beginner question : differences between some clays
 

Hi, i've used water-based clay for a time but i'm totally new to
sculpting polymer clay (is it the same as 'oil-based clay' ?), and i'd
like to order some to give it a try.
But i'm quite lost between the different qualities available. I'm not
interested (a priori but again, i'm not sure) in sculpey, for i'd like
to do some casting and also it seems to be more expensive than other
polymer clays.
As for "oil-based clays" I've been recommended "roma plastilina" or
"chavant" (which if i understood is the same with less risk of alergy),
but i can't seem to find a resseller (i'm in belgium) and providers i
found were in the US and didn't deliver to Europe.

I've read about Fimo, Premo, kato, but didn't manage to figure what the
differences were with chavant and roma plastilina.

Could somebody point me to some comprehensive ressource (web site,
reference post, or book) for i'm at a loss.

NB : if there are europeans reading, where do you buy yours ? It seems
to me quite an expensive solution to have it sent to Belgium from the US
anyway.

Thanks in advance !

hello! Plastilina never gets hard---if you heat it , it will melt. Its used for
design work and animation. The polymer clays like Sculpey, Sculpeylll, Fimo,
Premo, Modello, Kato Polyclay and Cernit all harden in an oven at less than 300
degrees F. Thes clays range in hardness after baking and cost---here in the
US, Sculpey is the least expensive and also the least firm, and the most
brittle after baking. Different clays are good for different uses, artists have
their favorites. Look it up in the archives at www.polymerclaycentral.com or
www.glassattic.com for more information
Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery
http://www.polyclay.com

Hi, GlassAttic here. My site is pretty big, so the exact pages you'll want to
check out for the differences between clays of all kinds, and between polymer
clay brands and types, are these:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/Characteristics.htm (brands & types of clay)

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/sculpture.htm (clays, techniques,groups,etc.)

Check this page for suppliers of clay outside the U.S.:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/supplysources.htm

As for "casting," polymer clay can be cast in molds made from polymer clay
(removed before baking/curing) or in silicone molds or any other
275-degree-safe molds like those made from metal, etc.
For lots of info on those, take a look on this page:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/molds.htm

If you want to sculpt *large* items, or cast them in molds, you may want to use
one of the other types of clay discussed on the Sculpting page above.
Or you can use something under the clay as an armature (like tightly-wadded
aluminum foil, wire mesh, etc.) to keep from having to use too much clay (the
armature can be removable or not)
Here are some other pages with info on those topics:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/ar...s_mesh_PVC.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/vessels.htm (boxes/bowls)


HTH and good luck,

Diane B.
http://www.glassattic.com ...... polymer clay "encyclopedia"


....if sending me e-mail, DO NOT USE THIS AOL address (or I may never see it!)
Use this address instead:









..

Hey Diane -

Have you ever considered adding google to your site so that folks can search
on keywords?

Barbara

Hey Diane -
Have you ever considered adding google to your site so that folks can search
on keywords?

Hi Barbara,

It's already there g. Near the top of the home page, I list the best ways to
search my whole site. It used to be that using Google's "domain search" (which
is part of their "advanced search") was the best way to do that (and I have a
link to it there, so it's only one click away), but there is one itty bitty
problem with using that for sites like mine g. It is that Google's crawler
can't crawl to the bottom of lo-o-ong web pages and only goes so far. So in
the case of some of my longest pages, that means only about 2/3 of the way down
the pageor even less, and any results returned will only include those parts.

I have recently completed a Table of Contents page though, partially to help
address that problem. It has not only all the 90 category pages, but all the
sub-categories for each of those pages, all together there on one page.
It can just be browsed for likely areas where something is covered, or a ctrl
+ f page search can be used on that page with any search word desired.
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm

HTH,


Diane B.
http://www.glassattic.com ...... polymer clay "encyclopedia"

.........if sending me e-mail, DO NOT USE THIS AOL address (or I may never see
it!) Use this address instead:

Aha - it's kind of buried in the main page and I missed it.
Barb