CraftSmart Polymer Clay – New Brand from Michaels Art and Crafts

Thanks for the review Cindy. I noticed that the price of Sculpy III at Michaels has increased with the introduction of the Craft Smart. But, the difference in price between the two products is only about 50 cents. They had about 25 colors of Craft Smart here. Last week when PC was on Sale at Michael's they did not include the Craft Smart brand, so I don't get their strategy. I believe Crafty Goat recently did some testing on this clay, so if more info is needed Google her site.
Anna Des Moines

Good Morning Cindy,
Its certainly a disappointment that your experimenting with the new clay proves to be a negative. My big question is "Where were they when someone said: If you're going to do something, do it right!". Too bad there was a chance of great success there. Like you say maybe it can be mixed with the "good stuff" and get used up. But, I'm not one to try something that you have found to be an inferior product. Maybe some day when I have lots and lots more experience and my to do list is empty I could try something like this. Don't know when that will ever happen though, you have too many great tuts coming fast and furious. Thanks so much Cindy, for your efforts, now we know. Out to the doctor and back to clay play.

Thanks so much for the test drive Cindy! I'll stick with the Premo! :-)

Glad I didn't buy any, I remember posting that I saw this clay after noticing that Michaels had pushed all the PC to the back of the store and thinking "what's going on, are they going to stop carrying PC". Nice to know it's pooy uckie caca (to be nice) before I invested time and money on this new clay. I guess Michaels want's to race Sculpy III to the bottom.
.

I've glanced at the product on my way past to my Premo and thought the colours were not nice at all. I was waiting to see when the first test drives were going to be reported here and I'm glad I did.

Thank you so much for the tip on the no name clay. I will tell my friends and family.

Thanks for the review! I saw the clay in Michaels last week when I was buying Premo and wondered if there was a difference. I will stick with Premo.

Cindy:

Thanks for the heads up. I shared this blog link with the ClayMates at CITY-o-Clay. I appreciate you going through the trouble of testing the clay for us and I'm sorry it did not live up to expectations.

Thanks again.

NoraJean

Cindy, I caught a girl stocking this new clay at my local Michaels last week. Even though it doesn't say this anywhere on the packaging, this new clay is made and distributed by Sculpey. I assume they won't put there name on because they know it is an inferior product.

It is made for and distributed by Michaels Stores, Inc. No where does it say Sculpey. I tried to find out who makes it myself since it has shown up in the store. How do you know it is by Sculpey? Just to let you know many companies will manufacture their products and sell them under many different labels. (I designed these labels for these companies and the product is the same.)
But, as those of us who have tested this new clay realize it is not the same. But, Sculpey could have manufactured it and made it less durable to sell at a lower cost. A beginner's medium so to say. But, to say, "they won't put their name on (it) because they know it is an inferior product" may not be correct.

during my discussion with the Sculpy chemist and rep in Chicago there was no new mention of new clay in the works. i specifically asked if any new colors were coming out in the future and they were not aware of any but did say that would be the product development area. but, with a whole new line coming out I am sure the whole company would know.

I believe there will be 4 clay manufacturers at the Synergy conference. Anybody going?

Will that be in Chicago? I might not be able to go but if you go please give us a report on what you find. I would be be very curious what you will discover. Maybe you'll get some free samples!!

Thanks for doing the test drive, Cindy! I hope someone gets this feedback at Michaels. It seems a shame to market something so inferior when there are good products out there offered at a competitive price. What were they thinking?

Thanks everyone for your comments. Although I feel an obligation to be completely honest with my product reviews, I certainly do not want any misinformation being propagated as a result. So thank you Catalina for giving us some intel on the situation.

Don't think we'll be going to Synergy this year Anna, though I would love to. We are probably going to need to hire an assistant before we will be able to take time away. Things get busier around here everyday and it is already a 7 day a week business for both of us. Plus we have the kids and all. Do plan to make it and other events part of what we do though. Just have a few too many plates spinning at this time.

Are there any other products out there that you guys would like me to 'test drive' for you? Do let me know.

Cindy Lietz
Surrey BC, Canada
Where are you from?

I put an email out to Michaels' product testing and they are going to forward my questions on this new clay to those in charge. I will let you all know what they say about this new product. Also, I told them that there is a lot of talk about wanting a better clay that is more durable. I'll let you all know as soon as they email me back what they say.

