Picking a Brand of Clay

When picking a brand of clay it is best to go with your price range and what you are looking for in a clay. There are many brands out there but I'm just going to talk about my local brands, which are basically the most common you can find. Most clays come in 8 ounce packs but are different in quality and price.

Premo and Fimo Clay are basically the same that I've seen. I have bought both and both are wonderful. They are the most expensive that I can find at my local craft stores. They are the easiest to work with. Most clays you will have a problem with leaving fingerprints and these brands are a bit harder so you have to push in more to leave a fingerprint. These brands stick together well, which means when making something you may not need a bond and bake, which is basically a clay glue that you bake that sticks the clay together. They usually range around $2.49- $2.79.


Sculpey III is my favorite because it is a decent price and of good quality. The negative to Sculpey III is it's a soft clay. The more you work with it the warmer it gets and so the more fingerprints you will leave in the clay. When this happens pop the clay in the freezer for about 3 minutes to harden it up a bit to make it easier to work with. Sculpey III is usually around $1.40-$1.99.

CraftSmart is the cheapest oven baked polymer clay I have found. They sell it at Michael's craft store and it the worst I've tried. Others have tried it and loved it but I myself think it is the worst. I have bought it in a few different colors and all were hard and not easy to work with. They were so hard that when I tried to break off a piece that it would just crumble. Sometimes you can get a clay softener to soften up clay, but there was no way to save the crumbled up mess. I recommend that when buying this type of clay to go in the store to buy and slightly squeeze the package of clay to make sure it's soft and will be easy to work with. Some have problems with it being way to soft, my advice is the same with the Sculpey III, put it in the freezer for 3 minutes. Also when using this type of clay you may need a bake and bond to help it stick together. Craft Smart is normally around $1.19, but goes on sale quite often.