Would Sculpey III dry out?

Question

I know premo doesn't dry out quickly but what about Sculpey III or original? I'm trying to decide which sculpey to use, Sculpey III has more colors but I sure that premo will last long.

Answer 1

Original (bulk) Sculpey, Sculpey III, SuperSculpey, SuperSculpey-Firm, and Premo are all brands of polymer clay which are manufactured by Polyform.  

NO polymer clays will ever "dry" out however like air-dry clays will because there's no water in them... they're oil based.  Polymer clays require a certain amount of heat for a certain amount of time to harden (and then they'll "cure").

Polymer clays will "firm up" a bit though from just sitting awhile after handling (after cooling), or firm up more from sitting around a long time (that's called "advancing"), and they can actually begin to cure a bit or a lot if they're exposed to too much heat or UV light.... but technically they still won't ever "dry." That's one of the best things about them.

As for which polymer clay to use, some are stronger than others after baking in any somewhat *thin* or projecting areas (the stronger ones are also usually easier to handle and get good detail with).  

In fact, the *weakest* of all the brands and lines of polymer clay are original Sculpey (the very worst), Sculpey III, and SuperSculpey.  

SuperSculpey-Firm is strong but comes only in gray; Ultralight is strong but marshmallowy after baking and won't do details well, and Studio by Sculpey is okay strengthwise, at least in the beginning, but has a strange texture and comes in only "soft" colors.

The strongest brands of polymer clay after baking are Kato Polyclay, Fimo Classic, Premo, Cernit, SuperSculpey-Firm, and to some extent FimoSoft.  (Thick and rounded pieces of any baked polymer clay will be inherently strong though just because of their shape.)  

So the bottom line to your question is that all polymer clays will "last" for a very long time in the sense that they won't be affected by water and won't crumble or soften, but some brands can break more easily if stressed after baking if they're not thick and rounded--like the main Sculpeys I mentioned above.

Premo is different from the other clays manufactured by Polyform-Sculpey btw because it was created by a clayer who didn't like the Sculpeys, but needed a substitute for Fimo.  It's always been an excellent clay (except recently when it had a formula change, but the problems are being corrected right now).  

Premo may come in fewer colors where you buy it (as opposed to online), but their colors were created in the same "clean" colors as artists' oil paints so they could be mixed just like those would be into thousands of new colors (all polymer clays can be mixed to make new colors though!).

Premo also has metallic clays with great special effects properties (gold, copper, silver, Pearl, etc.) that Sculpey III doesn't have, and an excellent Translucent.

You can read much more about the characteristics of all the brands and lines of polymer clay on this page, and sort them all out:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/Characteri...

(...this particular page at my site is difficult to view on Firefox just now, so use IE if you can!)

If you're interested in mixing your own colors of polymer clay (by mixing clays together or by adding oil paints or alcohol inks, etc.), check out this page for loads of info:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/color.htm

HTH, and have fun!

Diane B.