Cute clay tutorials: What is Polymer clay?

The basics on making cute jewelry and charms

To start making cute clay charms you’ll need polymer clay. But what is it? It’s a type of clay that you can sculpt and mold then throw into the oven to bake and harden. You can find polymer clay in any art and craft stores. Its really cheap around 2 bucks depending on brand you use. Speaking of which there are a few you can test out. People use different brands depending on personal tastes and what they are making.

The best brands for beginners and the one I use personally was Sculpey III. It comes in 44 colors, shades, and special effects. It’s easy to handle and mold, perfect for a beginner like yourself. It comes in a block that you can break off into 4 rectangular pieces also. Doing research on the brands and such they say that’s its more brittle then most clay brands and likely to break especially when you’re making thin sheets and extensions. But in my experience it held up pretty well so I think that should be the least of your problems.

Another really popular brand to start with is Fimo classic. It comes in 24 for colors. It’s much firmer and tougher to soften up but it’s harder and sturdy after it’s baked. If you want a softer version they have Fimo soft. It comes in over twice as many colors then Fimo classic and even has special effects kinds. I never used the Fimo brand because it costs a bit more and the tougher quality of it. Still, a lot of crafter used it with great results.

There are more brands of clay out there and both brands holds a lot of other types of clay as well, depending on what you what to do. But as far as making cute clay charms and jewelry, Sculpey III as well as Fimo does really well.

Another thing I want to point out is the translucent and pearl kinds of clay. Those are really useful in getting awesome effects like using translucent for making sundae glasses and cups. The pearl is great for mixing so that your cute clay charm has glittery effect. We will go over this more as time goes on but I just want to get the bare basics out there.

All in all, polymer clay is the kind of clay you want to use for making clay charms. Try and test out many out to see which one you like best.

Thanks for taking the time to visit cute clay tutorials. And I will see you tomorrow!