Hi everyone, a number of people has been asking me about the differences between polymer clay and air dry clay. There are many sites that already shows comparisons, but here’s another one :
Polymer Clay
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Air Dry Clay
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Oven baked
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Self-hardening with air
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Dries hard and solid
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Dries hard (not as hard as polymer clay)
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Plastic-like
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Porcelain-like
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Does not shrink
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May shrink a little
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Dries slowly
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Dries faster
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Can work with slowly (till baked)
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Need to work faster with
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Made with polymer polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
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Can be made at home (google recipes)
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Used to make anything but mostly smaller things
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Used to make anything, works well for bigger pieces compared to polymer clay
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Tend to be more costly
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Tend to be cheaper
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Need not be kept air tight
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Must be kept air tight
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Baking time matters depending on thickness (check package for instructions)
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Just leave it to dry. Appx 1 or 2 days to harden completely
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May get burnt with brown/black marks (oven)
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Will not be burnt (Dries with air)
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Water resistant
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Melts in water and heat
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Doesn’t need a seal coat to be water resistant
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Need a seal coat to be water resistant
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Need to condition the clay before usage
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Soft and easy to be used right away.
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Has a few precautions
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Non-toxic and child safe
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Comes in a variety of colours
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Comes in a variety of colours
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Colours can be mixed for more colours
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Colours can be mixed for more colours
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Can be painted with acrylics
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Can be painted with acrylics
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Popular brands : Sculpey, Fimo
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Popular brands : Das, Hearty, Makins
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