recommendations for PC brand

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking for a few months, but this is my first post. I've been
experimenting with polymer clay but the only 2 types available in my
city are Sculpey III and Fimo Classic. I haven't tried Fimo yet because
a friend of mine said it's pretty tough to condition and she ended up
with bruised hands. So I'm stuck with Sculpey III, which as you all know
has its limitations with respect to red bleeding into white, white &
translucent turning yellow/brown, excessive air bubbles, stickiness, and
the dull colour and fragile nature once baked. The 3 main things I make
with polymer clay are pens (Bic round stic), glass covered candle
holders, and keychains. I also use TLS with my candle holders, and it
chips/cracks very easily.

What clay besides Sculpey III would be best for me to try? I already
have an extensive supply of Sculpey III so starting over again is a
frightening, not to mention expensive decision. There is a Michael's
Crafts opening here within the next month or so, but I think they only
carry Sculpey III according to their website. So it looks like I will
also have to consider shipping costs, which would be high, seeing that
I'm in Newfoundland, Canada. I was considering Premo and Kato Polyclay,
but neither are available locally. Also I believe there is a clay made
by Cernit or something...

Advice?

sugarface

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 11:21:03 -0230, Sugarface
wrote:

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking for a few months, but this is my first post. I've been
experimenting with polymer clay but the only 2 types available in my
city are Sculpey III and Fimo Classic. I haven't tried Fimo yet because
a friend of mine said it's pretty tough to condition and she ended up
with bruised hands.

Fimo's formulas changed since when came out with Classic and Soft.
Classic isn't /quite/ as rock-hard as it used to be. You might want to
try buying a block of Fimo just to try it.

So I'm stuck with Sculpey III, which as you all know
has its limitations with respect to red bleeding into white, white &
translucent turning yellow/brown, excessive air bubbles, stickiness, and
the dull colour and fragile nature once baked. The 3 main things I make
with polymer clay are pens (Bic round stic), glass covered candle
holders, and keychains. I also use TLS with my candle holders, and it
chips/cracks very easily.

Sculpey III is known for being brittle, but colors other than white
and translucent shouldn't become dull when baked. You should get an
oven thermometer and see if your oven is the right temperature. If
you're talking about it being matte and not glossy like Fimo tends to
be, you should try sandpaper buffing or varnishing it. I don't know
much about TLS, though, none of what I do incorporates it. You are
correct that it is too weak for what you are doing, you should try a
block or two of Fimo just to see. Pre-warm it before trying to knead
it.


What clay besides Sculpey III would be best for me to try? I already
have an extensive supply of Sculpey III so starting over again is a
frightening, not to mention expensive decision.

Rather than getting rid of it, leech it by rolling it flat and placing
it between pieces of typing paper, then wax paper, and place under a
heavy book. If you'd rather switch, maybe someone in your area might
want to buy it off of you. Or use the Sculpey III for beads and buy
something else for the items that need more strength.

There is a Michael's
Crafts opening here within the next month or so, but I think they only
carry Sculpey III according to their website. So it looks like I will
also have to consider shipping costs, which would be high, seeing that
I'm in Newfoundland, Canada. I was considering Premo and Kato Polyclay,
but neither are available locally. Also I believe there is a clay made
by Cernit or something...

All three Michaels I've been to carry Sculpey III, Premo, Fimo
Classic, Fimo Soft, and Eraser Clay. I have not seen Elasticlay.

I only buy Premo these days, though I too have an extensive amount of
Sculpey III to get rid of. If anyone in the Treasure Coast area of
South Florida is interested in buying it...


Advice?

sugarface

Hi and welcome

When I started experimenting with clay a couple of years ago, I tried
Fimo. Didn't like it because it was too hard to work. I had heard
about using a food processor to chop it up into smaller bits...then I
had the hassle of cleaning the food processor

Later, I tried Sculpey III and it was *much* easier, and as I got more
involved in clay work I decided to try other brands to find what I liked
best. Now I used Premo exclusively. It's easier to work right out of
the package, bakes "sturdier" than Sculpey, seems to take
sanding/buffing better, and the beads have a better heft to them than I
found with Sculpey. I also tried Kato clay, but had a bad reaction to
the odor.

I only make beads, though, so another brand may be better for other
applications.

Cheers,
Carla

Sugarface wrote:
Hello everyone,

I've been lurking for a few months, but this is my first post. I've been
experimenting with polymer clay but the only 2 types available in my
city are Sculpey III and Fimo Classic. I haven't tried Fimo yet because
a friend of mine said it's pretty tough to condition and she ended up
with bruised hands. So I'm stuck with Sculpey III, which as you all know
has its limitations with respect to red bleeding into white, white &
translucent turning yellow/brown, excessive air bubbles, stickiness, and
the dull colour and fragile nature once baked. The 3 main things I make
with polymer clay are pens (Bic round stic), glass covered candle
holders, and keychains. I also use TLS with my candle holders, and it
chips/cracks very easily.

What clay besides Sculpey III would be best for me to try? I already
have an extensive supply of Sculpey III so starting over again is a
frightening, not to mention expensive decision. There is a Michael's
Crafts opening here within the next month or so, but I think they only
carry Sculpey III according to their website. So it looks like I will
also have to consider shipping costs, which would be high, seeing that
I'm in Newfoundland, Canada. I was considering Premo and Kato Polyclay,
but neither are available locally. Also I believe there is a clay made
by Cernit or something...