Here is the official word from Sculpy-Polyform…

————————————————————————–
Dear Anna,

Thank you for contacting Polyform Products Company. Regarding your question on Craft Smart; Polyform has created a special formula for Michaels’ private label polymer clay.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please contact me again.

Regards,
Patricia L. Colella
Polyform Products Company
Elk Grove Village, IL, USA

Oh yeah, it's "SPECIAL" alright, but logically, they wouldn't create a product to directly compete with their products, so they made it worse than their low end.

Here is the response I got from Michaels Care Center. Please excuse all the typos. I didn't correct their grammar.

————————————————————————–
New Entry: Dear Catalina,

Thank you for your patiance. Below is the information that we received from the vender regarding your inquiry.

Craft Smart Clay was designed to offer the "Casual Crafter" a value priced opportunity to experience the excitment of crafting with Polymer Clay.

Craft Smart Clay carries the Craft Industries AP Seal, which certifies that this Clay is Non-Toxic & Safe for Crafters of all Ages. (Parental supervision suggested where applicable) Craft Smart Clay was designed to be easy to condition & can be conditioned by hand or with the use of a traditional "Pasta" machine. Craft Smart Clay was designed for Casual
Crafters & may not be as effective as more advanced Polymer Clays for highly detailed & intricate modeling projects.

Brand Philosophy, offering Casual Crafters Good Value & Good Quality.

If you have nay further questions please call 1-800-642-4235

Michaels Customer Care
————————————————————————–

So, as I thought, this media is for the beginner and children. This is not really a bad product. It is just not what we need at this level.

Thank you Catalina for getting Michaels to respond to you and posting it here. I really appreciate it!

The problem I see with making a cheaper grade of any craft product for the beginner or ' casual crafter' as they call it, is that it is the beginner that will have the most problems with it. That leaves a bad taste in their mouth toward the medium. Why not make all the products high quality and sell more in the long run, because the beginner found success with it?

This of course is just my opinion. Companies have the right to make what ever quality material they like. I'm just a little disappointed for the beginner that won't know better, that's all.

Ditto! I totally agree! If a beginner gets frustrated they will think it is too much to continue. Children will have a ball with it I think. I guess we will have to wait until the manufactures take our requests seriously. Who knows, maybe we got the ball rolling.

If it crumbles like Cindy said in her experiments it's bad, no shades of gray here,if it's going to give a newcomer a bad experience, then to take a page from Martha Stewart, this is a bad thing.

For me, even for kids (maybe especially for kids), cheap clay that breaks easily when you bake it, gives the wrong impression about polymer clay. That it is something you play with and then throw away.

My son and daughter love to work with polymer clay. So I gave them a bunch of my Sculpey III since I didn't want to use it in my beads. They worked very hard on their little charms and sculptural pieces and were heart broken when they fell apart. (The link by my name points to an article with a picture of my son crying because of a broken piece he made.)

If I wasn't there to tell him it wasn't him but was just the stupid clay and that he could have some of my Premo and Fimo for his next projects, he would have probably never tried working with it again!

It wouldn't be so bad, if the manufacturers would write a quality grade on the pack. All it says is 'polymer clay'. So as far as the customer is concerned, there is no difference between the clay.

Now if the clay was half the price or less and everyone knew it was lower quality, the customer would just use something better next time. Us pros may also find another use for it, where strength doesn't matter, like maybe those polymer paintings or something. So maybe then I wouldn't care that much that it was out there.

I want people to understand that I love a lot of products that Polyform makes and Michaels carries. So this is not a slam against everything they do. I just wish they would do a little consulting with the experts before making a new product.

Just because something sells well, doesn't mean it's well received. It could be more that there's an endless supply of people who just don't know any better!

I agree with you. If the clay is not high quality and not good for good detail holding ability,then list that as the case. I have played arnd. with alot of the clay types and I do have my preferences. Some clay takes alot of conditioning to not crumble when folded. One clay I have not tried yet is the Perdo. (I think that is how it is spelled). Hobby Lobby is selling it now along with Cernit, Premo, Fimo Classic / Fimo soft,& Kato. Thanks for letting us know about the OTHER clay,when you spend money on your supplies you want them to be the BEST quality possible. Lynn

@ Catalina

I've heard about it since I buy some things from their catalog (think old time sears christmas catalog). They actually make beads from it and embed rhinestones or swarvoski crystals directly into the product. I haven't taken the time to carefully read instructions on making anything with it (I think there are projects on FireMountain's web site) but the product itself sounds interesting.

