subject: Jewelry making. Should you use an air hardening clay? Or an oven drying clay? [print this page] Jewelry makingJewelry making. Should you use an air hardening clay? Or an oven drying clay?
For a while now, I have been creating handcrafted jewelry. I knew I had a passion for modeling ever since I was very little, but it has been hard for me to find valuable information on creating handcrafted jewelry. Of course, imagination is the most important, but the materials you use are just as important. Especially the modeling clay. I found some materials on FIMO, the poster clay for oven drying clay, and I heard a few things about DAS, the poster clay for air drying clay, but not a comparison between them.
So I decided, after using both of them, to create such an article. One that can help you decide what to use air hardening clay, or oven hardening clay.
The first modeling clay I bought was DAS. This was the first one I bought as I wanted modeling clay easy to use and I told myself air-drying clay was easier to use than oven drying clay. I think this is an advantage of DAS because some times you do not have the time or disposition to cook your handcrafted jewelry. I found DAS clay easy to heat in my palms until it became easy to shape, but it was not very soft and I could not create really small and complicated patterns with it. However I created a lot of beautiful pieces of jewelry with DAS clay and I really like that it is easy to use and to color with acrylic colors. I used to create round shapes, rhombs, fruit shapes etc for earrings and medallions and I found it great for these shapes. I also found DAS clay to be quite cheap.
Yesterday I decided I should try FIMO clay too, in order to really know what I am talking about when I talk about modeling clay. So I bought FIMO. Its price was 8 times more expensive than DAS clay - I do not know if this is valid everywhere, but I bought it from the same place I bought my DAS clay and I found it very expensive so I bought a really small pack. I took my FIMO clay home really eager to try it so I took a small part of it and started heating and softening it into my hands. I noticed it was harder to condition than DAS (my hands were even felling a bit sorrow) and it took a bit long to soften. But it became very soft (as soft as children's modeling clay) and I could shape it in a really small complicated design (I shaped it into little rose earrings). I also noticed it was so soft that it did not crack while I was modeling it, something that has happened with DAS clay (however cracks in DAS clay can be covered by applying a bit of water on your shape and soften it and it does not crack a lot if it is well conditioned/softened before it is used). I liked the fact that I could change its shape and add new parts (petals in the case of my earrings) after a bit of time after I started my roses because FIMO parts mix for ever only in the oven. However it became a bit sticky after modeling it for along time so I had to leave it harden a bit until I could use it again. And it became gray really fast although I did not see any dust around but I guess FIMO really gets dirty very easy (but you can color your FIMO if it's white so it's OK - unless you use colored clay which may remain a bit dirty after you bake it). I was a bit nervous when I put my newly created piece of jewelry to bake because I do not have an electrical oven, but a really old gas one. It was a really big luck for me that the vendor at the store where I bought my FIMO clay from asked me what kind of oven I had and told me I should only leave my shapes inside the oven for 2-5 minutes, not 30 like the pack said. But I still felt the need to check it every 30 seconds because the same vendor told me it will become gray or black (just like over left cookies) if I remains in the oven too much. After I took my little earrings out of the oven I colored them in acrylic colors (the same ones I use for DAS). My shapes very really beautiful and I really like that I can use FIMO to create complicated patterns.
As a bottom line I can say I like DAS and FIMO clay, and I think you should try both of them to decide which one is the best for you. I think for simple patterns it is better to use DAS clay since it is easier to use and it does not need baking. However, if you want to create complicated patterns, FIMO clay is the one for you, even if it is more expensive and it needs baking.
Remember I used DAS and FIMO but you can find more varieties of modeling clay, and usually they are just as good and as expensive.
I hope you enjoyed my article and found it interesting! I have more interesting articles on handcrafting jewelry and a lot of photos posted on my blog www.handcraftedjewelrymaking.com so I please visit it!
