Best Polymer Clay – Premo Sculpey vs Fimo Clay vs Sculpey III
Battle of the Brands: An Experiment for Strength, Hardness and Flexibility:
Q: Hi Cindy, When you get a moment I'd like your opinion on this. I'm so new to polymer clay work that it isn't funny. What make of clay is best for thicker items (1/4 – 1/2") that are made and baked. My first purchase of clay to work with was Sculpey III. I find that after it is baked it isn't as hard as I would expect it to be. Which make of clay bakes the hardest? Thanks so much for your time. ~Eric
A: Well Eric I thought it would be fun to answer your question by doing a little experiment! Although I had some good guesses as to which clay bakes the hardest, it's always best if you can show proof.
So taking 3 of the most common brands of polymer clay Fimo, Premo and Sculpey III, I baked up samples in thin sheets and thick blocks to see how they would compare in a number of categories. I also baked up a sample with Fimo Mix Quick added in to see if that made any difference.
Each strip sample was approximately 1/16" thick, and the blocks were 3/8". Using a letter rubber stamp I identified each brand with a letter:
- F = Fimo Clay
- P = Premo Sculpty
- S = Sculpey III
- PQ= 50:50 mix of Premo and Fimo Mix Quick. I ran a little short for the PQ mix so the block is slightly smaller.
Here are the results after baking for 1 hour:
Fimo Classic (White):
- The strip was firm but somewhat flexible.
- Strip could be bent in half a couple of times without breaking (Strong Rating).
- Baked up the whitest in color.
- Thicker block felt the hardest when still warm. No give.
- Once cool, the block was very hard.
Premo Sculpey (White):
- The strip was very flexible.
- Strip could be bent in half several times without breaking (Strong Rating).
- Baked to a clean off-white color.
- Thicker block felt firm when still warm. Some give.
- Once cool, the block was very hard.
Sculpey III (White):
- The strip was not very flexible at all.
- Strip snapped with the first bend (Weak Rating).
- Baked to a horrible spotted purple-brown color.
- Thicker block felt firm when still warm. No give.
- Once cool, the block was hard.
Premo Sculpey (White) and Fimo Quick Mix 50:50 Blend:
- The strip was very, very flexible.
- Strip could be bent in half the most times without breaking (Very Strong).
- Baked to a clean off-white color.
- Thicker block felt firm when still warm. Some give.
- Once cool, the block was very hard.
For strength and hardness I honestly cannot recommend Sculpey III. It was the most brittle, the least flexible and it baked to an icky purple-brown… definitely faired the worst. All stuff I knew through experience but it was fun to see the side by side comparison! Here's another article you may want to read about my least favorite brand: Sculpey III Makes Me Mad
As far as the hardest polymer clay off the shelf, I'd have to give first place to Fimo clay. But the winner for strength goes to Premo Sculpey. Premo mixed with Fimo Mix Quick seemed to improve the strength as well. So that combination gets top honors. Thanks goes out to doll artist Bonnie Jones for the advice she has given me in the past, about using Quick Mix to add strength to polymer clay. Questions? Comments? You know what to do :)
Filed Under: 03: Supplies by 
Leave a Comment
Comments on Best Polymer Clay – Premo Sculpey vs Fimo Clay vs Sculpey III
The interesting thing about this experiment was the color differences between the clays. They were all baked together at the same time at 265 degrees and were tented with a sheet of paper. This just proves how all clays are definitely not created equal!
Thanks Cindy for taking the time to answer my question. I can't say enough about how wonderful it is to have experts like yourself to help us newbies along. Your article was very helpful.
Thanks again,
Eric Nielsen
You are so welcome Eric! It is great to have more men around here! Make sure you comment a lot so other guys start to comment too!
I see you have a site all about ice cream. Have you considered making ice cream cone charms out of polymer clay? You could even scent them with vanilla, chocolate or strawberry essential oils. Bet your customers would love it!! Would also make great party favors too!
Click by my name there for a link to scenting polymer clay. Read down into the comment section too… a comment from Ryssa is very helpful.
Thanks for all your helpful info. and for adding me as a friend. I'm just starting to play with polymer clay. I have a lot of Sculpey to work with before I try any big projects. I am basically covering switchplates, bottles and picture frames.
Hey DaisySoapGirl if you make soap you probably have some of those great scented oils for soap making! Did you know you can make great scented polymer clay beads with that stuff? If you click the link by my name you'll find an article about it. Thanks for dropping by!
What Cindy? Oh my gosh! I'll have to try that. It sounds wonderful. Thanks for the tip.
You're very Welcome!
Hi Cindy, Have you ever used Sculpey Premo Frost. It is supposed to be like translucent with "bleach". If so, what techniques did you use?
Anna, I've haven't actually tried the Frost yet because my local Michael's store doesn't carry it and I haven't gotten around to purchasing it online yet. Would like to though since I hear it is nice and white compared to the regular translucent.
Thanks for the information. Our local Michael's does not have it either. Have not seen it at Hobby Lobby. I ordered it online.
Dear Cindy,
I'm Darren Carrington an Artist in Brighton. It’s only now that I've begun to search on the Net for complaints about the newer versions of ‘Sculpey’ that I realize I'm not on my own. I’ve found your site really interesting, and people like me really appreciate your time and efforts.