Have you all heard of a two-part epoxy resin adhesive made especially for jewelry making called Ferido? Pronounced "Fair-ah-doh" in available at Fire Mountain Gems and Beads.
It cures without heat, adheres to metal, plastic, glass, wood brick and cement without gluing. It can be drilled and painted but can be molded to make center pieces and attaching stones and crystals is a breeze. It works like clay but does have a time limit when using once the two parts are equally mixed. Comes in many colors and could be mixed to make unique colors.

I haven't tried it yet because I'm not sure how I would incorporate polymer clay or if it would be a benefit to polymer clay. I guess if it is used to adhere two pieces together or to add some sort of accent to a piece so it would have more strength would be a plus. Maybe use it as a core bead and cover with polymer clay? Any thoughts on this?
.

I have heard of the 2 part epoxy clay Catalina, but I have yet to try it. So many cool materials to try out there, aren't there?

Hi there. I had a clay question. I'm right in the middle of purchasing more clay and I'm a newbie fairly. I bought Premo recommended from another site. I noticed you said Kato could be used also. Which is better especially for what you use and also do you recommend any reasonable sites? I'm trying to be economical and may try and get the 1LB size as the small sizes go quickly I think. I'm also interested in making this a business do you have any links for people who want to do that or any support links?

@Stephanie S: Hi, Well, I can tell you that Premo Sculpey is Cindy's favorite clay. She uses it for most everything in her videos & techniques taught here. But choosing a clay comes down to personal preference, for the most part. The two brands that people LOVE around here are Premo ("full name" Premo Sculpey) and Kato. Kato is a very firm clay, and can be very hard to condition. But its fans say that it is the best to cane with. Both clays have positives & negatives, but are considered the best by most. Fimo Classic & Fimo Soft are both very good clays, as well. There's also "a new clay on the block," called Studio by Sculpey, which Cindy says is also good. If you follow the 5 links in the article above, you can read all about these clays. The differences in formulation, qualities, etc. Don't forget to read the comments below the articles, as well. That's where you'll see the many reasons why people have their own favorites. If you haven't read the articles, at least read the 4th one down, it has good info and comments about Kato vs. Premo.

Lots of clayers end up choosing a clay based on what's available to them at their local craft store. But since you plan to order large blocks online, you can make the decision based on what you like. First, what are you planning to make? What techniques will you use? If you are making a bit of everything, you might want to get a little of both clays (Kato & Premo) and see which you like best. Maybe get black, white, and a couple colors of each brand to try & see which works best for you. A couple notes about clay colors: Kato has fewer colors, so you have to do more mixing; Premo has a lot more colors, including several pearl & metallic clays. Premo FROST Translucent (different from regular translucent) is considered the clearest of all translucent clays (even by Kato users.)

Cindy's color palettes are all done with Premo. However, one of the "Kato-using" members Sue F., has converted a few of these palettes so they can be used with Kato. The comments section on these Kato color pages have some good information about the differences between Kato & Premo. Here is one of the palettes Sue F. converted, the Pansy Flower Spring Color Palette.

Ordering depends on where you are. If you're in the US, you can get clay from many places; here are a few reasonable ones. They all carry the large blocks except Fire Mountain. (I can't list the web addresses, so add a "dotcom" on the end of all of the names.) PolymerClayExpress & TheClayStore — Premo & Kato. Prairiecraft & FireMountainGems — Kato only.

If you are not from the US, there are people from other countries who can tell you where they order clay. You can also look for info by using the search box at the top left of the page. Type in a word or two like "ordering clay" or "home business" and you'll get a list of articles where the topic was discussed. You can find all kinds of info and tips this way, or you can use the tags at the bottom of the articles. Here are a couple of business-themed articles (you didn't say what kind of business…beads, jewelry, sculpting, etc.):

Tips for Home Based Jewelry Businesses
and
Selling Jewelry at Craft Fairs

You can find articles about Etsy, the handmade online store, by doing a search. Since you are just starting, you may also want to try Cindy's Fundamentals/Basics course. It has 39 videos, that will help teach you everything you need to know to work with polymer clay, the correct way. If you haven't already, sign up for the Cindy's Newsletter. You'll get 3 free videos, as well as 2 Free color recipes per week. The link to join is at the top of the page "Polymer Clay Newsletter." The link for the video course is there, too "Polymer Clay Basics Course."

I've written a novel here, so I'd better stop. I hope I've helped you! If not, or if you have other questions, leave another comment, and someone else can give you additional information. Happy Claying!