Premo Polyform Petition + Cane Slice Pod Beads Video

Love this tute!!! I need some dangle earrings and this would be perfect with the feather cane…..wow!

Cindy, I love this bead technique… After I get back from grocery shopping this afternoon I’m going to be making some Pod Beads. Yipee..!! Thanks for another great tute Cindy!!!

Peace, Love, and Clay,
~Lisa :)

Cindy, please check out Polyform Products’ Facebook page. They’re going to discontinue some Premo colors (incl. zinc yellow + cobalt blue!), and will market some new ones. It sounds as if they’re going “designer” with the colors!

Thank you for posting this here Maria, and others. This is an extremely important issue. BTW, I have even been corresponding with Polyform about it directly, and was planning to bring up the topic today, with all of you guys… so this is perfect timing!

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Here is how I feel about Polyform’s New Colors Announcement (the original Polyform Facebook Announcement page seems to have been removed):
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Although I am SUPER excited about the new color additions, I am also VERY UPSET about three of the discontinued colors. Namely the removal of the Artist Pigment Based colors – Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green.

One of the key reasons I have chosen to work with Premo and introduce it to thousands of my members, is because the color palette is based on the traditional artists color palette. In fact, I have published hundreds of color recipes based on this palette. The removal of three of Primary colors from this palette not only means that many of these color recipes will now be near impossible to mix, but so will a large portion of future colors. In fact I am working on two new palettes right now and this news has me wondering how I’m going to mix the colors I need for it. Can you imagine the outrage if these colors were removed from all oil or acrylic paint palettes? Artists would just flip out!

Polyform has said that they will offer conversion recipes to replace some of the discontinued colors. It may work for some of the recipes, but I have no idea how they are going to do that with the Primaries, since they are base colors from which other colors are made. As well, even if it is possible to create a new mix that looks similar, it definitely won’t mix the same. Therefore, any past recipes containing these colors will become null and void.

As far as the other colors that were discontinued, I am fine with that. They can always be mixed, as long as we still have the FULL SET of Primary colors including Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green. If not… well… those could be lost too.

I completely understand a company’s need to adjust as time goes on. It is important to keep products fresh and current. But removing a few KEY Components to a line like this is just as upsetting as removing a color like Black or White from a line.

So… I am asking for your help to get Polyform to change their mind and not discontinue these vital colors from their clay line. Think of this blog as your virtual petition. I would love to see 1000 comments here from our clay community saying:

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

>>> Will you join me? Please post your comment below…

If you would, please also make an announcement about this comment thread (topic) on your Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, Blogs and wherever else we can work together to draw attention to this important issue. Thanks so much!!!

@Cindy Lietz from Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, Sea Green:
Boy do I ever agree with you.
Who are they? Deciding making the changes for people who used their clay or just to get the smell of the year without consulting! In hard times it’s time to keep the basics right?
They should offer at least the basic colours scheme.

Maggie Maggio’s book becomes obsolete.What a bummer.

@Cindy Lietz from Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, Sea Green:

Dear Polyform,
Please support the artists who work with these essential colours and keep sea green, cobalt blue and zinc yellow in production! bad enough we have lost studio sculpey…….
Thanks for listening!
Emma

@Cindy Lietz from Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, Sea Green:

Keep the colors, they’re a necessary part of any sculptors palate!

@Cindy Lietz from Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, Sea Green:

Hello Cindy,

You know I manufacture Bozzi Polymer Clay, here in Brazil.
You tell me if you can not solve this problem. Remember, though far you’re not alone.

Big hug;

Edinho Juliotti

@Cindy Lietz from Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, Sea Green: Hey everyone, I am relatively new to polmer clay and one of the many challenges is to learn to get the most from the tools and products that are available. I was overwhelmed with all the different kinds of clays and color offerings, but when I found Maggie Maggio’s book and color tutorial website (and also had the great pleasure to meet her here in Portland, Oregon), some of the anxiety of how to get started in clay was alleviated. Knowing I could take a small number of primary and speciaIlty colors and produce so many beautiful things was a huge inspiration. I was just getting used to mixing my Premo colors when a friend told me to stock up on some of them because they were being discontinued. I couldn’t believe it. Yes, there are other brands of clay, and I do use them, but I was, needless to say, perplexed and upset that a company that has such a formidable presence in the polymer clay industry would make such a marketing blunder.

I’ve logged onto the Sculpey Polyform website and emailed them directly with my concerns. I am writing this reply in June of 2011, and it’s been well over six or seven months since the original announcement pertaining to the discontinued colors. Has anyone heard definitively whether or not the Zinc Yellow, Sea Green and Cobalt Blue will definitely be discontinued. I feel passionately about Glow in the Dark and all the fluorescent colors as well. These colors cannot be replicated and should be considered basic building blocks of the color palette.

Anyway, I’m adding my voice to the cause and I certainly hope we are heard!

Very excited about all the new colours coming out, but very unhappy about potentially losing zinc yellow, sea green and cobalt blue. Hope they reconsider after we all weigh in on the matter.

