°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• I bake my Fimo at a little higher temperatures up to 130°C and have very good firm results with it. Very light colours can darken a bit at the higher temperature.

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Good for beginners.

• Softer than Fimo Classic but not as soft as Sculpey III.

• if brittle because poorly stored it mix with Fimo Mix Quick or even Fimo liquid.

• Does not need any conditioning, and can be worked with right out of the package.

• Can get sticky or mushy when over worked.

• Can be britlte after baking, but not as britlle as Sculpey III.

• Darker colours can bleed into lighter colours.

• Comes in 24 wonderful colours, including pastels the 56g block is divided into 8 portions for exact mixing colours . Colours A pdf table on mixing is availabe on the page of Staedler.

FIMO® Effect

Baking: 230°F / 110°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• I bake my Fimo at a little higher temperatures up to 130°C and have very good firm results with it. Very light colours can darken a bit at the higher temperature.

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Good for beginners.

• Softer than Fimo Classic but a little harder than Fimo soft.

• Does not need any conditioning, and can be worked with right out of the package.

• Can get sticky or mushy when over worked.

• Can be brittle after baking, but not as brittle as Sculpey III.

• Darker colours can bleed into lighter colours.

• Comes in 37 beautiful colours 1 glow in the dark, 7 colours with lots of glitter, 7 Translucent colours, 3 stone colours, 7 metallic colours (mica), 6 pastelcolours and 7 gemstone colours (not all on the picture ruby and others are not listed yet)

• The gemstone colours are translucent when thin and have beautiful mica shift effects

FIMO® Air light

An air drying clay not a polymer clay but can be used for lightweight jewellery and more

• Extremely easy to work with.

• can be easily treated like sanding, carving, painting and even glueing painted drying.

• 97% from natural materials

• ideal for like infants mobile or anything you want to hang somewhere for decoration

• can be microwaved too

• is not sticky at all

• there are other air drying clays from Fimo too like Fimo Air basic(6 colours), Fimo Air papier-mâché and Fimo Air natural (9 colours)

• available in 2 colours or in mixed packages with 6 colours

Pardo

My personal favourite!

Pardo is a top quality clay tested by eminent members of the German Polymer Clay Guild and developed as a result of their observations to get

the best polymer clay... and yep they did hit the goal in my opinion. Unfortunately the most expensive of all the clays. I prefer the Art & Mica Clay a little over the jewellery clay

Pardo ® jewellery clay

• Baking: 240°F / 120°C for 30 mins (per 5mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Has no odor before, during, and after baking because it is made with beeswax

• Pardo translucent clay is one of the best (if not the best) translucent clays available right now,

but it should be baked hotter and longer than given on the package

• quite soft not as soft like Fimo soft. If it gets to soft for you, just put aside for a few minutes and its unlike other clays even without fridge perfectly workable again

• doesn't get sticky

• good for caning

• ease of slicing, the canes don't squish and with refrigeration for 10-15 min. makes it even easier to slice.

• Canes reduce wonderfully and keep clear/crisp colors.

• holds texture superbly

• identical consistence through all colours

• When baked, it is strong and flexible

• some colours get darker and richer through baking

• When baked, the clay is very glossy where it has touched a smooth surface

• sanded it has a satin sheen, buffed wet it gets glossy without being varnished

• The pigment levels are more intense than in many other clays and the colors are a lovely natural range. The metallic effect clays like Tiger eye are just amazing!

• 45 colours including mica effect and gemstone colours, 11 glitter colours, 4 neon colours, 6 marble effect colours, I was told that they also closely align with the Swarovski Crystal bead colors.

Pardo ® Art & Mica clay

• for all facts not listed below look above at Pardo jewllery clay. I only noted differences

• Easy to use more firm than pardo jewelery clays

• ideal for mica shift technique

• Colours get at maximum a little darker when cured!

• perfect for caning

•. Many of the clays have a mica inclusion, which makes useful marble effects for miniature tiles, surfaces and containers, but which won't work for miniature foods.

• 5 mica colours silver, gold, bronze, platin and copper most intense metallic effect of all clays I know.

• 15 colours including translucent

here is a fantastic page for colours as it looks for all pardo Jewellery Mica and Art clay pearly colours: plain colours: glitter & Neon colours: with baked pieces of each colour!

Be aware though that the pictured doesn't do justice to the rich pearl and mica effects! The pendant at the bottom on top of the Mica Clay part is made from Pardo clay,

CERNIT®

In the 1960's a Czech entrepreneur enlisted the help of chemists from the University of Prague to give his doll-making wife, Cerna, the perfect material for her craft. The clay proved to be a success. A decision to commercialise it rapidly followed, and the German market was chosen to first launch "Cernit" as it was aptly named. In 2007, there was a change of ownership to a progressive management that further developed the product in a modern factory in southern Belgium. The company is The Paint and Clay Factory SA.

