Polymer Clay review: new clay DAS SMART - Fimo Professional

JUST TO BE CLEAR: No one is paying me for this review, no one gave me a sponsorship of clay, I buy my supplies by myself with my own money and all I express here is my own personal opinion. I not only wanted to review this rather new clay, I also wanted to use another, well known clay as reverence. I did use Fimo Professional because I use it quite often and it is what I had at hand.

+ FIRST IMPRESSION / PACKAGING

DAS SMART (produced in Italy by FILA) is available in big blocks of 350gr and small ones of 57gr in 30 basic colors, 4 glitter, 4 metallic and 4 special effect colors.

It is a PVC based clay that needs to be baked (unlike other, classic DAS clays that are air dry), the package has some basic instructions in various languages stating for example not to cure it in the microwave but in an oven. (symbols etc. are similar to other Polymer Clay brands).

It does have the "AP" seal, so I assume it is safe to use and cure.

The 57 gr packs is divided in two thin parts sealed separately. Fila states that this innovative pack was designed for convenience and better preservation...my question is: if it does not air dry but needs to be cured, why would it need such attention to preservation? Besides, we're already using a PVC based product, wouldn't it be better to safe at least on the packaging so to not have even more plastic waste? The big blocks seem to have a reusable package and come in 10 basic colors.

I actually have no real idea what colors I bought (beside the white) since the print on the package scratches of by just looking at it so numbers and names of the colors are impossible to read.

+ HOW TO CURE

...on their official website Fila states to "BAKE" (cure...guys, it's cure!) the clay at 130°C (266°F) for 30 minutes... on the front of the packs it says to cure at 120°C (248°F) and on the back again 130°C (266°F). The question is if the chemists/producers where confused, if the graphic designer who designed the packaging got confused, or if maybe it does not really matter how you cure it? The curing temps are stated only in "C" anyway, so well... whatever suits you, just try it.

+ FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE CLAY FRESH OUT OF THE PACKAGE

I really did try to open the packaging carefully but there is no chance not to rip it. No big deal IMHO as we can just use freezer bags to preserve the open package, as usual. The first impression is not good at all - there is dust and speck not on top but in the clay. I am not sure if it does show well on the photo, but that did happen during production it seems to me.

At first touch the clay does not seem to have any elasticity at all: as soon as you touch it it will break and crumble, while being soft to the touch:

I can easily cut it in half as it is quite soft but it looks like a solid mousse, lots of air inside:

I did also cut some slices off a pack of Fimo Professional (over a year old btw): since the clay is fairly old and it is cold now the cuts are not totally smooth but as you can see there are no air bubbles (and no dirt):

The next obvious step for me was to put the clay thru my pasta machine (I use an old Atlas Marcato 150), so I did roll it thru the largest setting (n. 1) and this is the result. As expected the DAS clay has loads of tiny air bubbles inside. The clay does not crumble it is rather soft and somewhat silky to the touch (reminds me a bit of the feeling Sculpey Souffle gave me) but it has no real stretch.

on the left: DAS 1 roll thru the pasta machine on the thickest setting, to the right: Fimo Professional

zoom:

After about 20 times thru the pasta machine to condition the clay DAS does appear to be smoother, no more apparent air bubbles but it will not turn totally smooth. To the touch it is silky and sticky and while it has not much stretch it is very soft, too soft to roll it thru the thinnest setting (nr 9 on my Atlas).

DAS: FIMO PROFESSIONAL

To judge a Clay you need to see how it reacts after curing - I confess I did not try various curing times, temperatures etc. I just tried what I need: my usual settings for curing what I use most aka 130°C for at least 60 minutes. I did form for both clays a round bead, a thin and a thick log a small sheet at the thinnest and one at the thickest setting of my pasta machine:

+ TESTS ON THE CURED CLAY

Of course I am using an over thermometer and an oven to cure the clay (no boiling, voodoo or whatever here, sorry). Unfortunately the oven I was using does have some behavior issues and sometimes likes to spike... while the Fimo Professional did come out slightly off white ( you probably would not notice if you did not put it beside something bright white) DAS did not change color at all. I went in and came out bright white.