I also posted about this on my blog, and also posted on their FB discussion page about how unhappy I am about this. Someone at their company really did not do their homework about those colors.

I’m even miffed about glow-in-the-dark – you CAN’T mix that from anything!! I guess I’ll be going back to FIMO for that color! :(

I agree, I saw that yesterday and figured I’d have to switch to Kato clay as they have the primary tints to mix your own. I can’t imagine why Polyform would lose the primaries.

I also mix a lot of my own colors and I REALLY need these primaries. I’d be willing to pay more per brick for these colors if that’s what polyform needs to do to keep producing them. They are VITAL to the artist’s palette. Off the top of my head I can think of 7-8 different color mixes I use on a regular basis that use these colors and many more I use less frequently.

@Lawrence:
Have they discontinued Studio clay, Lawrence?!
I hadn’t even got round to trying it yet…..

Please don’t discontinue Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green. They are vital to some of my key designs.

I’m sure change is good for a lot of things. removing Primary Colors does not make any sense. What are they thinking? Please rethink your position and move on to more productive reasoning. I use these colors all the time, so will stock while they are on sale on Michaels.

!!!Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green!!!

Are they crazy?? We have to change their minds, like, yesterday!! Don’t they realize we artists make are own colors? That is the first rule of color usage. I was always taught to never use the hue straight from the tube or package! That is part of the creative process. And a very important one! If they want to change something, add to the color choices do not delete colors. I hope the their color recipes are accurate. If not, I’m sure their business will suffer.

Cobalt blue is one of my favorite colors. Yellow would be hard to recreate. Hope they reconsider deleting these three colors.

I don’t like one bit. I heard about this through one of our guild members. All we can do is let them know how unhappy we are. I am with you, Cindy..thrilled about the new colors but I do use the colors that they are getting rid of and although they have said they would be giving out recipes for those particular colors…who knows when that will be or which ones we will be receiving. I am going to send them a note to let them know that I am not very happy with this and to PLEASE save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, and Sea Green!!

I agree – please don’t discontinue these 3 colors.

I promoted Premo brand clay specifically when I went on The Martha Stewart Show and demonstrated a polymer clay technique for covering eggs. I use Premo because it is made with artists in mind and I need the range of colors to stay complete (and even be expanded) so I can continue to use it and promote it. Thank you.
Liz Smith

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

Please don’t remove these colors, being an artist these are 3 of the PRIMARY colors I use everyday. Removing colors does not make any sense.

I ask you to reconsider, it is only three colors!!

… just wanted to quickly pop in here and thank everyone for the early round of support. Please keep the comments coming!!!

@Caroline You’re right about green not technically being a primary, but the particular tone that comes from Sea Green is not easily created with any of the actual primaries. It is know as Phthalo Green in the artist paint world and is vital to several of my color recipes. You are also right about Red being a Primary but the two Reds Cadmium Red (warm) and Alizarin Crimson (cool) have not been put on the chopping block as far as I know.

@Joyce M: Thank you so much for pointing out what you said above. In regards to what else you can do… anything that will help to spread the word about this issue, would be helpful. If you frequent any of the polymer clay forums, please post a “public service” announcement to encourage everyone’s participation with this “virtual petition” that I’ve put togehter. If we are going to get a 1000 signatures, there’s still a long ways to go. Hopefully with everyone speaking out in unison in one place, we can all work together in saving our Precious Premo Primary Colors!!!!

They are also getting rid of red pearl. There is no good way to make red pearl. Unless that “magenta pearl” is a good facsimile, but last I checked, magenta was more on the pink side, wasn’t it? And adding the orangey cadmium red to that, I don’t imagine would make a good match for red pearl.

After reading today’s blog I went to my recipe file and really this news is rather devasting…this would mean that
Cindy’s A Recipes use Cobalt Blue in 10 of them; the B Recipes total 14.
The Zinc Yellow A’s total 13 and the B’s also total 13.
The Sea Green A’s total 6 and the B’s total 5.
That is a total of 61 recipes that took how many hours to produce????
This is only Cindy’s recipes and some of you are doing your own. I was shocked to see just how much this affects Cindy.

So we need to make sure that every member learns of this and helps to put a stop to this before it is too late.

Is there anything else we can do, Cindy?

I don’t know what I would do without those! I use all 3 of them almost daily! Please, Please keep these!

@Ken H:

Looks like it to me… These “new” Premo colors are also in the now defunct Studio line:

Pomegranate
Denim
Antique Gold
Navy
Blush
Spanish Olive

What? Are they out of their minds. Obviously they are not artists. We were taught at an early age that we need these colors to create every other color out there. I’m shocked. I will definitely look into an alternate product.

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

If Polyform removes these colors, it will make a lot of my color recipes invalid… How can you do this to us??? I switched to Premo! Clay because of the colors – now I’m glad I didn’t sell my Kato Clay, looks like I may be going back to it… And I’m sure we’re not the only clayers that are extreemly unhappy about the loss of these 3 colors. And the Glow-in-the-Dark clay too, tsk, sad to see that go too…

~Lisa Whitham

Please don’t discontinue those colors! They are all too important to our art. And of course they are 3 of my favorites, isn’t that how it always works? You find something you love only to have the company discontinue it. sigh

Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!!