• Baking: 230°F / 110°C - 275°F / 130°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Cernit is a natural clay mixed with plastic and is known as an oven ceramic

• It is a strong clay when baked, it is a very good clay IMO for durability.

• good for caning

• It's heat sensitive and will get soft and sticky and even floppy if overworked, but the plus on this is, you can get extremely smooth surfaces!

• during baking, it may tend to droop more easily if projecting areas are not supported

• Cernit comes in glorious colors and they do have a porcelain sheen, but it can bake up with a similar sheen and polishes up to look like glass, for those people who are willing to sand.

•All its colors are slightly translucent, which will show up after baking as a somewhat-porcelain effect

•.It's range of flesh colors in larger bars are used by some doll artists because of the beauty of the translucent flesh

•.To make any colour, just add white clay or if using a Cernit white, must use their "Opaque White".

• Cernit behaves very much better when conditioned well, as proper conditioning seems to greatly affect the sheen and translucency

• Cernit is very good for baking between tiles (to create a shiny finish)

• dont bake on low temperatures and long, Thats a no go with Cernit as protruding party may loose its shape when not supported.

• if varnished, Cernit loses some of it´s porceline-ish look

• Cernit-Premo blend holds up much better for me under similar situations

• Their metallic clays do not have as vivid mica shifting as Premo & Kato have, but they still are lovely

• 13 Cernit no. one colours including neon colours, 17 Glamour colours (pearl effect & metallic), 6 transparent (translucent) colours, 6 nature colours Colours

Sculpey® III

Baking: 275°F / 130°C for 15 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Great for beginners.

• The softest clay to work with.

• Does not need any conditioning, and can be worked with right out of the package.

• Can get sticky or mushy when over worked.

• Can be very britle after baking - the weakest of the clays.

• Colours tend to stay the same before and after baking.

• Translucent Sculpey tends to brown while baking.

• White Sculpey is very bright.

• One of the best colour palettes of clay there is. There is metallics, stone, textures, pearls, translucent, glow in the dark, pastels, fluorescents, etc.

• Not very good for caning, but some people HAVE accomplished it.

• comes in 45 colours including Pearl and metallic colours 2nd colour chart

Premo! Sculpey®

Baking: 275°F / 130°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• monsterkookies choice as the best clay to work with. Highly recomended!

• Easy to work with.

• Softer than Fimo Classic or Kato, but not as soft as Fimo Soft or Sculpey III.

• Needs minimal conditioning.

• Premo is very temperature sensitive... this is good for some things, but can be more of a problem in hot rooms, for those with hot hands, so it can be a bit stickier than other clays under some conditions.

• Certain colours can be a little soft, but most are nice and firm.

• One of the strongest clays after baking.

• Colours tend to stay the same before and after baking.

• "Frost" Premo is one of the best translucent clays.

• Has an "artist palette" when it comes to colours. Such as Cadmium Red, Zinc Yellow, etc. Artists find this fantastic, but if you aren't very aquainted with the artists palette, it can be a little difficult to mix colours.

• Not as many "fun colours" compared to other clays.

• It can be very temperature sensitive, so it can get mushy on hot days and really hard to work with in the Winter.

• A great "all purpose" clay, and a total happy medium between all other clays.

• comes in 24 colours, also available in a package with 3 glow in the dark colours + b & w

Premo! Sculpey® Accent

Baking: 275°F / 130°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• the same as • Premo! Sculpey

• Premo! Accents comes in 24 colours: 5 pearlized colours, 6 metallic colours, 6 translucents colours, 2 granite colours and 5 glitter colours and

Sculpey® Amazing Eraser Clay

• Baking at 250 °F / 130 °C for 20 minutes (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Easy to work with

• Very soft clay, ideal for kids

• After curing like a real eraser, can be baked directly on the pencil

• Not as good as a proffessional eraser for artists but fun for kids

• Comes in a box with 7 bright colours

Sculpey® Bake & Bend

• Baking at 250 °F / 130 °C for 20 minutes (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Easy to work with

• Very soft clay, ideal for kids

• Comes in a box with 7 or 10 colours

• My honest opinion? its crap I got that for my kid and it doesnt act like on the package if you bend more it simply breaks, though its more flexible than any other clay.

I did read recently that the formula has changed and that it is a good clay for making pattern sheets and molds. I did read as well, when mixed with Sculpey III, it actually makes the Sculpey III strong.

