My Kato Polyclay First Impressions… Finally!
Video #333: To me, the overwhelming difference between Kato and Premo, is… (you will need to watch the video to find out ;-).
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IN THIS POST: — kato polyclay — premo sculpey — odor — scent — strong smell — strong — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Finally, getting the chance to try out Kato Polyclay.
- What the packaging looks like and the sizes of blocks available.
- Comparing the differences in consistency, texture, smell, baking temps, hardness of Kato clay to the other brands I use.
If you have worked with Kato Polyclay before, are you sensitive to the smell? If you haven’t, do you think the smell would make a difference to you or not? - Plans for doing more testing with Kato Polyclay, since it is such a popular brand with so many polymer clay artists.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
00:00:03 --> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today's studio tip I'm going to
00:00:08 --> 00:00:13 talk a little bit about my first impressions of Kato Polyclay.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:18 Now I finally got around to testing the Kato Clay, I hadn't done it yet.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:24 Now that they have a new formula that is a little bit more beginner friendly, I can now
00:00:24 --> 00:00:30 start sharing it with everybody, so I finally got some and had to take a look at it.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:38 Now it comes in these different size packages, you can get mixes with selections of colors,
00:00:38 --> 00:00:42 or you can buy them in the 2 ounce blocks.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:49 Now this is a block of Translucent, it is quite a bit different than the other clays
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 that I've worked with.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:57 The consistency is similar to Premo, just a little stiffer I would say.
00:00:57 --> 00:01:06 But to me, the overwhelming difference is that it smells really strong, the smell to
00:01:06 --> 00:01:15 me reminds me of a melted Barbie doll, and I know this because when I was a little girl,
00:01:15 --> 00:01:22 I left my Barbie sitting up on the heat register, and I melted her foot, and that's what it…
00:01:22 --> 00:01:27 what I remember it smelling like, and for me, actually the smell is so strong that it
00:01:27 --> 00:01:28 gives me a headache.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:34 But then I took it around to the rest of the family and they didn't find it as, they just
00:01:34 --> 00:01:39 said it smelt like plastic, so maybe there's some of us are a little bit more sensitive
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 to the smell.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:48 When it was baking, I found that it was a little… the smell was even stronger, and
00:01:48 --> 00:01:55 then…but after baking, it has a smell to it, but it's not as strong, which is good,
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 I’d never be able to wear it if it was that strong.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:07 Now the differences I found… also it felt a little bit like… it has a little bit of
00:02:07 --> 00:02:15 a drier feeling to the surface, a little bit cornstarch-y actually, whereas Premo and a
00:02:15 --> 00:02:20 lot of the other clays are a little bit stickier, that's what I found was a little different.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:27 Also, you need to bake it at a higher temperature, I baked these 2 samples here, one…this is
00:02:27 --> 00:02:35 translucent clay, I baked this one at 1 playing card like…thickness and this one at 6 playing
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 cards thickness.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:43 I found that it's a very, very hard clay, like when you go to bend it, it's really strong,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:47 and it's very strong this way.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:53 It is…another thing I noticed was it was quite oily to the touch when it came out of
00:02:53 --> 00:02:58 the oven, which was different than any of the other brands that I've ever worked with
00:02:58 --> 00:03:04 before, so the formula seems quite different than the other brands, the ones that I work
00:03:04 --> 00:03:10 with the most are Premo and then sometimes Fimo but even Sculpey.
00:03:10 --> 00:03:14 So those are my first impressions, I'm gonna have to maybe wait until it gets a little
00:03:14 --> 00:03:19 warmer outside and I can keep the window open to do some more testing with it.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:27 I know a lot of you just love this clay, but I have a question for you, does the smell…
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 if you've used this clay before, does the smell bother you?
00:03:30 --> 00:03:36 And then if you haven't used the clay… this particular brand, do you think that the smell
00:03:36 --> 00:03:40 of the clay would be a problem for you?