@Carol Simmons: Good suggestion Carol… about leaving comments over at the Polyform Facebook page too! There is a live link to that discussion pg in my orig comment that was posted earlier today, as well as by my name just above. The more places we can can let our voice be heard the better. Let’s Save those colors!

I agree save these colours! They are necesary to the colour mixing process..booo Polyform

Please Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green

I am extremely disappointed that Polyform will be discontinuing cobalt Blue and zinc Yellow, two of the primary colors that artists need to mix their own custom color formulas and well as sea green which isn’t a primary, but is difficult to mix from colors which exist will still exist in the line. The fluorescents are wonderful to give a pop to formulas, too. Perhaps cobalt blue, zinc yellow, sea green, and the fluorescents aren’t up there near the top of the big seller list of PREMO colors, but those of us who mix custom colors buy A LOT of the OTHER colors to mix WITH them. I’ve been a dedicated PREMO user for a long time and over the years have recommended PREMO to 1,000’s of new clayers in schools and in the crafting community. I have recommended it BECAUSE the palette was designed with mixing in mind, and it uses the same vocabulary as color theory, oils and watercolors. Who can tell whether a “primary” with a name like “Sunshine” is a pure color and how it will mix up in color formulas? Having been a hardcore PREMO user for SO many years, it saddens me to write this, but with some of those critical primary colors scheduled to be discontinued from the line, I can’t think of a compelling reason to continue using PREMO and will probably be forced to eventually defect to Fimo when my stockpile runs out. (BTW, I have a business and spend hundreds of dollars a year on clay.)

Please keep Cobalt blue,Zinc yellow and Sea green!!!

These are primary colors for an artist and NO WAY CAN THESE COLORS BE MIXED. New colors are welcome but please do your research about primary colors. We have recipes developed with these primary colors and we would not be able to mix them again. I’m also unhappy about glow in the dark clay going to be discontinued. You can’t mix that either. So , please rethink about discontinuing these primary colors.

Save the primary colors!!! It is the artists who use these colors that are promoting polymer clay and encouraging many hobbyists to buy it. The hobbyists will use the colors with the fancy names, but they wouldn’t be buying them without the artists who mix their own colors and promote polymer clay as an art form.

I have posted on the Polyform page how steamed I am with their blatant disregard for the hours and hours of time and effort many many many of us have put into developing color recipes and color palettes. I think this is a tremendously bad decision on their part. I hope they hear us; if not, and I have to start all over with developing a palette, it won’t be with Premo!

Edie

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

THESE COLORS ARE A MUST for ARTISTS. Specially the primaries.

Please, Please, Please don’t take them away.
Artists have been using them for years now and these colors are essential for us.

I agree. Please keep the cobalt blue, zinc yellow and sea green.

Keeping an eye on the Facebook page. No news from Polyform. Maybe they’re all at a meeting….hoping tomorrow is a better day for Premo! Clay.

SAVE: Cobalt Blue Zinc Yellow Sea Green!

The new colors are great but yeah, dont why try to fix what isn’t broke. This will be costly to most of us.

Polyform ~ I respectfully request that you thoroughly consider the deafening outcry to reconsider the elimination of some key colors in the Premo product line.

OMG what are you thinking? These are colors we use ALL the time. Colbalt blue is my favorite. I’m happy you’re introducing new colors BUT please do not remove colbalt blue, sea green or zinc yellow!!

@Tina Holden: You make an excellent point Tina! Violet is also a good one to keep though I do think that one can be worked around a little easier than the others.

@Carolyn Good: I can see your point Carolyn for colors such as Ecru, which would be easily mixed. But can you think of a recipe from the current line of Premo that you could mix up to make Zinc Yellow, Cobalt Blue or Sea Green, because I can’t and I have made hundreds of custom color recipes. If there is a way to get a color that looks similar, it probably won’t mix the same way. I ran into the problem of making a whole lot of mud when experimenting with making recipes with the Studio by Sculpey line. This was because none of the colors were pure like the artist based Premo colors are.

@Carolyn Good: Nice to know there is a way to overcome this situation! excuse my ignorance, but, what is “Shades of Clay”- book, blog, website, organization, class???

Oh, no! Sea Green is my favorite color. Please don’t discontinue Sea Green, Zinc Yellow, or Cobalt Blue. I’ll also really miss Red Pearl and Green Pearl. Please reconsider your decision to discontinue those primary colors that are used so often in Cindy’s recipes as well as my own.

Polyform:
PLEASE do NOT discontinue Zinc yellow, Sea Green or Cobalt Blue. These are three very important colors on my pallett of polymer clay.