Super Sculpey® & Super Sculpey® Living Doll

I didn't use that nor did monsterkookies so I took the text from the sculpey page for completeness. If anyone knows more, please help me to write this part according to the others. Thank you

• very unique polymer clay, loved by artists & dollmakers.

• ceramic-like feel,

• can also be mixed with Premo or Sculpey III to change the color.

• it is easy to condition right stays soft until you bake it.

• Super Sculpey features fine tooling and detailing characteristics, and does not “fill in” after tooling.

• can be sanded, drilled carved and painted with water-based acrylic paints.

• Super sculpey is available in a semi-translucent beige that, once baked, captures the glow of real skin.

• Super Sculpey Living Doll is available in 4 colours which easily blend with each other

Sculpey® UltraLight™

no experience taken from webpage, if you used it please let me know so I can edit the text accordingly

• Bake at 275 °F /130 °C for 15 minutes (per 1/4 in / 6 mm thickness)

• UltraLight is lightweight and extremely soft but bakes so hard that it won’t crack or break, even in larger pieces.

• remains flexible when rolled thin, so it is ideal for paper crafts.

• UltraLight can be used as a filler for polymer clay beads, helping to keep jewelry - especially larger pieces - light and comfortable.

•can be sanded, drilled, buffed and painted with acrylic paints.

• it even floats, making it perfect for floating candle holders or bathtub toys.

• Making Christmas ornaments that don’t cause tree branches to sag

• UltraLight is a great replacement for tin foil armatures, offering a smoother base for clay projects to be built around.

Sculpey Mold Maker

no experience taken from webpage, if you used it please let me know so I can edit the text accordingly

• Bake at 275 °F /130 °C for 15 minutes (per 1/4 in / 6 mm thickness)

•Mold Maker is designed to create permanent, flexible push molds in a matter of minutes.

• Ideal for repairing picture frames or sculptures,

• It is soft enough to shape around even the most intricate details and, after baked, can be used with Plaster of Paris, wax or polymer clay.

• Mold Maker also works great as a conditioner and softener for firm clay. Simply pinch off a small piece of Mold Maker and knead it into a handful of clay until thoroughly mixed. Add more Mold Maker until you have the perfect consistency.

• Video tutorial on how to use.

Kato® Polyclay

Baking: 300°F / 150°C for 10 mins (per 1/4" thickness)

• A very firm clay, but not as firm as Fimo Classic.

• Not recommended for beginners.

• Needs conditioning - preferably with a pasta machine.

• All colours share the same consistency and softness

• With continuous kneading and working, Kato Polyclay does not become sticky

• Can become crumbly if poorly packaged.

• Does not stay conditioned (workable) for long.

• Baked Kato Polyclay has a natural sheen.

From uncured to cured, no color shifts more than 1/2 shade, with the majority remaining unchanged. It is virtually "true-color"

• Surface seems to reject waterbased glazes like Varathane.

• Great for caning.

• Not as many "fun colours" compared to other clays.

• "Translucent" Kato Polyclay is very transparent.

• Strong after baking.

• Has a very strong smell during baking. Almost like the smell of "new doll".

• Tends to *gunk* up the sandpaper if you are sanding it.

• Is very good at smoothing and leaves little fingerprints.

• 21 colors available in the Kato Polyclay line. This includes 8 spectral colors, 5 neutral colors, including translucent, 4 metallic colors, and 4 concentrated colors Mixing Chart

Special Clays

Pendant made from Pardo ©Viva Decor

Mica Effect Clays

The shiny property of metallic clays are flat pieces of mica. When you roll the clay through the pasta machine a few times the mica particles all line up the same direction so that the flat surface will be very shiny. However if you cut the sheet you will notice that the cross-section will be a much duller dark colour of gold (not shiny). This property can be used for great effects - canes can be made using the dark and shiny properties to make patterns which can be then sliced into beads or used as veneers etc. For more information on Mica Shift check out Mike Buessler's work and other information available on-line and in books. Fimo Soft, Premo, Sculpey & Kato all have metallic clays which have mica effects. These do not include the glitter clays which are sparkly but don't have the special 3-D & meallic look effects of Mica clays.

Liquid Polymer Clays

Fimo as well as both Kato (Kato Liquid Polyclay) & Sculpey (Translucent Liquid Sculpey) make Liquid Polymer Clay which has a huge variety of uses: Image Transfer, Adhesive (great for adhering baked clay to baked or unbaked clay - then baked again), Coloured as a filler for polymer mosaics or for 3-D effects, a surface covering to protect transfers or fragile images - can be polished to a high shine after baking also. The different brands vary in their translucency - Kato is the most translucent after baking, followed by Fimo and then Liquid Sculpey which is the least translucent.

