1) Condition it – work it in your hands a lot to make it warm and pliable before you attempt to form it. This is especially true for very fine work – the clay need to be completely conditioned or it’ll crack. I use a pasta machine to help condition the clay – it’s easier on my hands than rolling it into a snake and pressing it into a ball over and over again! I also like to keep the (wrapped) package in my pocket for a while to pre-warm it with my body heat before I begin – this also makes it softer and easier to condition.

2) Use a softening agent. There’s a product I like called MixQuick. It looks like a white package of polymer clay but it’s a bit softer. You can add it to your clay and mix them together, and it makes your clay much softer and more workable without changing the colour.

I hope that helps! If #1 and #2 don’t fix your problem, try using a softer brand of clay. I believe that Sculpey is the softest, but may be too soft for detail work. FIMO Soft would be my recommendation, although FIMO is the only brand I’ve ever used, so I can’t say for sure whether others are better!

Thanks in Advance
Costa

I have to tell you your work is amazing!! The fruit and veggies are simply adorable!!!! They are so cute!!

I would like to ask permission to use this photo above. I’m about to release a CD about FIMO with all information and also tips and advices about how it can be used in the best way. For now it will be in romanian ( I’m from Romania but afterwards i’d like to translate it at least to english.

Sooo I am on a tour on the “www” looking for artists who would like to share their work. Along using this photo i will also add your name and your website so that people can come here and check on everything you do.
The tutorial will be in .pdf format

If you agree with that it will be great, if not, it will still be ok with me

All my best wishes and may lots of new ideas come your way!

Andreea