It’s Clay-time!

In stock at the moment at Art and Craft Valley, we have a range of different types of clay and polymer clay for different projects. You don’t need a potter’s wheel to work with clay, just space, patience, and imagination.

Make your own jewellery, key fobs, beads for other creative projects, the list of possibilities is endless. After all, playing with Playdough is fun, but it is even more enjoyable if you can make your creations solid and keep them.

Fimo, a polymer clay in a range of bright colours, is suitable for nearly all ages. Make your design, then bake it in the oven and varnish it if you choose. It is popular for making earrings, badges and broaches – you can get the fittings for projects like that here as well. From beads for necklaces or sewing, through to ornaments for dollhouses, toys, boxes, dice, the list of things you can shape is limited only by your imagination and how much clay you have!

Fimo comes pre-dyed and doesn’t always take paint well, but coloured varnishes and some gilt paints can give your creations a real edge.

If you don’t want to use an oven, Das Clay is an alternative. Self-hardening, so you just have to leave it to air-dry, once it is dry you can paint, drill, sand it, or varnish it to keep the surface looking great. It is best painted with acrylics and comes in a range of colours from white to wood tones.

These clays can be worked with your hands – they are both safe and non-toxic – or with a range of tools.

Sculpting tools like plastic carving shapes and cutters can be used, or for the really ambitious or larger projects, devices like the DAS Smart machine can help you to create even sheets, merge colours, and more.

(Or, if you’re like me, you can just settle for squidging it between your fingers, pounding it flat and rolling lengths to make a plaitted pot to paint.)

Why not stop in and let us know what you’ve been working on, or share your projects in the comments below?