Playing With Clay - Part 1

My First Go With Polymer Clay

Introduction

Many, many, many years ago when I was at art school we did ceramics as part of the foundation course. In one of those weird turns of fate - as I had previously no interest whatsoever in ‘pottery’ - it turned out that my tutor seemed to think that I had some talent working with clay. He even went so far as trying to talk me into doing my degree in ceramics… Spoiler: I didn’t! (Though I do wonder how that would have turned out.)

Anyway, ever since I have gotten some pleasure working with modelling clay when I had to do so. I mostly use a two part epoxy clay called MILLIPUT, which is designed mainly for small repair jobs that require a moulded material - Milliput dries even if wet so one example of it’s use is to repair leaks in pipes.

Above: Using MILLIPUT to modify an existing
model (Hat, goatee and moustache).

I’ve used Milliput for small modelling jobs like covering seams and flaws in larger models, but I have used it to sculpt small pieces as well. I even made a fairly large sculpture of a friend’s dog just using Milliput - though it’s not really designed for ‘conventional sculpting’.

Above: I have also used Milliput to sculpt more advanced one-off figure models.

Anyway, I’ll document my experienced with Milliput - it’s pros and cons - in part 3 of this series, but here I’ll talk about my recent experiments with alternative clay medium. Specifically, in this case, polymer clay…

Polymer Clay

Here in the UK the most well known polymer clay is a brand called FIMO. Available in most craft stores and hobby shops the brightly coloured clay is a great gateway for younger or first time sculptors to get into clay modelling. 

Now I rather cruely looked upon FIMO as a ‘kid’s toy’ just one step up from plasticine or Play-Doh, but this ill-informed opinion was simply based on not having see just what could be achieved with it. No, I don’t think it’s the first choice for ceramic artists, but it definitely has a big following among semi-pro sculptors that appreciate the convenience of working with this medium.

FIMO does not require that the user set themselves up with a small workshop and kiln. In fact there are very few tools required to work with it and even though it does need to be ‘baked’ to harden this can be achieved with a normal household oven.

This bridges the gap very nicely between the hobbyist and the crafter who wishes to sell their creations as getting into polymer clay sculpting has a very low initial outlay. You can just set yourself up with a few inexpensive tools and your kitchen table and off you go. And - importantly - there is a thriving little market for the types of small trinkets that you can produce at home - from keychain charms, to fridge magnets to small sculpts.

My First Go WIth Polymer Clay

OK, so it’s easily available, doesn’t require an expensive setup, nor does it need any complicated equipment to harden the finished sculpt… On top of this - importantly - there are a myriad of tutorials available on YouTube that will walk the absolute beginner through their first steps to more advanced and complex projects.

So with everything readily at had I decided to pick up some polymer clay and see what all the hoo-ha was about!

MISTAKE No. 1 - Now I’d already mentioned that FIMO brand clay was very easily available, and this is mostly true and it was available in my small tow until very recently. Unfortunately, my town has seen a decline in specialist art and craft store due to the rise in AMAZON, with several shops closing down. And even the couple of remaining stores that did stock arts and craft materials have shrunk their stock to the absolute minimum as they cannot compete with the huge range available online.

So, I was left unable to source FIMO locally and had to make do with a proprietary (cheap) alternative from the high street chain The Works. (As it was mid-month and pay day was several weeks off I had to plump for the cheap version.)

Well, it was a start at least. But with a little sense of foreboding I thought that anything was better than nothing and headed home with my ‘polymer clay’ to give it a go…

Above: The high-street chain 'The Works' does their own
brand beginner's clay. At £2 I could just afford this!

It turns out that all polymer clays are not equal - in fact, ironically, one of the YouTube videos that I had come across went into some detail about the differences between some of the main brands.

And there was my gaff, buying the cheapest clay available. I was used to working with a firm clay in MILLIPUT where the density of the medium allowed me to sculpt detail that could be sharp and *sturdy* and less apt to malformed with handling.

The cheap clay I was using was like trying to sculpt with ice cream!

It could not hold detail, any features I tried to sculpt were very easily ruined with even a gentle touch was enough to malform the work I had carefully tried to create.

MISTAKE No. 2 - Actually this is probably neither the fault of the brand of clay nor my own inexperience but an uncharacteristically hot weather (for the UK) seemed to exacerbate the softness of the cheap clay. This combined to my sweaty palms meant that the clay just got softer and softer with handling to the point it became sticky and gooey and nearly impossible to work with…

Tip: I had seen on YouTube that a way of dealing with clay that had become too soft was to stick the piece into the freezer for 20 minutes. In that way it firmed up slightly, enough for you to add extra detail without squishing the gooey mass. This only worked for a few minutes before the effect wore off and the clay became soft again.

A better trick I discovered was to harden the component piece you were working on in the oven for *just 5 minutes*. Enough for it to become firm enough so that adding additional parts of your model would not deform the work you had doe thus far. You could do this to any of your sub-components, assembling all your sub-parts together until the complete model was done and then you could finish off the final ‘bake’ so that the model became fully hardened.

Obviously, the real answer to this problem would be for me to buy a better quality polymer clay, and that where I will leave this first part of my sculpting series.

Thanks to my eldest daughter I now have to chance to work with FIMO Professional brand clay as she gifted me an Amazon voucher for Father’s Day (otherwise I would have to wait until the end of the month and ‘pay day’)…

SO… The FIMO Pro clay having been delivered I gave it a quick try with a test project and just as I was informed in the YouTube tutorials this more expensive polymer clay is indeed firmer and preserves detail a lot better…

Above: The raspberry test - The pink bits are made from the cheap clay (and were a pain to work with), while the green leaves were made using FIMO and were a delight to make, the FIMO being nice and firm and held the shape and detail wonderfully.

Next: I’ll try a few more advanced miniature sculpts using the FIMO, but - in the meantime - I want to try out the second of my clay types - Air Dry Clay. This I will do in part 2 of this series.