00:03:40 --> 00:03:45 I've heard some people that just feel ill when they work with it and others don't, so
00:03:45 --> 00:03:50 I'm just curious about that, what the general consensus is out there on that.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:55 So leave me a comment and let me know how you feel the smell of Polymer Clay or Kato
00:03:55 --> 00:03:56 Clay.
00:03:56 --> 00:04:01 And also if you have any other things that you would like me to deal with in a video
00:04:01 --> 00:04:06 like this, let me know what kind of products you want me to test, or if you have a problem
00:04:06 --> 00:04:10 that you would like me to solve, that would be great.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:16 If you found this video helpful, make sure to like it.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:22 And also if you don't wanna miss any more of these kinds of videos, make sure to subscribe
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 to our YouTube channel.
00:04:24 --> 00:04:29 So I hope you found that helpful and I will see you next time.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:30 Bye for now.
Our goal is to translate these videos into as many languages as possible. If you are interested in helping with this initiative, then please do contact us and we will figure out a way to make it worth your while :)
Resource Links:
- Related Video: Comparing Translucent Polymer Clay Brands
- Related Video: Comparing Sculpey, Kato and Fimo Liquid Polymer Clay
- Related Video: Resource List of Where to Buy Polymer Clay
- Related Article: Kato Color Recipes Rich Metallics Palette by Sue Fisher
- Related Video: Three Liquid Polymer Clay Brands Compared
- Amazon: Kato Polyclay **
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Hi Cindy,
greetings from the Czech Republic (Europe)!
I just watched your video tutorials and I am so excited! Thank you very much for your tips, they are very helpfull .And I must say, you are very sympatic person! Keep making videos and your nice jewelery :)
You ask about our questions everytime, so I would have some. First of all: Do you have any experiences with the brand Cernit? I dont know, if its sold in Canada, but you didnt talk about it. I am using Cernit and its good and cheap (the cheapes clay here actualy) ;)
And the second question: How to sand metalic polymer clay? If I tried it, the clay stoped be metalic and start be just dark or smoky and definitely not nice.
Thanks for your time and have a nice life :)
Iveta from Prague
Hi Iveta, Welcome from the Czech Republic! It is a pleasure having you here. I don’t have any experience with Cernit yet. They don’t carry the brand here in Canada (as far as I know) and when I was in the USA last I was unable to pick some up. I would like to try it though. It sounds like an interesting product. When sanding metallic clay, you have to make sure that you keep sanding to a very high grit 1200 to 2000grit is perfect. Then when you buff it, you will see the metallic particles that are below the surface, quite beautifully!
Hi Iveta,
Another possible reason for your metallic polymer clay becoming dark and not-nice when sanded is that the clay hasn’t been rolled sufficiently to align all the mica particles. If only the surface mica particles are aligned you’ll lose the shiny metallic effect as soon as those surface particles are sanded off.
If you’re not already doing so, make sure you repeat the process of folding the clay and running it through the pasta machine in a consistent direction at least 10-15 times. Personally, I repeat this more like 20-30 times!
Some clay brands also have more mica particles in their metallic clay than others, which might make a difference.
I haven’t tried Cernit clay either. The Australian online seller that carries it only stocks a few colours, and they’re not enough for proper colour mixing (no metallics either, since we were just talking about that). How do you find the full Cernit colour range?
Sue
Well the video is good, I liked it. I have used polymer clay for some stuffs but I also find that it smells a bit more stronger for me. For many others it is not that bad. That’s may be because I am more sensitive towards smell. I prefer Fimo brand clay which smell fine for me.
Superb demonstration through the video!
I always loved making creative stuff with clay from my childhood.But later in my teenage and adulthood, studies,work,job,other responsibilities took priority and my hobby took a backseat.But I must thank you for motivating me through your post to go back to the clay.I am also trying with Kato and Premo from last few weeks and not bothered by its smell as of now.Keep sharing such great articles.