An alternative to clay (Fimo Modelling Clay)

Member Name: chaobreeder16

Product:	Fimo Modelling Clay
Date:	12/02/09 (375 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: colourful, easy to use

Disadvantages: can be sticky and messy on clothes

What is it?

FIMO is a plasticene like polymer clay which is really easy to work and model with, it's made by a German company called Eberhard Faber its origins go back as far as the 1930s when it was called Fifi's modelling clay supposedly, but was later reduced down to FIMO by Ebherhard Faber. It comes in an extremely large range of colours including the basic colours such as black, white red and yellow as well as some more exotic colours including cherry red, leaf green and emerald.

It has a soft composition when you take it out of the packet and becomes solid permanently if you bake it in the oven for 30 mins at 110 degrees. I would recommend that you purchase the special varnish for it also as it makes your models virtually indestructible and shiny.

Where do you get it? How much does it cost?

Well me personally, I spend most of my dooyoo miles on this stuff primarily from amazon.co.uk. The single packets of 63 grams costs £1.40, the smaller blocks which comes in special packets of 4 different colours cost £3.75, the packets of 24 booster pack costs £19.99 and the basic booster sets with 9 colours, a cutter and varnish costs £10.95. There is an addition of postage and packaging on these prices however so sometimes I go just directly to a craft shop to get supplies as it works out a good 10p cheaper per packet if you only want specific colours not just the basics. You can probably also get it for similar prices on ebay.co.uk and other online craft shops.

What can you make with it?

Well me personally, I make badges and phone charms for anime and video game conventions some of which can be seen on my profile photo, or if you want to see more view my deviant art.com profile I have the same user name. These include characters such as Mario mushrooms, pacman ghosts and fire flowers. I also made some daisy themed necklaces and bracelets for gifts for my friends. You can also roll beads for bracelets and necklaces also and the beauty about this stuff is that you can mix colours together to make a really pretty marble effect or just mix colours together to make a whole new colour together entirely which is really handy if you have loads of blue and yellow and you run out of green. You can simply use it to keep your kids models permanently also though it's recommended for over 8 years as consuming large amounts of the clay can make you ill.

My personal experience

One of the best things ever invented, clay which is already coloured? That's genius! It definitely speeds up my production rate for fan art at the artists ally at conventions. The material if it's over exposed or handled too much can lose its properties though, If it's too old it can become quite crumbly and is hard to work with and if you work it too much with your hands it can become really squishy and can get stuck under your finger nails and on clothes or worktops which is pretty nasty. The range of colours however is very impressive and the ability for mixing seems to make up for its hindrances. The US produced a similar product called Sculpey I think it is called which has similar properties but takes less time in the oven however I think it's harder to get such a good range of colours from that make so I stick mainly to FIMO when available.

Other stuff

There are also a few books available from amazon and I am sure ebay.co.uk which offer a wide range of ideas for what to do with FIMO and Sculpey, so if you're planning a project for a group f kids or a class with this material then maybe it would be a good idea to research one of these books for optimum use of the material.

Swelling in my tonsils is finally going down feeling a great deal better and hope to be back in class by Monday(: Thanks for reading.

Summary: overall a great media to work with