If anyone has experience with Liquid Clays let me know please I would love to add a little more

Some tips on working with polymer clay:

Translucent clay

If you are working with canes or any project where you might need translucent clay read a very interesting article can be found HERE

Tips on soft polymer clay

A tip for you if your polymer brand is to soft for your purposes (for example caning), maybe because it is just new you can make it firmer by "leaching" it. The reason for the softness is a lot of oily plasticizers. Those you can remove by rolling your clay through a pasta machine on a thin setting 1 or 2 and place it between several clean sheets of paper. For example printing paper or cardbox paper from cereal boxes (inside) and put a (heavy) weight on top (some books) and let it rest for at least 30 minutes or maybe even several hours. Some of the plasticizer will have been absorbed by the paper, and the clay will be a lot stiffer . If you take books put a plastic bag/ sheet inbetween paper and books!! One word of care though leaching doesn't work as good in my experience with Fimo classic.

Another tip for sticky/soft polymer clay is to cool clay when it gets too soft or sticky. Simply put the clay in the refrigerator for a while, doubly so before trying to slice a cane, or when you want to keep certain shapes which are to be assembled into a cane. Cool your hands down under the tab with cold water.

In Conclusion...

What brand you decide to use, is finally up to you. Its your preference, what kind of projects you do..... .

There is no such thing as an swiss army knife that covers all your needs (or as we say in german egg-laying-wool-milk-pork(something that covers

every need) But you can find the brand you like most, or even mix different brands to get your personal best mix.

Play around make different projects lets say 3, a bead, a cane a small figurine with several brands and try out which one works best for which project for you.

Most people say you can't do canes with Fimo soft, yet the only cane I did up to now turned out absolutely fine, so, maybe it can be done if you like it.

Many loved the old formula extremely hard Fimo Classic, I hated using it. Conditioning was a task of ages and hurting hands for me. Thats why I lost interest in polymer clay for a long time.

So the most important thing with polymer clay: get creative & have fun

and if you need tips on polymer clay tools, have a look HERE

And to get you started here are some amazing tutorials:

:thumb388897391:

Have a wonderful day

Fimo Pictures® used with written permission © STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG All rights reserved

Pardo Pictures®: used with written permission of© Viva Decor (site under reconstruction) All rights reserved

Sculpey® and all related brands used with written permission Sculpey © Polyform Products Company All rights reserved

Text Mica & Liquid Clay: Polymer Clay.com.au thanks kindly for your permission to use it

Kato Clay picture © Donna Kato Clay All rights reserved

Cernit Clay picture © The Clay and Paint Factory S.A. All rights reserved

:) (Smile) — Description
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Community Week

Polymer clay Brands

hi folks

many people who start working with polymer clay usually do so by taking the brand they have available in a store around the corner.

For me that was Fimo, which is still a regular in my polymer clay box. I have tried several brands, though not all, thats why I borrow (with permission!) from other nice people which are credited in the bottom and in the intro, to give you a full picture. All the product pictures are copyright of the respective brands which I have written permission to use. (And got free samples from Fimo & Pardo just for asking! Thanks so much once more)

Did anyone of you know that Fimos goes back a long time and is probably the first polymer clay? It was originally invented by the famous doll maker Käthe Kruse. When in 1939 the mass didn't turn out to be used the way for doll heads as she wanted, her daughter Sophie dabbled on with it. It took another 15 years until she did perfectioned it that far that it could be sold in shops. 1954 Fimo came into the shops under the name Fimoik, which was a composition of her nickname Fifi and Mosaik (german for mosaic) 10 years later the rights where sold to Eberhard Faber and the recipe was improved and from 1966 sold as Fimo. 1978 Faber was sold to Staedler. The rest is history.

What is Polymer Clay? Polymer clay is nontoxic, man-made modeling clay material that work and feel like ceramic clay, it would not dry out when exposed to the air. The clay can be bake in a regular or toaster oven at a temperature of around 270° F / 130° C (depending on the brand) as compared to ceramic clay which are fired in a kiln at 1500° F. Once baked polymer clay can be sanded, carved, drilled, bufedf and rebaked eg.(when required to replace or duplicate broken parts or features to your clay project).

When the clay is baked at the proper temperature, varying from 230 to 270° F (110° C to 130° C) depending upon the make and color, chemical changes occur and the particles fuse into a solid mass without a lot of shrinking (Usually between 1 and 3%.

With such a wide varieties of clay, as there are available today, there are many option for artists, crafters and kids using it.