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

Please Premo, these colors are integral parts of our color palettes and recipes. These recipes have taken countless hours to create, mixing the right shades for our beautiful pieces of art. Cindy Lietz has passed along lots of these recipes to us (custom colors she’s worked hard to create!) The clay colors you’re planning to discontinue are ingredients we count on to mix up our recipes! There are even more customized, new shades we all make and add to our own “recipe books” — and they also require the primaries. We should be able to trust our clay company to have the clays we need to duplicate our custom mixes…please do not take our primary colors away!

The new products you’re adding do sound exciting, but it doesn’t make up for the loss of the all-important primaries that allow us to mix our colors. Besides the Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow, I just love Sea Green (one of my favorites!) I also use Red Pearl quite a bit, especially around the holidays…please do not get rid of this one, either. You say that the recipes for most will be available on the website, but I can’t see that working. How do you mix up a primary when it’s the base of a color recipe? At the very least, it will skew the results. It will mean a waste of the time spent creating our recipes…and having to start from scratch on most colors. It makes me sick to think of it…

It seems like you’re trying to attract new customers with “pretty colors”…and ignoring the artists who have stuck with you all this time. I beg you — please don’t do this to us!

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

I think the decision to discontinue these 3 colors is very unfortunate and short sighted…….Some of the new colors sound intriguing, but they are not as essential to a working color palette as these colors are…Zinc Yellow, in particular, since it is the olny yellow that doesn’t have orangey tones in it. I wonder if artists were consulted on this decision? It sounds like a marketing ploy dreamed up by people who don’t even work with polymer clay…

GEE WIZZ—I’ve gone to polyform’s FB page and left a comment there just as you ask. I’m still so upset I can barely type. Just wanted to add my name to your list of unhappy clayers.
SAVE ZINC YELLOW
SAVE COBALT BLUE
SAVE SEA GREEN
and by listening to us, you (Polyform) may just learn a REAL marketing lesson.

i’m not one to do alot of facebook’n or such But this is IMPORTANT
LET’S all that read Cindy each week and never say anything
SAY IT NOW ————————————–SAVE OUR COLORS

One thing has me rather curious. If clay artists purchase their clay through places like Hobby Lobby and Michaels, how can anyone (especially the manufacturer) KNOW if it’s the artist community purchasing it or if it’s just kids and casual users that are buying the product. Given the amount of $$ I spend each year on clay, my guess is that the artist community DOES contribute significantly to their revenue and it would be wise for them to listen.

Keep cobalt blue, zinc yellow, and sea green!!! Perhaps Polyform doesn’t realize that many clayers use primary colors to mix custom colors??? Premo is the stronges and easiest clay to use. I like Kato, which has a lovely blue and bright yellow. Kato is also strong but is often extremely difficult to condition. I admit to not having tried their new formula, though. If Polyform insists on dropping those colors I predict that Kato’s sales will sky rocket. Who in Polyform is making this decision???

I was taken aback at the announcement of the retirement of cobalt blue and zinc yellow. Those are the two primary colours I use constantly to mix the other colours I use. Please keep these colours.

Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green!!! Like everyone here said, you can’t mix these colors from other colors, they are primary colors…

I agree Cindy! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green!!!……

Thanks for your comment Carolyn. I agree that emails can also help the support this important cause. However, the big benefit of hosting a virtual petition like this, is so that everything is out in the open. A public page with a 1000 votes of support on it, is a pretty powerful document. I’m sure the decision makers at Polyform are all watching closely.

NOTE TO POLYFORM (AND IRIS-W): My sincere goal here, is to help you guys see how important this issue really is. I for one, would love to remain loyal to your Premo brand…

My hands hurt, but I agree with Lawrence, so:

“OUTRAGEOUS !!! What is Polyform thinking ? Not the first time they have screwed up with clay colours such as the now defunct Studio clay.
I guess STAEDTLER FIMO and Kato Polyclay will be laughing all the way to the bank.

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!
!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!”

@Koolbraider: You bring up a really good point. I’ve just written my letter to Polyform. Thought this was an important point as well: ….”Please keep in mind that many of us are also parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and love to introduce and incorporate clay with the children in our lives. I’m less likely to buy from a company I’m not happy with – Premo, Sculpey – and will find it easy to reach for the less expensive brand instead.”

Signing the petition to show my support. Also left this comment on their Facebook discussion page:

“Premo is touted as being based on an artist’s palette. Getting rid of two primary colors, Zinc Yellow and Cobalt Blue, seems to go against the brand’s image.

As Tonja’s comments indicate, this decision also shows a disconnect between Polyform and the claying community. Many polymer clay artists I know have been working through Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio’s excellent color book, which relies heavily on mixing your own colors from the primaries. Maybe the people who mix their own colors aren’t the bulk of your customer base — maybe the dollar signs show that many customers want straight-from-the-package colors. But do you really want to frustrate the designers and artists and teachers who have spent countless hours mixing their personal color schemes using primaries you’re now discontinuing? Those designers and artists and teachers are the ones who support and promote your brand by recommending it to new clayers.

Please re-consider.”

Good luck with the petition!