Advice?

sugarface

I used to use sculpeyIII and I recently inested in some premo. I am
much happier with the finished results and mostly like the consistency.
I apparently got some from a new batch that has too much plasticizer so
it's quite soft, making it hard to follow some project directions that
call for specific numbers of trips through the pasta machine etc.
That's my only complaint though. It's much better post baking! Haven't
tried Kato, found Fimo too hard but that was years ago, haven't tried
the new formulas.

Ingrid

"Sugarface" wrote in message
...
Hello everyone,

I've been lurking for a few months, but this is my first post. I've been
experimenting with polymer clay but the only 2 types available in my city
are Sculpey III and Fimo Classic. I haven't tried Fimo yet because a
friend of mine said it's pretty tough to condition and she ended up with
bruised hands. So I'm stuck with Sculpey III, which as you all know has
its limitations with respect to red bleeding into white, white &
translucent turning yellow/brown, excessive air bubbles, stickiness, and
the dull colour and fragile nature once baked. The 3 main things I make
with polymer clay are pens (Bic round stic), glass covered candle holders,
and keychains. I also use TLS with my candle holders, and it chips/cracks
very easily.

What clay besides Sculpey III would be best for me to try? I already have
an extensive supply of Sculpey III so starting over again is a
frightening, not to mention expensive decision. There is a Michael's
Crafts opening here within the next month or so, but I think they only
carry Sculpey III according to their website. So it looks like I will also
have to consider shipping costs, which would be high, seeing that I'm in
Newfoundland, Canada. I was considering Premo and Kato Polyclay, but
neither are available locally. Also I believe there is a clay made by
Cernit or something...

Advice?

sugarface

I too have tried various brands (Sculpey-too sticky, Fimo-too crumbly,
Kato-too stinky) and am now using Premo and verrrrrrrrrrrry happy with the
results.
Judy

Personally, I like Premo and Michael's carries it, although not at the
best price. Their 40% coupons can only be used on 1 regular priced item.
However, they often put all their polymer clay on sale for either $.89
or $.99 a block, so it's nice to stock up then.

You can buy conditionters for Fimo to assist in the conditionint process
and if you can pick up a used Cuisinart or other strong food processor,
many Fimo fans use that for conditioning.

You should be able to sell your Sculpey stock on eBay or possibly to a
school, then reinvest the money into another brand.

Polymer online stores:
http://www.polymerclayexpress.com/
http://www.clayfactoryinc.com/
http://www.prairiecraft.com/ (Katoclay only)
http://www.munrocrafts.com/
--

Barbara
www.penguintrax.com

eBay & Justbeadsenguintrax

0
/O\


There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness.
(Dave Barry)

Need quality, inexpensive web hosting? Check out
http://www.lyonshost.com. Shopping carts, blogs, image galleries,
content management and more!

I've got polymer clay from when I first discovered it existed, so I can
rarely justify buying more. Recently a big project landed on my lap, so
I went online (to Polymer Clay Express) and bought a few bars of Kato
and Cernit to play with. (I already knew that I don't like Sculpey or
Fimo Soft, and that Premo and Fimo Classic are both OK. My favorite,
believe it or not, was the original Fimo...) The order wasn't all that
expensive, and I got enough to form an opinion of each. (OK, so I
bought a *tiny* bit more than I needed just for that...)

Each of us could offer an opinion about which is the best brand, but I
think it really takes some playing with each to find which works best
for you.

Good luck.

I've got polymer clay from when I first discovered it existed, so I can
rarely justify buying more. Recently a big project landed on my lap, so
I went online (to Polymer Clay Express) and bought a few bars of Kato
and Cernit to play with. (I already knew that I don't like Sculpey or
Fimo Soft, and that Premo and Fimo Classic are both OK. My favorite,
believe it or not, was the original Fimo...) The order wasn't all that
expensive, and I got enough to form an opinion of each. (OK, so I
bought a *tiny* bit more than I needed just for that...)

Each of us could offer an opinion about which is the best brand, but I
think it really takes some playing with each to find which works best
for you.

Good luck.

wrote in message
...
I've got polymer clay from when I first discovered it existed, so I can
rarely justify buying more. Recently a big project landed on my lap, so
I went online (to Polymer Clay Express) and bought a few bars of Kato
and Cernit to play with. (I already knew that I don't like Sculpey or
Fimo Soft, and that Premo and Fimo Classic are both OK. My favorite,
believe it or not, was the original Fimo...) The order wasn't all that
expensive, and I got enough to form an opinion of each. (OK, so I
bought a *tiny* bit more than I needed just for that...)

Each of us could offer an opinion about which is the best brand, but I
think it really takes some playing with each to find which works best
for you.

Good luck.


I am brand spankin' new to polymer clay (going out to buy some kind of work
table today!). I purchased the Sculpey III, the Premo Sculpey, the Kato
Clay, and the FIMO. So far, all I've worked with is the Premo and the FIMO
(by the way, the only FIMO I was able to find/buy is the "FIMO Soft") and
either seems to have been OK to work with in production. However, I like
the way the FIMO came out after baking (except I also used Translucent the
first time out with FIMO and forgot to reduce the temp and cooking time--so
it burnt a little).

By the way, someone had wanted to let them know what my solution was for the
celtic project I made with the FIMO, where it "burnt." My solution was to
gild (sp?) the pieces with gold metalic powder and kind of antique them.
Came out well, and that necklace and earrings is what has received the most
compliments of the three pieces I've made and worn!