does fimo clay ever go out of date?

Answer 1

Polymer clays don't really ever go out of date, for all practical purposes, since they're oil-based --they contain no water so can't "dry" out. They CAN however, get harder over time from exposure to UV light or to sufficient heat, which is actually beginning to "cure" it ... so some of that depends on where it's been, and how it's been stored.

Hard polyemr clays can be reconstituted though (some say even if they've been fully "cured") though whether you want to try that depends on how much work you want to do to!!

Generally, if there's any give to it at all, the clay just needs to be conditioned till it's pliable.
That can involve doing these 2 things (or both):
....warming and stretching the clay (by hand, or with roller or pasta machine),
....softening the clay with additives (*just a bit* of vegetable oil, Vaseline, glycerin, special softeners sold for polymer clay like Sculpey's Diluent-Softener, or a softer polymer clay --up to 1/3 or so of a "translucent" polymer clay can be added to a color without changing it too much {SuperSculpey is cheap and convenient for that... a bit of white will make the mix more opaque again if it gets too translucent because white clays contain titanium oxide}).

There's lots more info on doing all those things on this page of my polymer clay encyclopedia site:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/Conditioning.htm


One other thing... you mentioned that the polymer clay you have is "Fimo."
Nowadays there are two lines of Fimo.
There's FimoClassic (pretty similar to the original Fimo) and there's FimoSoft (which is not that similar, and the latest version of it probably is more brittle after baking in thin areas than any of the other brands except Sculpey/SuperSculpey/Sculpey III--which is also brittle).
If you have the old original Fimo, it might be even harder than old FimoClassic would be.

If a polymer clay crumbles significantly while being conditioned, it's best to do one of two things:
... chop it up in a food processor (now dedicated to polymer clay only)... this will both create heat and some stretching, and also make the bits easier to handle and compress
....put it into a plastic bag, or something, and bang on it with a hammer all over till it begins to stick together... or continue to roll over it firmly with a rod of some kind
(...you'll also have to add one of the softeners mentioned above if it's that hard)
(...then you'll have to do the hand or machine conditioning to make it really smooth and pliable)

You might also want to check out this page on storing polymer clay if you want to know good ways of doing that in the future:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/storage.htm


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 2

i'm not sure, but it burns well. I made a dinosaur with my children yesterday and then accidently put the oven on too high. Not a good idea, trust me.
Now my family say that i can't even cook clay!!!!!