Polymer clay can combined with many other materials and accessories to enrich your artwork. You can add cabochons, beads, rhinestones and whatelse. Polymer Clay is your passport to a rich and imaginative world of shapes, textures and colors. You will be a happy and less stressful person and it will help children to develop their fine motor skills and improve hand eye coordination, motivate, and encourage them to live their artistic streak. Creative play with clay build the confident in the kids. It is the most versatile clay art medium, for the professional artists and crafters.

This article is based for a great bit on monsterkookies Battle of the Brands - The Polymer Clay Conundrum which I extended through pictures, colours, links, mixing tables etc. and added brands she didn't have on her list and edits on the brands I do know myself as well as some extras.

Each of the polymer clay brands have their own distinct characteristics, pros, cons, and baking times. These are our findings in point form:

FIMO®

Since 2006 all Fimos are phtalate free

FIMO® Classic

Baking: 230°F / 110°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• The firmest of the clays.

• I bake my Fimo at a little higher temperatures up to 130°C and have very good firm results with it. Very light colours can darken a bit at the higher temperature.

• Difficult to work with, especially for beginners as it is pretty hard. Since they changed the formula in 2008 its easier than before though.

• Needs quite a bit of conditioning, preferably by using a mallet or by using a pasta machine, because if you use your hand they wil start to hurt quite a bit.

• Tends to crumble over time, especially if poorly stored which can be helped a lot by mixing it with Fimos own conditioner Fimo Mix Quick or even Fimo liquid.

• Great for caning and firm enough to sculpt easily, great for fine detail work.

• Certain colours can darken in the oven.

• Very hard after baking.

• Comes in 24 wonderful colours, including pastels the 56g block is divided into 8 portions for exact mixing colours. Colours A pdf table on mixing is availabe on the page of Staedler.

FIMO® Soft

Baking: 230°F / 110°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• I bake my Fimo at a little higher temperatures up to 130°C and have very good firm results with it. Very light colours can darken a bit at the higher temperature.

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Good for beginners.

• Softer than Fimo Classic but not as soft as Sculpey III.

• if brittle because poorly stored it mix with Fimo Mix Quick or even Fimo liquid.

• Does not need any conditioning, and can be worked with right out of the package.

• Can get sticky or mushy when over worked.

• Can be britlte after baking, but not as britlle as Sculpey III.

• Darker colours can bleed into lighter colours.

• Comes in 24 wonderful colours, including pastels the 56g block is divided into 8 portions for exact mixing colours . Colours A pdf table on mixing is availabe on the page of Staedler.

FIMO® Effect

Baking: 230°F / 110°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• I bake my Fimo at a little higher temperatures up to 130°C and have very good firm results with it. Very light colours can darken a bit at the higher temperature.

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Good for beginners.

• Softer than Fimo Classic but a little harder than Fimo soft.

• Does not need any conditioning, and can be worked with right out of the package.

• Can get sticky or mushy when over worked.

• Can be brittle after baking, but not as brittle as Sculpey III.

• Darker colours can bleed into lighter colours.

• Comes in 37 beautiful colours 1 glow in the dark, 7 colours with lots of glitter, 7 Translucent colours, 3 stone colours, 7 metallic colours (mica), 6 pastelcolours and 7 gemstone colours (not all on the picture ruby and others are not listed yet)

• The gemstone colours are translucent when thin and have beautiful mica shift effects

FIMO® Air light

An air drying clay not a polymer clay but can be used for lightweight jewellery and more

• Extremely easy to work with.

• can be easily treated like sanding, carving, painting and even glueing painted drying.

• 97% from natural materials

• ideal for like infants mobile or anything you want to hang somewhere for decoration

• can be microwaved too

• is not sticky at all

• there are other air drying clays from Fimo too like Fimo Air basic(6 colours), Fimo Air papier-mâché and Fimo Air natural (9 colours)

• available in 2 colours or in mixed packages with 6 colours

Pardo

My personal favourite!

Pardo is a top quality clay tested by eminent members of the German Polymer Clay Guild and developed as a result of their observations to get

the best polymer clay... and yep they did hit the goal in my opinion. Unfortunately the most expensive of all the clays. I prefer the Art & Mica Clay a little over the jewellery clay

Pardo ® jewellery clay

• Baking: 240°F / 120°C for 30 mins (per 5mm thickness) Do not exceed 265°F / 130°C

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Has no odor before, during, and after baking because it is made with beeswax

• Pardo translucent clay is one of the best (if not the best) translucent clays available right now,

but it should be baked hotter and longer than given on the package

• quite soft not as soft like Fimo soft. If it gets to soft for you, just put aside for a few minutes and its unlike other clays even without fridge perfectly workable again

• doesn't get sticky

• good for caning

• ease of slicing, the canes don't squish and with refrigeration for 10-15 min. makes it even easier to slice.