I really will miss may of the pearl colors, the primaries are so needed, please keep those and sea green !

Plz don’t discontinue the cobalt blue, zinc yellow, or the sea green! You can keep them and actually add other colors, y’know – it’s ok!!! Really!!

Well I never heard of any sort of manufacturer of colour products ever thinking of getting rid of Primary colours. That’s where it all starts for every little thing you do in colour.
I always told my students to buy 3 primaries and black and white and colour mixing goes from there, be it paint or polyclay,so it amazes me that a company whose business it is to sell primary colours in clay like this, is so STUPID as to forget where it all comes from.
I can’t see their reasoning.!!

Save COBALT BLUE,ZINC YELLOW AND SEA GREEN!!!

TO SAVE THE COMPANY, THEY NEED TO HEAR WHAT THE TRUE ARTISTS ARE SAYING,
or it will be a melt down for them. They are not the only poly clay makes around. ZINC YELLOW is vital to our colour mixing.
E XX

Thanks Cindy! I posted a link here from my blog also.

The first line of the product description for Premo! says, “Premo Sculpey is an artist’s dream come true! “. While that may have been true, it is no more. When you take away two primary colors (cobalt blue and zinc yellow), you take away an artist’s color palette. Polyform says it will have recipes for cobalt blue and zinc yellow. How in the hell can you mix a primary color? Well, you can’t. They will not be exactly the same, nor will they mix exactly the same. Artists mix their own colors. It is part of what makes their work unique.

Please Please keep Artists primary colors: Zinc Yellow & Cobalt Blue. They are essential for color mixing and no ‘formula’ to achieve these colors will work in the same way

Im very disappointed to hear about this. An extremely narrow-minded and short sighted decision, which I sincerely hope they reconsider. I came back to Premo because of the artist range of colours, to remove three of the most important of them means I might as well go back to a polymer clay that costs me less like Kato.

Premo has been my favorite polymer clay for many years, both for its workability and its color range. I don’t understand why you’re removing two of the basic primaries: zinc yellow and cobalt blue. They’re essential for artists in this medium. Please don’t let them go!!! I don’t use sea green, but can understand how difficult it might be to mix. Sometimes there are colors which just can’t be duplicated exactly. Please listen to us, Polyform!!!

Please keep Cobalt blue,Zinc yellow and Sea green!!!

As a polymer clay artist, I use these colors extensively and they are primary colors. You are REALLY going to discontinue PRIMARIES? That is absurd. I realize your biggest market is most likely the hobbyist that just “plays with clay” but there is a large base of polymer artists that use your product and create objects that are sold for their livelihood. There is NO WAY CAN THESE PRIMARY COLORS BE MIXED. New colors are welcome but please do your research about primary colors. Several national artists have recipes developed with these primary colors and books have been written using these primary colors for mixing. PLEASE RECONSIDER!!!!!!!!

Please save cobalt blue, zinc yellow and sea green. These colors are essential to blending a plethera of colors. Keep these colors in your line, I am willing to purchase any of your new colors that you develop. Its always great to expand your horizons. Give us more to purchase.

Polyform’s decision is short sighted development at best. Please listen to the artists who have supported your product.

This year at CHA in Anaheim, the Polyform representative told me they were making changes that would make clayers very happy. I wonder what they were talking about, as this can’t possibly hit the target to make us happy. It just tells me that they STILL don’t know who the customers are. They STILL don’t understand how many of us recommend Premo first before any other clay. They STILL don’t understand to whom they owe the success of their clay.

SAVE COBALT BLUE, ZINC YELLOW, SEA GREEN AND THE FLUORESCENTS! COPPER AND GLOW, TOO!

(Do you REALLY want to bet the business to see what happens if you don’t, or are you willing to gamble on a mutiny!)

Hobbiests may buy and use PC once or twice but committed artists like ourselves buy the product over and over. When I teach a PC class I always encourage students to buy and use Premo so I am helping to lead people to this product. I go to the store I see rows and rows in numerous colors in Sculpy III, now you cannot tell me there is no room in the Premo line for these three colors !!!!
Here is a shout out to my Clay Neighbor in Central Iowa Chris D.

to Polyform Products,
You have many artist using your Premo! product because of your faithfulness to the artists colors palatte. I personally prefer Premo! because of the colors available to mix true colors and secondary colors for my work. Using true artists colors is a great help in color theory. What would we ever do if a artist paint manufacturer eliminated two or three of their pigments in the primary range. Brands would be switched in a moment. This will also happen to Premo! unless you reconsider eliminating the Zinc Yellow, Cobalt Blue (a favorite) and Sea Green (one of the best colors) Violet is also a favorite of mine. Maybe you could add a medium or dark Cadmium Red while you are at it. After you eliminated the Brilliant Red color, I was never successful at mixing just that color from the recipe provided by Polyform. I am very disapointed in Polyform at this point. Thanks for listening

What? Are they crazy? Don’t they realize that serious artists are using their products and not just a bunch of kids who want glittery, nonsense colors? They should keep all the original colors and add to their line. What are they thinking (apparently they’re not)?

