i am looking for a cheap altenative for fimo crafting clay are there any other brands out there?

Question

we are going to be constructing wizards and faieries to sell would also like info on cheap molds to buy or make

Answer 1

Yes, there are other brands of polymer clay besides Fimo (Fimo is now actually 2 different clays --FimoClassic and FimoSoft). Some of the others brands of polymer clay sold in the U.S. and western Europe are Premo, Kato Polyclay, Cernit, and the Sculpeys.

(There is a difference you might want to consider in the strength of different clays after baking. Original Sculpey, SuperSculpey, and Sculpey III are weaker after baking, especially in any thin or projecting areas, and will more easily break off or chip with stress. FimoSoft is somewhat stronger. But the “strong” polymer clays are Premo, FimoClassic, Kato, and Cernit.)
You can check out this pageif you want to read a lot more about the various brands and types of polymer clay, and their characteristics and differences:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/Characteristics.htm

There are cheaper ways to buy polymer clays though than you might be doing... e.g. buying online in larger "bricks" of clay rather than the small bars you might be buying retail. These days, the Kato Polyclay brand has great prices by weight.
(Sculpey has really large boxes of plain white "original" Sculpey, and boxes of flesh-colored SuperSculpey as well, which are cheaper than bars if you can put up with their strength problems).

If you want to check out many online suppliers of polymer clay, and which brands they carry, look on this page… then shop around since their prices can change:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/supplysources.htm
(… click on *Mail Order*…)

Also, for saving money on clay in general are you aware that you can use all kinds of things as "armatures" under the clay so you can end up using less? For example, tightly-scrunched balls of aluminum foil can be used under a layer of clay, and many other cheap things can too. This is true even for small clay items.
Here are some pages to look on if you want more info about that (though I don’t know what size or complexity of figures you have in mind):
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/armatures-perm.htm
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/covering.htm
(there are other “sculpting” pages at my site as well… if you’re interested in checking out all I have, click on the Table of Contents page that’s part of the alphabetical navigation bar on any page)

As for making molds for polymer clay, or with polymer clay, look on this page for loads of info:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/molds.htm


Good luck!

Diane B.