• Canes reduce wonderfully and keep clear/crisp colors.

• holds texture superbly

• identical consistence through all colours

• When baked, it is strong and flexible

• some colours get darker and richer through baking

• When baked, the clay is very glossy where it has touched a smooth surface

• sanded it has a satin sheen, buffed wet it gets glossy without being varnished

• The pigment levels are more intense than in many other clays and the colors are a lovely natural range. The metallic effect clays like Tiger eye are just amazing!

• 45 colours including mica effect and gemstone colours, 11 glitter colours, 4 neon colours, 6 marble effect colours, I was told that they also closely align with the Swarovski Crystal bead colors.

Pardo ® Art & Mica clay

• for all facts not listed below look above at Pardo jewllery clay. I only noted differences

• Easy to use more firm than pardo jewelery clays

• ideal for mica shift technique

• Colours get at maximum a little darker when cured!

• perfect for caning

•. Many of the clays have a mica inclusion, which makes useful marble effects for miniature tiles, surfaces and containers, but which won't work for miniature foods.

• 5 mica colours silver, gold, bronze, platin and copper most intense metallic effect of all clays I know.

• 15 colours including translucent

here is a fantastic page for colours as it looks for all pardo Jewellery Mica and Art clay pearly colours: plain colours: glitter & Neon colours: with baked pieces of each colour!

Be aware though that the pictured doesn't do justice to the rich pearl and mica effects! The pendant at the bottom on top of the Mica Clay part is made from Pardo clay,

CERNIT®

In the 1960's a Czech entrepreneur enlisted the help of chemists from the University of Prague to give his doll-making wife, Cerna, the perfect material for her craft. The clay proved to be a success. A decision to commercialise it rapidly followed, and the German market was chosen to first launch "Cernit" as it was aptly named. In 2007, there was a change of ownership to a progressive management that further developed the product in a modern factory in southern Belgium. The company is The Paint and Clay Factory SA.

• Baking: 230°F / 110°C - 275°F / 130°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Cernit is a natural clay mixed with plastic and is known as an oven ceramic

• It is a strong clay when baked, it is a very good clay IMO for durability.

• good for caning

• It's heat sensitive and will get soft and sticky and even floppy if overworked, but the plus on this is, you can get extremely smooth surfaces!

• during baking, it may tend to droop more easily if projecting areas are not supported

• Cernit comes in glorious colors and they do have a porcelain sheen, but it can bake up with a similar sheen and polishes up to look like glass, for those people who are willing to sand.

•All its colors are slightly translucent, which will show up after baking as a somewhat-porcelain effect

•.It's range of flesh colors in larger bars are used by some doll artists because of the beauty of the translucent flesh

•.To make any colour, just add white clay or if using a Cernit white, must use their "Opaque White".

• Cernit behaves very much better when conditioned well, as proper conditioning seems to greatly affect the sheen and translucency

• Cernit is very good for baking between tiles (to create a shiny finish)

• dont bake on low temperatures and long, Thats a no go with Cernit as protruding party may loose its shape when not supported.

• if varnished, Cernit loses some of it´s porceline-ish look

• Cernit-Premo blend holds up much better for me under similar situations

• Their metallic clays do not have as vivid mica shifting as Premo & Kato have, but they still are lovely

• 13 Cernit no. one colours including neon colours, 17 Glamour colours (pearl effect & metallic), 6 transparent (translucent) colours, 6 nature colours Colours

Sculpey® III

Baking: 275°F / 130°C for 15 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Extremely easy to work with.

• Great for beginners.

• The softest clay to work with.

• Does not need any conditioning, and can be worked with right out of the package.

• Can get sticky or mushy when over worked.

• Can be very britle after baking - the weakest of the clays.

• Colours tend to stay the same before and after baking.

• Translucent Sculpey tends to brown while baking.

• White Sculpey is very bright.

• One of the best colour palettes of clay there is. There is metallics, stone, textures, pearls, translucent, glow in the dark, pastels, fluorescents, etc.

• Not very good for caning, but some people HAVE accomplished it.

• comes in 45 colours including Pearl and metallic colours 2nd colour chart

Premo! Sculpey®

Baking: 275°F / 130°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• monsterkookies choice as the best clay to work with. Highly recomended!

• Easy to work with.

• Softer than Fimo Classic or Kato, but not as soft as Fimo Soft or Sculpey III.

• Needs minimal conditioning.