I'm a Puppeteer my puppets heads, arms and legs are made of the old ‘Sculpey’ but you see I created my main characters of my Comedy TV series ‘Thatch Close’ way back in 2005, it wasn't until last year that I noticed a few puppets had got slightly worn and so I began to re-create the main cast of my series, it was then that I was horrified to find none of the clay was working for me and I was nearly convinced I'd lost my marbles and couldn't continue my aim. I must add and to help other Artists that there are a few companies out there that will send you a few samples if they feel you are a true Artist and that you have lost money in the past over trying various clays to find out you have the same problem. It’s a nightmare, for example for the faces of my characters I used the old ‘Sculpey’ flesh/beige colour this was back in 2005 I wonder if you noticed that it kind of had a visible fleck fibre within the clay, maybe this is what you go on to explain and which made it so much firmer?
However Cindy you’ve been a great help and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks so, so I thought I’d throw some light from my point of view, please do update me if a newer firmer version ‘Sculpey’ comes out won’t you? At the moment and to continue my work I’ve been using ‘Sculpey living Doll’ as it states in the name, it’s perfect for models, dolls and sculpture, and flesh colour the only other colour available is ‘Ethnic’ and I’ve been getting it from ‘Ebay’ I may have missed this in your write up, otherwise I hope I’ve helped.
Your’s sincerely,
Darren Carrington
Hi Darren, thanks for your great comment! It is such a pain when formulas change isn't it!
Now I'm not really a sculptor but I have made friends with Bonnie Jones a wonderful polymer clay doll artist who works with several different types of clay including Fimo Puppen and she will be able to tell you the strongest clay for your puppets.
If you click the link by my name, it will take you to an article about Bonnie and the link to her site.
Hope that helps!
can i mix premo and fimo togather, im using fimo translucent and i want to add a little bit of premo alizarin crimson to it.
@Lindalou: Hi! You can mix any of the clays together. You just have to be careful when you are doing something like making canes. In a cane, all of the clays have to be the same consistency so they'll reduce without distortion. For most applications, though, just mix your colors as you like. Then, bake your piece at the lowest temperature of the clay types. (Just add extra baking time.)
Welcome, and Happy claying!
I am just learning on all this … making some shawl pins, and went to hobby store yesterday and bought some new colors that I NOW think I should return. I was looking at which were the strongest polymer clay to use … but am now thinking I should use more flexible clay, so pins do not snap with pressure. Do you recommend the flexibility in this case?
I saw/ bought some "Studio by Sculpty" and wonder about it's characteristics. Is the transparent [Premo] as strong or flexible as the regular?
@Betty-Anne: Hi Betty-Anne, the Studio by Sculpey clay is actually a pretty good one. Sculpey III is the clay that Cindy had bad results with in the tests above. That's not the same one you bought, is it? (You can check out the pictures in these articles to verify what you have, as well as read about the qualities of this clay.)
*Studio by Sculpey…Oven Bake Clay
*Comparison—Studio by Sculpey & Premo Sculpey
Studio by Sculpey is one of the newer clay lines, and people have been quite happy with it. The strength & flexibility are great, so it should work quite well for your pins. (Unless you need something extra flexible, in which case you can add some Fimo Mix Quick, or even some Bake and Bend clay or Mold Maker/Elasticlay to make it really flexible.) As long as you condition your clay and bake it properly, however; you should have no trouble with your pins snapping.
Regarding translucent clay: Premo Sculpey is excellent (Cindy's favorite!) Premo translucent is just as strong/flexible as the regular colors. There are actually two (2) types of translucent Premo—regular and Frost. Premo Frost usually has to be mail-ordered; but it's considered to be the clearest of all brands of translucent clay. If you have questions about the translucent clays, you can check out this article: Translucent Clay Comparison
I hope this info was helpful to you. You mentioned returning the clay, but I assume that's because you thought it might not be strong or flexible enough. Since that's not the case, you will probably keep the clay? Also, you said you were pretty new to all this. There's a lot to learn, but all the information is here at Cindy's website. You can find just about anything you want to know by doing a search (use the box at the top left of the page.) There are also videos, courses, a free newsletter (w/free videos & color recipes,) etc. I actually left a comment for someone the other day about all the site has to offer. It starts out with baking info & tips, but the last paragraph explains how to navigate the website, and how to get free videos & color recipes. My comment is here: Sculpey Clay Projects
Best of luck to you in your clay journey. It's so much fun, I think you're going to love making beautiful shawl pins! Please leave a comment if you have any other questions or comments. There's always someone happy to help. :-D
@Phaedrakat: Hi <i have not talk to you in some time…I want it to ask you if you can send me the link to the conversation we had about the name of the companies that make all the clay …It looks like my wife deleted that my email to link to that conversation..Thank you and talk to you soon…
@Miguel: Hi Miguel, sure thing! Here's where we talked about the clay companies.
I found this by typing in the words "Miguel, clay company" into the search box (there's one at the top of each page.) It found the article where we had that discussion very easily. With some searches, you have to fiddle with the wording a bit. But in a case like this, where you know what you're looking for—it's easy to find! I hope things are going really well for you, and that you're having fun with your clay!
Take care, Kat :D
Ohhhh noooo lol I stocked up on Sculpey III when I first started sculpting in clay some months ago…now I find out that it's no good? D: No wonder I can't make any good canes! >_.< But I love how it bakes to a very nice finish =) I hardly have to gloss it like I do with the Sculpey III.
Btw cindy, your site is awesome! I get most of my tips from here now. You pretty much have every answer right here!
@Wendy: Hi, we've all purchased clays and tools, things we didn't know "better" about..we call these purchases "BC" (Before Cindy.) Even though Sculpey III is a weaker clay, its pretty colors can still be mixed in with other clays, and it's good for things like molds, bead cores, and many other things. It is weakest in thin pieces, or when used for protruding parts…avoid that, and it should work a lot better for you. The article, Sculpey III Polymer Clay Makes Me Mad, has some more information and tips about this clay.
Best of luck! ~Kat