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