• Premo is very temperature sensitive... this is good for some things, but can be more of a problem in hot rooms, for those with hot hands, so it can be a bit stickier than other clays under some conditions.

• Certain colours can be a little soft, but most are nice and firm.

• One of the strongest clays after baking.

• Colours tend to stay the same before and after baking.

• "Frost" Premo is one of the best translucent clays.

• Has an "artist palette" when it comes to colours. Such as Cadmium Red, Zinc Yellow, etc. Artists find this fantastic, but if you aren't very aquainted with the artists palette, it can be a little difficult to mix colours.

• Not as many "fun colours" compared to other clays.

• It can be very temperature sensitive, so it can get mushy on hot days and really hard to work with in the Winter.

• A great "all purpose" clay, and a total happy medium between all other clays.

• comes in 24 colours, also available in a package with 3 glow in the dark colours + b & w

Premo! Sculpey® Accent

Baking: 275°F / 130°C for 30 mins (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• the same as • Premo! Sculpey

• Premo! Accents comes in 24 colours: 5 pearlized colours, 6 metallic colours, 6 translucents colours, 2 granite colours and 5 glitter colours and

Sculpey® Amazing Eraser Clay

• Baking at 250 °F / 130 °C for 20 minutes (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Easy to work with

• Very soft clay, ideal for kids

• After curing like a real eraser, can be baked directly on the pencil

• Not as good as a proffessional eraser for artists but fun for kids

• Comes in a box with 7 bright colours

Sculpey® Bake & Bend

• Baking at 250 °F / 130 °C for 20 minutes (per 1/4" / 6 mm thickness)

• Easy to work with

• Very soft clay, ideal for kids

• Comes in a box with 7 or 10 colours

• My honest opinion? its crap I got that for my kid and it doesnt act like on the package if you bend more it simply breaks, though its more flexible than any other clay.

I did read recently that the formula has changed and that it is a good clay for making pattern sheets and molds. I did read as well, when mixed with Sculpey III, it actually makes the Sculpey III strong.

Super Sculpey® & Super Sculpey® Living Doll

I didn't use that nor did monsterkookies so I took the text from the sculpey page for completeness. If anyone knows more, please help me to write this part according to the others. Thank you

• very unique polymer clay, loved by artists & dollmakers.

• ceramic-like feel,

• can also be mixed with Premo or Sculpey III to change the color.

• it is easy to condition right stays soft until you bake it.

• Super Sculpey features fine tooling and detailing characteristics, and does not “fill in” after tooling.

• can be sanded, drilled carved and painted with water-based acrylic paints.

• Super sculpey is available in a semi-translucent beige that, once baked, captures the glow of real skin.

• Super Sculpey Living Doll is available in 4 colours which easily blend with each other

Sculpey® UltraLight™

no experience taken from webpage, if you used it please let me know so I can edit the text accordingly

• Bake at 275 °F /130 °C for 15 minutes (per 1/4 in / 6 mm thickness)

• UltraLight is lightweight and extremely soft but bakes so hard that it won’t crack or break, even in larger pieces.

• remains flexible when rolled thin, so it is ideal for paper crafts.

• UltraLight can be used as a filler for polymer clay beads, helping to keep jewelry - especially larger pieces - light and comfortable.

•can be sanded, drilled, buffed and painted with acrylic paints.

• it even floats, making it perfect for floating candle holders or bathtub toys.

• Making Christmas ornaments that don’t cause tree branches to sag

• UltraLight is a great replacement for tin foil armatures, offering a smoother base for clay projects to be built around.

Sculpey Mold Maker

no experience taken from webpage, if you used it please let me know so I can edit the text accordingly

• Bake at 275 °F /130 °C for 15 minutes (per 1/4 in / 6 mm thickness)

•Mold Maker is designed to create permanent, flexible push molds in a matter of minutes.

• Ideal for repairing picture frames or sculptures,

• It is soft enough to shape around even the most intricate details and, after baked, can be used with Plaster of Paris, wax or polymer clay.

• Mold Maker also works great as a conditioner and softener for firm clay. Simply pinch off a small piece of Mold Maker and knead it into a handful of clay until thoroughly mixed. Add more Mold Maker until you have the perfect consistency.

• Video tutorial on how to use.

Kato® Polyclay

Baking: 300°F / 150°C for 10 mins (per 1/4" thickness)

• A very firm clay, but not as firm as Fimo Classic.

• Not recommended for beginners.

• Needs conditioning - preferably with a pasta machine.

• All colours share the same consistency and softness

• With continuous kneading and working, Kato Polyclay does not become sticky

• Can become crumbly if poorly packaged.

• Does not stay conditioned (workable) for long.

