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This is a review for Hearty Super Lightweight Modeling Clay

I bought this clay from Joann.Com and it cost me $3.49 for this 1.75 oz package. I use it to make miniatures and with this package I estimate I can make about 130 3/4″ pieces so this can go a very long way.

This is how it looked when I first opened up the package.

It looks and feels just like a fresh marshmallow. It really is very soft , I can tell it has alot of air and not alot of moisture. When I first grabbed a piece of it, it pulls apart very easily and here is when the truth of working with hearty clay comes out. Due to the fact there isnt alot of moisture in it I can tell I cant work it too much. I tried to sculpt a few items but since it is soft and dries a bit fast the surface tends to crack some. I tried to smooth out the cracks but that didnt work out too well. I even added a touch of water where the cracks were but it didnt really smooth it out too much.

Here is a picture of the marshmallow I tried to sculpt. hehe after opening the package I just could resist making a marshmallow.

As you can see in the picture even with such a simple shape as a marshmallow it gets alot of cracks. It was because hearty clay really is not good when worked alot. I take that back, I didnt even work the clay alot , hearty clay is the lazy clay of air dry clay. It needs to get a job and get to work.

So I then decided to try it with my molds and whoila this is where Hearty clay may excel. Since it dries out quickly and doesnt really like to be worked too much this clay works fantastic with molds.

and do make sure when you use it in molds that the side of the clay being pushed into the mold doesnt have any folded lines or gaps going through it or you will get an indention as shown in the macaron in the picture below. Try to make a ball as smooth as possible to get a perfect molded piece.

Hearty Clay does shrink some. Here is a pic of a cookie I made after it dried and shrank on top of my mold so you can see the size reduction.

When Hearty clay is dry it does remain flexible. It is not very weak but it is not super strong either. I know many people want to make jewelry out of it and it could work if properly sealed which I will be testing soon. It is also extremely light so it may not handle alot of rough action.

With larger pieces like the marshmallow it still feels squishy and kind of foam like. So I decided to rip it in half so I could see the texture it produced.

To my surprise and joy it has a really cool texture alot like bread which is fantastic to make miniature cakes and other desserts that need that realistic texture. You can see also the little fibers sticking up in the air but you can easily trim those with scissors.

That texture just had me amazed so I decided to right away test my new soft pastels and see how it came out.

I think it looks like I tore off a perfect little piece of french bread. woo hoo

I then colored a few of the cookies just testing out a few different color combinations to see what I can make look more real. Its not quite right yet but its a start.

I then tested how Hearty Clay blended with soft pastel shavings and it worked perfectly. The picture below it shows the light pink donuts that I kneaded soft pastel shavings in. The hot pink ones I kneaded in some pink acrylic paint.

oh and this clay does not stick to your fingers at all. This is important because when I tested creative paper clay it was a super mess so thats a big bonus that hearty clay is a clean clay to work with.

So I do recommend this clay if you’re using it for molds as used in miniatures and decoden but I do not recommend this clay at all if you’re going to try to sculpt your own pieces. It dries way too fast and cracks when trying to sculpt a smooth piece.

I will keep this post updated as I get more techniques to test out in the next few days.

Happy Crafting

~Mixi

Tags: clay, Hearty, Review, tutorial