Both clays did perfectly well at 130°C for slightly over an hour BUT the round bead made of DAS has tiny cracks all over. Maybe curing submerged in baking soda could help, I did not try that.

The next step is to try and drill a hole in the beads. I use a small hand drill and while the one made of DAS is very easy to drill thru it also crumbles and there is no way to get a clean hole, go as slow as you might. (see picture below) Fimo Professional is harder to drill thru but nice crisp spirals form and the hole is perfect and clean:

see following picture:

to the left FIMO PROFESSIONAL - to the right DAS SMART

I tried to bend the log I made with DAS SMART and it soon breaks in half:

Fimo Professional does not break if I try to bend it as far as the strength in my fingers will allow:

DAS SMART: I try to roll the thin "snake" into a spring but it soon shows small cracks:

FIMO PROFESSIONAL: I can roll it into a spring with no problem or damage:

I am trying to bend the thin pieces of clay (nr 9 on my Atlas) and DAS breaks right away:

FIMO PROFESSIONAL is very elastic :

Let's try to bend the thick pieces (n 1 on Atlas Marcato) DAS does not stand a chance it cracks:

FIMO PROFESSIONAL bends without any issue:

Since the producer stat's that this clay is "ideal for making murrine (canes)" I of course want to try and make at least one cane...and as soon as I start I wonder what their definition of "ideal" might be?

Since the clay lacks of elasticity it is not easy to reduce the cane. I tried a very simple geometric design, of course with a Skinner blend and that came our quite nice, but the cane does not really like to "move". It is soft, has no spring and the colors don't really stay separated. I am aware that ai did choose light colors without much contrast to start with, if I had use black and white it would have been better for the pictures in this review...but again, since I bought it I tried to choose colors I liked ;) The lines and design are hard to see, I would never use this clay for any of my detailed canes. Maybe for a simple jelly roll... not sure. The only big point in favor is that since it is not elastic it is very easy to cut precise thin slices :D

CONCLUSION:

It is a nice clay to play with. Those who use Polymer Clay just to model figurines and cute dolls of slices of cakes and cookies might be happy with it. I does not allow for precision caning or advanced techniques. I did not try but take a look at the metallic clays and it does not look like there is much mica in it so mica shift etc are also a no go. For sure it is a fun clay for kids to play with since it is rather soft, sticky but pleasant to touch. My only doubt is about the cracks in round forms, no kid would like to cerate a teddy bear and end up with crack in it's head I guess. No that other clays for kids (Fimo Kids or Sculpey III for example) are any better unfortunately. Fila states that this clay will leaf no stains on your hands. I did you light oclors so I did not see huge colors atains but there for sure was a lot of sticky residue on my hands (and I do have cold hands). My skin is quite sensitive and with Fimo it already does dry out quite some. This clay was way worse, my skin and nails where very dry after using it. Be careful if you have sensitive skin, consider using gloves Every brand of Polymer Clay has some pro and some con, there is no prefect clay, not sure there ever could be. What you are going to use does depend on how you use the clay and what your project is. I do you varous different brands of clay, it really does depend what I need it for. Mostly I do need stability and resistance, this clay does not have them enough for me, esp after curing. It might be just fine for you, please just try it yourself. Again, I did not recieve any free clay and I did not recieve any money for making this test or this review. All opinions expressed here are my own. Since I am not making any moeny with this please feel free to distribute this review but keep the text as it is and do not take the pictures out of context or alter them in any way. Also please do give credit. You can find me here: Leila Bdiler www.LBidler.com www.Etsy.com/shop/LBidler www.facebook.com/LeilaBidlerPolymer Clay www.instagram.com/Leila_Bidler Any question or suggestion: contact me!