Tips: Starting out with Polymer Clay in Singapore

LAST UPDATED: 18 April 2011

I no longer purchase clay in stores in Singapore. stocks are unreliable, limited and not fresh (very stiff and hard to work with). if you are keen, you can check out polymerclayexpress.com or clayalley.com.


as to food props such as plates, glasses etc, you can do a search on ebay, etsy, cdhm etc. prices vary greatly depending on quality and quantity. i myself am, looking for a good quality supplier...:( most of my plates i got either via swaps with friends or teammates on TeamMIDS (etsy team).

Also, i do not offer classes currently (but will after Aug 2011) please read this post carefully, most of the commonly asked questions are answered here. for general clay techniques, questions etc, please refer to links on the right, or go direct to

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm

thanks for looking ^ ^
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I have had quite a few Singaporeans ask me where to get clay, what to get, etc, and I thought I'd just share with whomever cares to read this my experiences so far...



Polymer Clay, Where to get, What to get that's suitable for us in this climate

Daiso polymer clay

I've tried the cheap Daiso type, which is quite rubbery after baking and might actually be desirable depending on what you wish to do, but i hated it. it was tough to condition, and the end results weren't that great. and it stuck like a )&@$*&@#$*@# to my pasta machine (which i'll touch on later if i remember)

Sculpey III

i hate Sculpey. it's too soft and sticky, and gets into my pasta machine, it doesn't cane well due to it being too sticky. if you're working in an air conditioned room (i believe thehappyqueen mentioned she likes Sculpey better) i guess it's ok. but i hate it to the core. if possible, i never ever want to use it again.

FIMO soft/effect clays (my fave by far, highly recommended)


i have very warm hands, and FIMO clay works great with me. it's a little harder to condition than Sculpey (which requires close to no conditioning) but i find it totally worthwhile. i initially purchased quite a few colours, like black, translucent orange, translucent red, white and caramel, but after working with more colours and pastels and learning to mix my own colours, i've only gotten white, translucent and some special effects blocks.

Kato Clay

i tried making some teapots and teacups, and they turned out disastrous cos the clay was too soft (i used Sculpey....i guess that's the problem). I know some places tell you to leach the clay if it's too soft, but i've found that once i've leached it to the consistency i want, it sometimes cracked when i'm trying to make curved surfaces, and that sucks bad. so i tried Kato clay, which is said to be the hardest of the clays...and it worked great! pity it's hard to find in SG too...and the shop that carries it is clearing back stock since they don't carry it anymore...


Where to buy polymer clay in Singapore?


Creative Hands - Orchard CLOSED DOWN :(
4th floor takashimaya

i got myself a membership with them, iirc it's $10 for 2 yrs, and you get 10% discounts off regular priced items. the orchard branch has some backstock of Kato and FIMO on sale, and some specials on Sculpey, so it's worth taking a look. be warned though, the sale stuff has limited range, and when i last went a few weeks back they were out of white/translucent FIMO. also, if you purchase a certain amt (not sure how much) of FIMO clay from them, you get a complimentary FIMO introduction disc. i don't know what's on it though :P

Art Friends - Orchard
Art Friends - Bras Basah

i've seen them stock mostly just Sculpey, they are slightly pricier here than at Creative Hands, but they are very well stocked.


Popular - Bras Basah
- NO LONGER STOCKS FIMOYay they seem to have restocked!
where I got my first bunch of polymer clay. their range isn't very wide nor well stocked, but i get 10% discount with my membership card, so i get whatever i can :P
oh. and get your liquid FIMO here, it's the cheapest i've found, at $14.15.

Urban Write - (under Popular management) - Tampines One/Orchard Central
Prologue - ION Orchard

decent range of FIMO and FIMO products including liquid FIMO. POPULAR discount card applicable in both places.


Garie International - East coast area?
Tinklearts - redhill area?
i've never been or purchased from either place, but i think they both sell FIMO at 4.20 per block too. you can probably google for them to get the addresses (it's late and i'm tired sorry)

What tools do i need?

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
before i continue, please go through the website as indicated above. it is EXTREMELY useful, although wordy. i spent a little more than a month doing research online before i even touched my clay, so please put in some of your own effort, i don't mean to seem unhelpful or unfriendly, but i'd rather focus on what's pertinent to those living in Singapore (or similar climates) than re-hash whatever information is easily available on the net.



Rolling pin
for conditioning and rolling out the clay. i use a glass bottle that i got from a vending machine (vit-c drink) haha. please note that polymer clay eats up some plastics, so it's best to get an acrylic roller. you can read more at http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm i didn't get the acrylic roller cos 1) i have a pasta machine, 2) i'm a cheapskate :X

Pasta Machine

i had to stop knitting and tatting due to RSI on my wrists, and conditioning the clay was so painful my hands swelled up all the way to my elbows. so my bf bought me the pasta machine :) you can get one at a neighbourhood homeware/hardware store (the ones that sell woks, bowls etc) for about $30, but it's made in china which means it's not very durable and has a tendency to spoil easily. but i don't care. it's cheaper by about $10 compared to the one you get at art friends. and back then, art friends didn't even carry it, so....

clay gun
only about $6 at art friends. i don't use it much, but when i do it's pretty fun, although a real *)@#$*# to clean. buy it if you can spare the $ and want to try out new stuff! i recommend it cos i like trying out new stuff ^ ^

sculpting tools

pretty much anything can be a sculpting tool, but my fave ones to use are the needle tools from a basic toolset i got (about $5 for 5 different tools)

also, the stylus tool is cool, art friends has a set of 5 different sized ball stylus(es?) in a pack, i think it was quite cheap, no more than $5 iirc.

toothpicks are also one of my fave tools. don't bother getting any fancy tools, i've found my fancy tools are just taking up space...but hey, you'll never know when i'll need them, right? :E


cutting mat
one of my fave buys, i got mine at 2 for $1.05 at the value dollar shop at hougang mall. it's slightly clear, polymer clay doesn't melt it (or stick to it, not much anyway) and it's clear enough for me to stick graph paper or cutting mat underneath for handy measurements! you can thank me later for this tip ;)

OVEN

ok. super important (duh). i bought one specially to bake my polymer clay with, it was on offer at carrefour for only SGD$29, and it had temperature control which is SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT. you don't want to breathe in toxic fumes when your clay burns, which is worse than throwing away hours of work on your clay and seeing it char. i would recommend getting a thermometer too (approx $10 at phoon huat or popular bras basah).

so my tip is to set it about 10 degrees lower than stated, and bake for longer. but since i work with minis, i don't have to bake it too long as my items are sooo tiny.
above tip is idiotic. i had read somewhere some artisan baked at lower temp for longer, and that's a NO-NO. bake according to instructions on the back of the packaging. these days i bake at slightly higher, as long as it doesn't char i'm happy. :X but be careful, translucent clays tend to discolour, so bake according to the instructions of your brand!

have fun with clay!