Translucent Sculpey Clay, Fimo Clay, Premo, Cernit, Kato | Comparison

Okay!

I did experiment with using the transluscent clay, with an ivory. My main idea was to make a mock scrimshaw. Well, I was using a toaster oven (at the time), with a metal tray. Yup! That was the ticket! I ended up with raku textured clay. Think that I had to have overcooked it. Had even decided to use a lower heat. Yah! Could be!!!!! I was foolish enough to discard these. Can you imagine, I threw these out — and was not about to fish into a trash bin. Anyway, afterwards the dawn awakened me. Where was my brain! I could have sponged metallics on these and made them into RAKU colored beads. The moral of my story is simply — before you do anything foolish (stupid), hold onto your boo boos. Now, if you could imagine, I'll have to smell up the house again, with burnt clay. Yuk!!! Ha! Ha! So the moral of the story is — more clutter is sometimes betttaaaaaa!! One woman's burnt clay, can turn into another's top of the hub!Yup!! What kills me is, that these would have been the best Raku's. Nobody could have even known the difference. Viva la differenceeee!!!!!!!!!!!

JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW!!!!

Queen of Beads, and considered obsessive (and dangerous) in bead shops. However, now, I am leaning into another direction. This time I will be obsessed with clay. Ahem!

LIFE CAN BE DANGEROUS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HANDLE IT WITH BEADS!

QUEENIE

Dear Cindy,

Thank you so much for answering my translucent clay questions, and for all of this most valuable information! I appreciate it very much!

I don't know if you will remember a certain picture that I sent to you a few weeks ago. The one I am talking about is the picture of the translucent heart with the silver heart confetti pieces mixed all through it. Well, when this peice was finished, I wished that the clay had come out more clear so that the confetti could be seen a little more through the entire heart. Maybe now, with the knowledge you have given above, I will be able to get more of that kind of effect with a clearer translucent clay. I will try using the Premo Frost, and will also be sure to tent the piece when I bake it.

Thank for the other info as well…I am very interested in trying the alcohol inks.

Hugs to you…Cindy E.

@Queenie: Wow are you ever enthusiastic! Thank you for your great comment! That is too bad you threw out your mistake! However, I would not try to purposely burn the clay again, unless you can take your oven outside. The fumes can be toxic!

@Cindy E: You are very welcome Cindy! I do remember that piece and it was very pretty! Although changing brands will help with the clarity on a piece like yours, non of the brands will give a completely see through look.

I have a question about the recipes with translucent clay. It is had to see a difference in the clay in the raw state but it seems to give the clay a more creamy look without diluting the color saturation. What is the biggest benefit of adding translucent?

Thanks for all of your inspiring info.

Anna

That's a great question Anna! Although translucent doesn't change the color of the clay, it does make it less opaque. It allows more light to get into the clay and causes it to appear to have more depth.

When the mixed clay is used in very thin layers like on a luminary or the petals of a sculpted rose the look is even more effective. To see an example click on the Rose Bead link by my name above.

One other benefit of adding translucent to clay, is that it will buff to a higher shine!

Cindy – I love to use your ideas and transpose them to my work. I just made some clothes for a fairy with Fimo colored with the inks. I ended up putting gold leaf on top of the clay, but it gave a good back ground for the gold.

Bonnie your dolls are so fantastic I am thrilled to think that they could have been influenced at all by info from this blog! I would love to see the wings you are talking about… Bet the are stunning!

Thank you so much Cindy for all of your kind words about my beads! Love your pumpkin beads and your spider pendant!

You're welcome Mary! You're glass beads are beautiful! I'm glad you like the Halloween Beads… I like them Too!

Thanks for the complete rundown on translucents..Ifound it very helpful and will refer to it in the future.
Great job.
Mary

You are welcome Mary! I went to your site and I love your Cake Toppers! They are really wonderful!

I am soooooooooooo impressed!!! Bonnie Jones, Mary V. Smith, and Mary Tempesta, you are ALL sooooooooo talented!!! I really enjoyed (and will enjoy more) all of your sites and blogs!!! You all do such great work!!! Thanks to Cindy, there is so much that we get from her, and each other on her site!!! THANKS CINDY :)

Sincerely, Cindy Erickson

You are very Welcome Cindy E.! There is so much amazing talent around here, it would be hard not to be excited and inspired by it! As always Cindy your enthusiasm is exhilarating!!