Dear Polyform,

I buy zinc yellow and cadmium blue in the big bricks several times a year because they are ESSENTIAL to color mixing. Please keep those colors!

The world of polymer clay needs those primary colors of blue and yellow. Please rethink that decision.

Please, please, please keep primary colors Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow! They are essential to color mixing and many art pieces myself and others reproduce have been dependent on them. You should keep all the usual colors and add to the line but not discontinue any of them, even the glow-in-the-dark clay is a keeper!!!Please listen to those of us who use these colors and keep them in the product line up. Thanks

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

THESE COLORS ARE PRIMARIES and A MUST for ARTISTS. I’ve just started to enjoy my Premo…

I’m just one of those “clay hobbyists” but even I know you don’t get rid of primary colors. Please reconsider.

Just wanted to add my voice to the many already here.

Please, please do not discontinue the primary colours. This is devestating news for all of us who use these colours in our work.

Eveyrone has pretty much said what needs to be said about them discontinuing those colors. What I don’t understand is why they didn’t contact the claying community and ask what they thought before they made the decision. They could have gone to Cindy or The International Polymer Clay people or the great artists who have put out books with recipes in them and asked what they thought and gotten some feedback from the people using the product before they made the announcement. Are they having trouble getting the ingredients for those three colors? I would have thought they were making a ton of money selling those since they are primaries. Maybe they just did this so they could sell a bunch all at one time and then they will change their minds.
I use all three of those colors a lot and I have been stocking up but I hate to have clay sitting around here in Arizona for a long time, it turns to rocks because we have no moisture.

Please add my name to the list of people who think this is a bad idea.

I’m excited about the new colors but without the primaries- – – – no thanks.

If it’s cost issue, raise the price. If we need the medium, we’ll find a way to pay for it. Could you imagine taking those colours away from a painter? Anarchy! Please rethink this, Polyform.

as posted on Tonja Lenderman’s facebook:
In tough times it is wise to run fewer skus in inventory. Dropping primaries used by artists is a mistake, at worst a statement. The demand to use a color out of a package speaks of a casual user. It appears that Polyform has “run the numbers” and decided– that casual user is their market. For the 10 years I’ve known Polyform, they have promoted and dropped idea after idea. Always looking for the next thing to bring them profit. Artists who make their living selling product made from their clay and artists who write and teach will always be their economic core. These actions will leave a bad taste in the mouths of those they need to retain as loyal customers.

My dad is a color expert. Be is in his early 80’s and still in high demand in the ink world. He has helped me countless times when I was mixing my clay colors. He said zinc yellow us a key color for so many mixes that it will be a huge loss in the long run to remove that color. Furthermore it is impossible to mix colors without primaries so save Cobakt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green and copper too!!!!!

ne suprimez pas ces couleurs essentielles….vous perdrez autant que nous!

You cannot “mix” a primary color! Do not eliminate the three primary colors essential to artists! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, and Sea Green!!! I have only just begun to expand my work into polymer clay and had settled on Premo!, but am early enough in my work to change to a different clay. You WILL lose a loyal customer base with this change!

We need our primary colors. Without them- you are not going to see the beautiful creations that you see now. You will force us to use another brand to get these colors. We like Premo above the other brands, thats why its so upsetting to us. Please listen!

I just read about this over on the Craft Test Dummies blog. NO WAY!

Please don’t discontinue Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green.

This seems to be an announcement that Polyform is rejecting the arts market for the Crayola market. “Sunshine? Candy Pink? Rhino Gray?” Ugh.

From discontinuing the Studio line and painterly primaries to pushing cartoon colors with cutesy names, they’ve cast their lot with what they perceive as a more profitable customer base. I don’t get it; isn’t one kiddie line (Sculpey) enough?

bad bad decision. for those who have contacted Polyform, has anyone heard back from them?

I am another diehard Premo user who relies on Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow, as well as the flourescents. Please, Polyform, don’t take away our primaries and flourescents. Although I look forward to some of the new colors, I would gladly give them up to keep my Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow and flourescents. None of these can be “mixed” from other colors. Smiles, Sue C

If the rationale were simply getting rid of unpopular colors, I would be more understanding: it’s business. But I’m not convinced that cobalt blue and zinc yellow weren’t selling. It seems more likely that some beancounter figured that with ultramarine blue and cadmium yellow on the roster, the others wouldn’t be missed. Baloney! I use Kato more and more anyway and am likely to just switch from Premo altogether.

Well Kato and Fimo aren’t the only games in town, I’ve been meaning to try Pardo and this just might be the time.

I love the addition of the new colors, but it is essential to keep the Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green. I have been a loyal Premo user, and don’t want these colors removed. If my voice or signature mean anything Polyform please pay heed to what your CUSTOMERS are saying. The neons add so much also. Please don’t disappoint your customers to the point of chasing them away.

!!! Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green !!!

Premo is not my primary clay but I understand the necessity of maintaining vital colours which make up a traditional artists colour palette, especially when hundreds of colour recipes and whole books have been based on these colours.

