Brands of Polymer Clay

Today I thought I would talk briefly about some of the different brands of polymer clay that are available. I know there are brands that I am not going to mention here and that is because I haven't used them I am only going to talk to you about the ones I use and therefore feel that I can give you my opinion. Remember articles like this are just that my opinion. Once you work with some of the clays you may prefer ones I don't care for, that is beauty of having different brands available.

One of my favorite brands and the one I tend to turn to the most is Fimo. For many years it was the only brand I even used because I liked it that much. Over time and as I am making different items I am also using more brands of clay. Traditionally, Fimo tends to be a bit more firm out of the package than the other brands. The newer formulas of Fimo are more soft than the older formulas though. One advantage to a firmer clay is that you can get much more detail in your work. This was especially important to me for all the years I have been making dollhouse miniature foods. Those items are much smaller than what we will be making in the projects on this blog though. I find that Fimo tends to not leach off color quit as badly as some of the other brands. It also bakes up to nice durable product . The colors blend nicely and for the most stay true when baked. In some stores I find that the price for Fimo is a bit higher than the other brands.

Sculpey III, is a brand that up until a few years ago I stayed away from. Mostly because it tends to be very soft out of the package. That does make it easier to work with and it requires less work to get it ready to use but, it also means it doesn't tend to hold the finer details very well. This being said one of the best polymer clay artisans in the Dollhouse food world always used Sculpey III and her work was breathtakingly beautiful and full of detail. She though came to the world of polymer clay via the world of ceramics and was more used to working with softer clays. Another issue I have with Sculpey III is that it leaches color much more than the other brands I have tried. This means that when you work with a color of clay you end up with a lot more of that color on your hands and everything else that may have touched the clay. As long as you are very careful about cleaning between colors this should not be too big of an issue. Also I find that the items made with Sculpey III are a bit more brittle/ fragile when baked. This can be remedied by mixing in another stronger brand of clay. This product seems to be also marketed to younger users and beginners.

Premo is made by the same company that makes Sculpey III but it is considered to be a more high end clay. It is aimed more at the polymer clay artist and it has a lot of the same properties as Fimo but it seems to be easier to work with. Premo seems to be about the same texture/ firmness out of the package as Fimo also but it works up a bit faster. It is also bakes up with a bit more give to it, meaning it is not nearly as brittle as Sculpey III as a finished product.

The same company also makes a new clay that they are calling Sculpey Souffle. I have only played with this one a few times and really haven't had time to develop much of an opinion about it.

Another brand I have tried is Cernit. This one is all but impossible for me to find in stores so I have only purchased a couple of packages. Overall I found it very soft and really didn't enjoy it that much. The one clay in this line that did impress me was the translucent and that one I really liked. When we get to projects that require the translucent I will probably talk more about that.

One brand that I really recommend that the beginner stay away from is Kato clay. This one is really meant for the serious polymer clay artist. I have several packages but I haven't worked with it enough to really get a feel for it. Also since it bakes at a very different temperature I would never mix it with the other brands.

I know that there are other brands out there. Some of the craft stores have their own “house” brands and I tend to stay away from those. I am concerned about quality and since the name brands come on sale just as cheaply I feel it is better to stick with those. The store brands might be fine I just choose to use brands I know I can trust. There are also some brands that are available in other areas that I can’t readily get where I live. I tend to buy in person rather than having clay shipped. I like to be able to pick the packages I want. I like to be able to squeeze then to make sure they are not too hard from improper storage. I also like to see the color of the raw clay in person.

Now I have mentioned mixing brands of clay. Yes, you can mix most brands. If the cooking temperatures of the different ones vary go by whatever is the lower temperature.

There is one more brand I do use regularly in my clay work and that is Original Sculpey. This clay only comes in an off white color, tends to be very soft and only comes in larger bricks that the small blocks of the nicer clays. However, because of the larger package it tends to be cheaper per ounce. I use it when I am making large items- often I will then cover the outside with “nicer” clay. The place I use this the most though is to make up blanks that I then use to make molds with so I can reproduce many items and have them all be the same. More on that process in a much later tutorial.