Hi Cindy! I'm still working on making beads with flower petals in them. I am glad to learn from this article what probaby caused the plaquing in my beads. But I have to tell you that I really like the look for this project! I've been mixing in the flower petals and then experimenting with letting the clay sit for some time – days or weeks. The color from the flowers leaches out into the clay and the result looks kind of like stone! The plaquing actually adds a layer of color and texture to the beads. I like it and am getting really good feedback from my "guinea pig" friends. My question is does the plaquing affect the beads in any way other than in the look of them? Should I be concerned about it? As always, thank you so much for everything!

Marsha that sounds lovely! I love the idea of the flower's color bleeding into the clay!

Plaquing won't effect your clay in a negative way for the technique you are using. It is only a problem in things like image transfers where the 'moon' shows up in a bad spot in your image like in the middle of a face.

As far as for stone techniques it makes it look realistic and many artists try to purposely create plaquing. You can do this by wetting your hands and over working the clay.

I'm way back here! I was in such a hurry I didn't digest all you have given us. I'm soooo glad to have become a member and hope this time around can get those colors I missed. 11/09/08. Thank You again!

Thank you Mary for your comments! I'm so glad you like the membership!! There will be lots of opportunities to get the bonus recipes so keep your eyes peeled!

Attempting to locate Fimo Classic Translucent White 00; do you know any sources as I make "Ivory", using a blend, and 00 is main ingredient. Thanks Mark!

Hi Mark. I haven't seen 00 for awhile so I went to Fimo's site. They only seem to carry Fimo 'Effects' 014 as a translucent clay. That should work fine for your purposes.

hello:

how many translucent primo clays are there?

Hi Alba! There are two Translucent Premo clays. Regular Translucent and Frost.

I saw you use Premo Frost in one of your videos. What is the difference between Frost and Translucent. I cannot find Frost at any of my stores.

Premo Frost is a little whiter and clearer than the regular translucent. Most stores do not carry it but you can find it easily online. Regular translucent can be substituted if you want. It will just be a little more yellow in color and not quite as clear, but close enough.

For lots more info, type the word translucent into the search box at the top of the page. There are many articles that have already been published on this topic that will keep you going for a while.

I worked so hard on making a whole set of beads and matching pendant. I used translucent, silver leaf, and a small amount of color to tint the trans. I wish I had read this blog first, because all of that work is ruined now. I put the beads on a bead rack and the pendant in a dish covered with cornstarch. I used my brand new amaco oven. I did not even check them at 30 minutes, just set it for another 30 cuz Cindy says she bakes everything for an hour. Well, if I had looked up to see what Cindy says about baking translucent first, I might have a beautiful set of beads right now instead of a pile of burned ones. I'm so disgusted with myself!!!

Happened to most of us Tiffany, so don't let it get to you. Part of the initiation rites, lol.

Save the remains, in a couple of years, you'll be laughing about what came out of the oven the first time.

Best of luck next time out….

@Tiffany: I am sorry that happened to you. Sometimes it is hard to remember all the important info the first time. Sometimes it takes making a mistake to know where you went wrong. Like Jocelyn said, don't be too hard on yourself. It has happened to all of us!

@Jocelyn: Thank you for the supportive comment to Tiffany. I can't get to the comments as fast as I used to and it sure is nice for her to know that someone out there is listening and understands.

Thank you all for the support, it was just so frustrating because I used silver leaf and and alot of time. But you are right, lesson learned!!!

I thought the trans frost would bake up as the name implies(frosted).

@lynn: Trans Frost is pretty much the same as regular translucent clay only it is 'whiter' and less yellow. I guess frosted is a good way to describe translucent frost since none of the translucent clays are very clear.

hi,
i've only recently looked into translucents, and was wondering if the translucent sculpeys are found in the same small bricks as regular sculpey? i've seen the liquid stuff, but i'm not interested in it. i've made a few small toys for my daughter, and would love to make some lightning bolt, or fire effects on the next few, but am unsure how to get my hands on some of this clay.

i didn't look through the entire color wall of sculpey at my store, was the translucent staring me right in the face, and i just missed it? i thought it would have a different packaging or something!

Derrick, raw trans Sculpey looks a kind of pale peachy colour, not at all what you'd expect if you've never seen it before. You really have to look at the labels, because they all look the same. The number is 010 if that helps!

It's easier with Fimo because trans has "Fimo Effect" on the pack rather than "Fimo Classic" or "Fimo Soft".

I prefer Premo Frost myself, it's clearer than the others I've tried, and generally a better clay.

I'm sure Cindy would warn you that Sculpey III is not the strongest clay so you'll have to be very careful with your finished pieces as they can break easily.