POLYFORM please rethink your decision.

Premo is my favorite clay, and cobalt blue and zin yellow are basics in my clay work¡¡¡ please don’t take my favorite colors

PLEASE save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow, and Sea Green

This seems to be an “crafts” decision by some marketing “guru” with a “clay-doh” mentality. Allot of us are trying to raise this medium to an accepted art form with the emphasis on art, as such, the phrase “primary” means a building block for a plethora of other colors that are key to our expression. Save Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green, they are key elements in creation, ours artistically, and your future financially. I have sung the praises of Premo ever since I first started using it. Please do not ruin this product line by discontinuing the basic “spokes” of support on the color wheel.

I heard in my PC guild that they were also going to discontinue Premo Glow in the Dark, which is my favorite brand of glow in the dark clay. I want them to keep all the current colors, including glow in the dark, and add new ones as well. I love working with Premo and use it in many of my sculptures.
-Michelle of CreativeCritters

no…no….no…no….no….please no! don’t do it…please don’t do it. zinc yellow, cobalt blue and sea green….what are you thinking? don’t….don’t….

hi
sad day in beadland, when i hear about these changes. i am shocked about this news. i am a polymer clay artist living in the yukon, and have been working with premo for 10 years. these are primary colors, and i don’t think there is a recipe to make zinc yellow, for example, on your own..with other colours???
i do a great deal of colour blending, and i have never inadvertently come up with zinc yellow when mixing. of the 40 colours i use, it is #3 on the list, based on the use of 5000 blocks of clay!
and glow-in-the-dark…..that’s a hard one too! sculpey III is not strong enough for anything sculptural.
what’s wrong with the existing artists’ palette?
why are you doing this Polyform?

sincerely
lara melnik

Looks like they’re keeping Zinc Yellow and Cobalt Blue at the very least. Check page five of their New Colors topic on FB: facebook.com/topic.php?uid=106551216055451&topic=456

Of course this is after I said good-bye. I may reconsider, not entirely sure yet.

Well done everyone!!…especially Cindy & Doug for allowing us to voice our concerns through this petition. After reading many insightful ideas makes me wonder who is guiding Polyform with their decisions? I think they could benefit greatly in hiring – as consultants, those who helped contribute so many brilliant comments this weekend!

BTW – I ordered the Zinc,Cobalt and Sea Green from a dealer this a.m. !!!!Figures, huh? Oh, well -now I am stocked up LOL

Yes… good news! Our outcry has saved Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow from extinction. YAY!!! However, as Linda K. stated above, Sea Green was not mentioned in Polyform’s recent update announcement. So I’ve sent off a letter to Iris at Polyform about that.

I really want to send a BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for adding your supportive voices to this petition! We were able to make a difference because of the banding together of this wonderful Polymer Clay Community and the general Crafting Community as well.

Speaking of support from the crafting community, Jenny Rohrs of Craft Test Dummies wrote a fantastic article of support for our effort to SAVE Cobalt Blue, Zinc Yellow and Sea Green! Although Jenny works with almost all forms of craft mediums, she has a soft spot in her heart for polymer clay. So when she asked if she could help I said, “…OF COURSE!”

As well there were many other’s in the Blogging World who rallied for this important cause. Here are are all the links that I know of… listed in Alphabetical order:

Amy Crawley – Musings from the Moonroom
Angela Mabray – Crafty Goat
Carol Simmons – Carol Simmons Designs
Chris Dembinski – Crafts By Chris
Connie Massie – Desert Wind Designs
Cynthia Tinapple – Polymer Clay Daily
Deborah Steinmetz – Deborah’s Daily Dish
Jenny Rohrs – Craft Test Dummies
Lindly Haunani – Co-Author, “Color Inspirations”
Montreal Polymer Clay Guild – Groupe bilingue de polyméristes
Niki – Positively Charming Things
Nora Jean – CITY-o-Clay Forum
Penny Vingoe – Clayaround Email Newsletter
PolymerClayCentral – Community Forum
Susan Averello – Fantasy Clay
Tonja Lenderman – Polyclay Corner
Vancouver PolyClayers – Members Forum

If I have missed anyone… my apologies. Please let me know and I will add you to the resource list. It was fantastic to see the crafting/art community banding together like this! THANK YOU!

So exciting… great news!

See what social media can do? When we all band together, look at what we can accomplish! :) I love it!!!

I agree with you totally and join your petition. primaries should not be discontinued!!

Hi Cindy, I am adding my comment to your list I was glad to hear they have changed their mind about two of the most important colours cobalt blue and zinc yellow I just hope we can change their minds about sea green which is the green I use most. Being supposedly based on an artists pallette which is how it was formerly advertised was the main reason I chose Premo in the first place. My daughter uses a lot of green pearl in her sculptures so she was disappointed to hear it was being cut too.

Sea Green is such a beautiful colour! I use it all the time and would really miss it! Please don’t take it away from the people who support your business.

