Polymer Clay Review
There are many different types of polymer clays on the
market and you need to try a few to find which one works for you best. Below
you can read my personal opinion on many polymer clays I've used.
ProSculpt
Personally I like ProSculpt, it's my #1 choice. It might be
a little bit more expensive and you have to buy it online (which means extra $$
for shipping), but it all worth it. ProSculpt comes in great skin colors
ranging from Caucasian baby to Ethnic Brown. It is easy to work with, it's not
too soft and not too hard and when baked it doesn't have a shiny effect like
you would get with Sculpey for example. Nether you will get moonies or tiny
cracks on your sculpture. Now you can buy sample size bars if you're not sure
if ProSculpt is for you and want to keep you spendings low.
Living Doll
As far as I know Living Doll is the same as ProSculpt only
for European market.
FIMO
Fimo is great because it is available in many craft stores,
relatively inexpensive and comes in a great pallet of colors. The colors
wouldn't matter to you that much if you only want to sculpt dolls. Personally
I'm not a big fan of FIMO's flesh or ethnic brown colors. And I find FIMO soft
too soft for sculpting dolls and FIMO classic is too hard for me.
Sculpey
Sculpey is my absolute least favorite clay! The only good
thing about it is the price. You can buy a 1 lb brick for half the price of
ProSculpt. This clay will give you hundreds of tiny cracks all over your piece.
They are harmless and you can't even feel them with your fingers, but to me
it's better spend a few extra $$ and get a decent clay because you put so much
time, love and effort in your creation it would be pity to ruin it over a
couple of dollars. When baked it's quite dark, for fairies and babies. Colored
sculpey is nice though. Also offered in a great variety of colors for other
projects.
Kato
Nothing special about this clay. It's pretty hard at first,
but once you knead it with your fingers for a while it becomes quite workable.
Kato has a very strong odor. A lot of people don't like it, but some do. The
manufacturer assures it's not toxic.
Cernit
Cernit is a special type of polymer clay. Many great artists
choose it for their masterpieces. Personally I think it's better for larger
pieces (at least 17-20' or larger) because it gives you somewhat uneven tone.
It looks a little translucent as if your doll was made out of wax. Cernit is
very soft, which makes it quite difficult to work with. However smoothing is
super easy. A lot of artists like to add a little bit of Cernit into their
favorite clay to make smoothing easier.
Baking Polymer Clay
Unlike earth clay you can bake polymer clay in your home
oven. Always read the manufacturer's baking instructions as baking temperatures
vary from brand to brand. Never exceed 300F!
'Some people dedicate a toaster oven just for polymer clay.
It's a great idea for economical reasons because this way you don't have to run
your huge kitchen oven just to bake a tiny piece. One thing about toaster ovens
is they can be tricky to use because the temperature control is often off. You
need to get to know your oven or toaster oven before you use it. A good way to
do so is to put an independent oven thermometer in (or two, one on each side)
and compare the readings. You don't need a fancy or specialized thermometer,
the dollar store ones work just as well. Very often you have to set the
temperature a lot lower to achieve the proper temperature. Learn what you need
to set it in order to get what you need. Remember, burning or overheating
polymer clay is toxic. Use good ventilation and never breathe burnt polymer
clay odors!
Painting Polymer Clay
Acrylics work great with polymer clay, however blushing, for
example, might be challenging. If you choose to use acrylics you can use human
makeup blush to accent body folds and creases. But you must apply blush on
unbaked polymer clay and you can't make a mistake. Once it's on it's on. If you
made a mistake you can try to clean it with a soft blush and alcohol, but it
can be a lot of work. Choose blush with no glitter or pearl added.
Genesis heat set oils is another great product. They bake
right into clay, giving you the perfect shine-free look and natural tone. They
are a must have if you sculpt babies! Best of all you can make as many mistakes
as you wish ' they won't dry until you bake them. And even after you bake you
can remove them with acetone and start all over. Reborning artists also use
them on vinyl dolls.
For best results work in layers. Apply thin coat of color,
cure (bake at 200F for 10-15 minutes or fire with an embossing gun) and then
repeat until you reach the brightness you want. You can't cure genesis oils
with a hair dryer; it's just not hot enough. When using an embossing gun make
sure it's not too close or it will burn your doll's nose (of whatever) in no
time.
Regular oils can not be used with polymer clay.
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