About polymer clay

I´m so glad that you found this store. 

I´m the person behind this store and my name is Karolina Söderberg. I have been creating with polymer clay for a long time that is the reason why I opened this store.

You can find Hobbyrian on Facebook,  Instagram. and Youtube

Intro

Fimo, Cernit, Premo, and Sculpey are all different brands of polymer clay. 
Polymer clay is a non-toxic clay that you bake in your home oven to harden it. 
You don´t need a special or separate oven for baking clay. 

Polymer clay is a versatile material and you can make many different things with it.
For instance, you can make jewelry, figurines, sculptures, miniatures, buttons, decorations, etc. 
Let your imagination run wild. 

In this store, you can find  Premo, Super Sculpey, Cernit, and Fimo all of which are good clays.

When comparing prizes it is good to note that the small Fimo Professional comes in 85 grams instead of 57 as the other small packages of clay. 

You can mix clays from different brands, just remember that Fimo’s recommended baking temperature is 110C/230F instead of 130C- 275F as the others. 
If you mix Fimo with other brands you still need to bake at the highest required temperature to get a durable result. Fimo can safely be baked at 130C/275F but be aware that lighter colors may darken in the oven. 
To minimize the darkening you can cover your clay with foil or baking paper to protect it from the direct heat of your oven. 

Creating

What brand of polymer clay to choose is mostly a matter of personal preference, all clays in the store are of good quality. 
If you are planning on making canes Cernit would be a better choice than Premo as it is a bit firmer and distorts less. 

You will find more information about the different clays further down on this page. 

Before you begin it is a good idea to condition your clay to make it easier to work with. You can do this by hand or with a pasta/clay machine. Your clay will come to life and become smooth. 
Conditioning does not make your baked project more durable. It is a common belief but that is not the case. Check this video. 

Polymer clay can be painted and also varnished if desired. That should be done with acrylic paint or varnish of good quality.
Sprays and nail polish are generally a bad idea to use on polymer clay. They will either stay sticky or dry, to begin with and after up to 6 months it will again turn sticky. 

You can find varnishes that are compatible with polymer clay here.
Any brand of varnish can be used with any brand of polymer clay. 

For more information, you can also check out Hobbyrian’s Youtube channel.

Very important is that if you want a strong endproduct you need to bake your projects at the correct temperature and long enough. If you bake polymer clay at a lower temperature and too short time it will become brittle and break easily. Learn how to bake properly in this Youtube video. 

My self I often bake my projects for 1 hour and cover them with baking paper so that the colors do not darken.
When you cover/tent your projects in the oven it will be protected from the direct heat of your oven.

To bake at the correct temperature it is necessary to use an oven thermometer. Your oven dials are not accurate enough for baking clay. 
When you are baking a cake a difference of 10-20 degrees is no big deal but when baking clay it can make your clay brittle. 

Another good thing to know is that raw polymer clay can melt some plastics. A good “rule” is to only store raw clay in milky softer plastic bins. Hard clear plastic (like the clear plastic of a CD case) will melt from contact with raw clay and so will styrofoam.

What clay should you choose?

What kind of clay you choose is mostly a matter of personal preference. All clay is this store is of good quality. 
Below you can find information about the characteristics of the different clays.

Fimo 

Fimo Professional is not as soft as Premo (very fresh Fimo can be very soft) and it becomes hard and crumbly faster than Premo but can be conditioned back to a workable state.

Professional holds detail well and keeps its shape in the oven, small details do need to be supported in the oven. 

The smaller packages weigh 85-gram. That is good to know when comparing prices. 
Bakes at 1110-130C /230-275F 

Fimo Effect är is exactly like the name suggests a clay with different effects. Fimo Effect has different hardness. 
Translucent, metallic and gemstone have the same consistency as Fimo Professional.
Nightglow, glitter, pastel, stone, and pearl has the same consistency as Fimo Soft (Fimo soft is not sold in this store).
Bakes at 1110-130C /230-275F 

Fimo Doll art has the same qualities as Fimo Professional and is meant for dollmaking. It comes in 6 skin tones. 
Of course, it can be used in other projects besides doll making. 
Bakes at 1110-130C /230-275F 

Fimo Leather Effect is a very different polymer clay. It is similar to leather in structure. There is no need to add surface structure as it is “built-in” to this clay.  Even out of the pasta machine this clay has the leather structure. Check out this video and learn how to make a cuff bracelet from Fimo Leather.
Bakes at 1110-130C /230-275F 

Premo och Sculpey

Premo är Is softer than Fimo Professional but still keeps its shape. It is a good all-round and a good clay for beginners as well as professionals. Strong after baking. It is also a good clay if you have pain in your hands.
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Premo Accents have different effects like translucency, glitter and metallic effect. 
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Living Doll Super Sculpey is harder than Premo and suited for sculptures and dolls. It comes in three different skin tones.  
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Super Sculpey är is a popular choice for the sculptor and it comes in 3 different hardness Original being the softest and it is beige. Medium and Firm are grey. If you are uncertain which one to choose then you can begin with Medium and if you find it too soft then try Firm next time and if is to hard then try Original.
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Cernit

Cernit is the firmest of Premo Fimo and Cernit. Fimo, Premo and it comes in many colors and variations. 
It is very durable after proper baking. 
Cernit has a matte porcelain-like finish after baking. 
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Cernit No1 is the classic opaque colors of Cernit. 
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Cernit Metallic has a high concentration of mica and works great for mica shift.  
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Cernit Opaline is the half-transparent color and work perfectly for flowers and miniatures. They do darken in the oven.  
Bakes at 130C/275F 

Cernit Translucent is the translucent colors and they do darken in the oven. It is one of the most translucent clays. 
Perfect for faux lampwork. 
Bakes at 130C/275F 

If you have any questions or need help you are very welcome to email me at kontakt@hobbyrian.se

Useful links

A great place to learn about clay and find accurate information is a website called “The Blue Bottle Tree”  https://thebluebottletree.com/

I do recommend you to sign up for “Insiders“ a polymer clay community.