• Baked Kato Polyclay has a natural sheen.

From uncured to cured, no color shifts more than 1/2 shade, with the majority remaining unchanged. It is virtually "true-color"

• Surface seems to reject waterbased glazes like Varathane.

• Great for caning.

• Not as many "fun colours" compared to other clays.

• "Translucent" Kato Polyclay is very transparent.

• Strong after baking.

• Has a very strong smell during baking. Almost like the smell of "new doll".

• Tends to *gunk* up the sandpaper if you are sanding it.

• Is very good at smoothing and leaves little fingerprints.

• 21 colors available in the Kato Polyclay line. This includes 8 spectral colors, 5 neutral colors, including translucent, 4 metallic colors, and 4 concentrated colors Mixing Chart

Special Clays

Pendant made from Pardo ©Viva Decor

Mica Effect Clays

The shiny property of metallic clays are flat pieces of mica. When you roll the clay through the pasta machine a few times the mica particles all line up the same direction so that the flat surface will be very shiny. However if you cut the sheet you will notice that the cross-section will be a much duller dark colour of gold (not shiny). This property can be used for great effects - canes can be made using the dark and shiny properties to make patterns which can be then sliced into beads or used as veneers etc. For more information on Mica Shift check out Mike Buessler's work and other information available on-line and in books. Fimo Soft, Premo, Sculpey & Kato all have metallic clays which have mica effects. These do not include the glitter clays which are sparkly but don't have the special 3-D & meallic look effects of Mica clays.

Liquid Polymer Clays

Fimo as well as both Kato (Kato Liquid Polyclay) & Sculpey (Translucent Liquid Sculpey) make Liquid Polymer Clay which has a huge variety of uses: Image Transfer, Adhesive (great for adhering baked clay to baked or unbaked clay - then baked again), Coloured as a filler for polymer mosaics or for 3-D effects, a surface covering to protect transfers or fragile images - can be polished to a high shine after baking also. The different brands vary in their translucency - Kato is the most translucent after baking, followed by Fimo and then Liquid Sculpey which is the least translucent.

If anyone has experience with Liquid Clays let me know please I would love to add a little more

Some tips on working with polymer clay:

Translucent clay

If you are working with canes or any project where you might need translucent clay read a very interesting article can be found HERE

Tips on soft polymer clay

A tip for you if your polymer brand is to soft for your purposes (for example caning), maybe because it is just new you can make it firmer by "leaching" it. The reason for the softness is a lot of oily plasticizers. Those you can remove by rolling your clay through a pasta machine on a thin setting 1 or 2 and place it between several clean sheets of paper. For example printing paper or cardbox paper from cereal boxes (inside) and put a (heavy) weight on top (some books) and let it rest for at least 30 minutes or maybe even several hours. Some of the plasticizer will have been absorbed by the paper, and the clay will be a lot stiffer . If you take books put a plastic bag/ sheet inbetween paper and books!! One word of care though leaching doesn't work as good in my experience with Fimo classic.

Another tip for sticky/soft polymer clay is to cool clay when it gets too soft or sticky. Simply put the clay in the refrigerator for a while, doubly so before trying to slice a cane, or when you want to keep certain shapes which are to be assembled into a cane. Cool your hands down under the tab with cold water.

In Conclusion...

What brand you decide to use, is finally up to you. Its your preference, what kind of projects you do..... .

There is no such thing as an swiss army knife that covers all your needs (or as we say in german egg-laying-wool-milk-pork(something that covers

every need) But you can find the brand you like most, or even mix different brands to get your personal best mix.

Play around make different projects lets say 3, a bead, a cane a small figurine with several brands and try out which one works best for which project for you.

Most people say you can't do canes with Fimo soft, yet the only cane I did up to now turned out absolutely fine, so, maybe it can be done if you like it.

Many loved the old formula extremely hard Fimo Classic, I hated using it. Conditioning was a task of ages and hurting hands for me. Thats why I lost interest in polymer clay for a long time.

So the most important thing with polymer clay: get creative & have fun

and if you need tips on polymer clay tools, have a look HERE

And to get you started here are some amazing tutorials:

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Have a wonderful day

Fimo Pictures® used with written permission © STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG All rights reserved

Pardo Pictures®: used with written permission of© Viva Decor (site under reconstruction) All rights reserved

Sculpey® and all related brands used with written permission Sculpey © Polyform Products Company All rights reserved

Text Mica & Liquid Clay: Polymer Clay.com.au thanks kindly for your permission to use it

Kato Clay picture © Donna Kato Clay All rights reserved

Cernit Clay picture © The Clay and Paint Factory S.A. All rights reserved