Whoa! Crisis averted before I knew there was a crisis! Thanks to all of you for saving our colors. I’ve been busy with work (and claying) and didn’t even know this was going on. I was happy to read that “Frost has been renamed White Translucent in order to clarify it’s color to new users. The color has not changed.” I buy pounds of Frost. But Sea Green is still in limbo, I’d better stock up. I am, however, excited about some of the new colors.

Sea green – such a beautiful color! SAVE SEAGREEN!!!

I have been working with Premo clay for countless years. To discontinue Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow would be a major blow to my business, Do you realize, some of the polymer clay artists out there, don’t just “play” with the clay. we have businesses that are dependent on a TRUE color pallette.
I don’t think this decision was finalized by someone in the ART Department affiliated with your company. It is not always about Development of new products, but Research into the products that are needed by the art “business” community. You may see on paper that these colors are not selling as well, but please keep in mind that mainly artists are purchasing these primary colors, not children for school projects. Thank you for reconsidering. My artwork is very important to myself and my clients.

I am copying this message I wrote as I think word needs to get around about this. The publicing of the news is so conviently in Xmas time that I am afraid people will miss this if we do not intentionally spread the word.

I stumbled into polymer clay express blog
pce-artway.blogspot.com/2010/12/clay-news.html

where there is a text “Great News!!!
We will be carrying Zinc Yellow and Cobalt Blue Premo throughout 2011!! We are one of three companies that will be doing so. ”

so when polyform promised that they will continue those colours they actually, IMO, lied. There is no promis about continuing then further and also this this does not help my situation a bit as I am selling clay for my customers in Finland and not buying it retale for my own use. I am dissapointed and this truly ruins my xmas :(

This is what I posted to polyforms facebook page
facebook.com/pages/Polyform-Products/106551216055451

“I just readed from polymer clay express that actually, on contrary to your promise, you are NOT going to make the cobolt blue and zinc yellow available to all customers as we here in europe that are selling the clay are not going to buy your clay from retalers.

I am dissapointed on your desicion and I think you lied when you tried to convince the audience that you are “keeping” the zinc yellow and cobolt blue. “

It’s my opinion that Polyform has responded to the outcry about eliminating primary colors from the Premo line, BUT ONLY TEMPORARILY and only to avert a sudden and precipitous financial downturn. I’ve not read anything from Polyform that explains the reasoning behind their decisions. Is it a secret? Or don’t they think artists deserve that kind of respect? Or, are we being manipulated (like what happens in politics)?
This makes me even more disgusted! I don’t trust them now, and like many others will use much more Kato. Donna cares and listens and has successfully created a wonderful clay. I’d rather spend more time “activating” Kato clay than buying more of Premo to mix what was formerly available.

Please make Coblat Blue and Zinc Yellow available through regular retail stores again!

Is it to late to put my vote in? Save cobalt blue zinc yellow and sea green and glow in the dark.

@Lindly Haunani: Thanks Lindly! It’s an informative article. You are so right about Denim and Sunshine not being replacements for Cobalt and Zinc Yellow. They are pretty but they just don’t have the mixing qualities that the true primaries have.

If Polyform is unwilling to fully bring Cobalt Blue and Zinc Yellow (and the others like Sea Green and Violet) back, the least that they could do is put them in Artist Master Packs like I suggested some time back. They did make some multi-packs of Classic colors, metallic, pearls, etc. but unfortunately left out these key components to the artist’s palette.

As well, the one pound blocks could be made available in a select few online locations for the artists that use larger volumes of those particular colors. This solution would mean that the stores would not have to carry large quantities of less popular colors and the artists as well as the general population would still have access to all the colors they need.

It has been more than six months since first hearing about this, and I am still pretty torn and frustrated by this situation. On one hand I love the new colors and so do my students. Anything that draws the beginner into the fabulous world of polymer clay color is a good thing. But to tie the artists hands by removing key colors for their palette, is unbearable. Insane really!

I do hope that we are able to shift their mindset get the colors returned.It would be a shame to lose the foundation of what has been built and have to start again somewhere else.

Hi Cindy, Know you are busy and I don’t know if you have found out that Premo Polymer clay in Colbalt Blue and Zinc Yellow is back. It is not sold in all stores but I e-mailed Sculpey customer service about these two colors because they are so important to color mixing and being a primary color why was it discontinued. I found out it has not been discontinued they still have the colors but only a few places have them. She was nice enough and gave me a list of places that have the colors….

http://www.sculpeyproducts.com
http://www.creativewholesale.com
http://www.munrocraft.com
http://www.polymerclayexpress.com

These 4 are the only places she said order zinc yellow and colbalt blue and right now sculpey products is having a sale of there Premo clay at $1.54

You may already know this but I thought I would pass it along if you didn’t. I read all the up roar from 2011 when they announced that they were no longer going to make these colors and all the letters worked and convinced them to keep the colors… just not in big stores so your people saved them. It worked people don’t believe me the POWER OF THE PEN can mean something.

Well back to mixing.
Sandy