Today I worked my fingers off conditioning 8 bars of Fimo Classic!  I got a bunch of it when a local store was going out of business for cheap (some of it over half off)!  It is extremely hard to condition.  I found out a few things that work very well.   I first tried to warm the clay by beating it with a mallet.  That work a little, but I still had to spend a lot of time working it with my hands before I could get it through the pasta machine.  I then put a few bars (still in the wrappers) in my pockets while working on other stuff.  Once I thought it was warm, I then beat it with the mallet.  Sure enough, the clay became easier to work with.  Instead of spending over one hour to condition a bar, it only took 15 minutes! 

I did have one bar that took more work then just warming and beating.  For that bar I use a few drops of Sculpey Clay Softener then worked it in.  When using the softener, you want to be very careful not to use to much.  It can make your clay into a gooey mess.

On the plus side of all my hard work today.  I have a lot of clay already conditioned to use and I used up some of the old Fimo.

Posted by Helen in Tips and Techniques on April 4th, 2007 |