Colouring fimo: Mixing colours with fimo works like mixing paint: start with the light

colours and add (carefully: small amounts) darker colours. Go to the library and get yourself a book on the wheel of colour by Johannes Itten (he is very good, but other authors are fine too). You can start making your desired colour with paint first (write down what you did) and then try it with fimo.

Marjon de Haas (The Netherlands)

There are a couple tips regarding Fimo that I haven't seen, I would like to share. First, to soften Fimo, take a heating pad, set it on the low setting, place a piece of aluminum foil on it, and lay the cut pieces of Fimo there to warm. Second, if you don't have a pasta machine, take your Fimo softened pieces and lay them between waxed paper, then you can roll them with a rolling pin (anyone still own one?? LOL), keep rolling till the pieces are thin, the rolling will also soften the Fimo if you haven't used the heating pad. Another way Fimo can be softened is by using the rice bags made from socks. These warming methods can be used to warm the canes before slicing as well, just don't slice while the cane is on the heating pad.

Melissa Dempsey

toaster ovens for baking modeling compounds. It is truly the way to go, but you may have to raise the temperature setting a bit from the normal instructions. I bake my foods at 300 degrees for ten minutes on mine, but your oven may run temperatures differently.

Here is how to test your own ovens, takes a little time, but all future projects will be baked correctly: Bake a small piece of fimo, sculpey, etc. in the oven at the prescribed 250 degrees for 10 minutes. When cool, if it breaks easily, or crumbles, of course it is not baked hot enough, so raise the temp and bake a little longer.

Also (when cool), try this test: Paint with clear gloss. When gloss is dry, if the gloss on the piece stays sticky, it should have been baked at a higher temp and a little longer.

With a little experimentation, you will determine the correct temp for your oven and all your projects will work out well.

Mary Eccher

If you find fimo too hard to knead, there is a product called Mix Quick. Mix one part Mix Quick to one part color and you will have a very workable compound. And by the way, it STAYS that way, never to knead it (or only a little) again. Mix Quick should be available at your craft or miniature shop or CAN be ordered on-line at my website.

http://www.pannikins.com/

Just as an aside here....actually FIRM modeling compound is what you WANT, to attain an accurate miniature. Otherwise, things SMUSCH as you try to create them.

Mary Eccher

Cooking Fimo: Set your sculpted piece/s into a small pot or a lg tin can (without label on it), and fill with water. If you use a pot, don't use it for anything else, just curing. I know someone out there will have time tables for how long to simmer/boil your pieces, but I just let them simmer for an hour and let the water cool back down before removing the pieces.

Last night I made pie shells from Cernit, which is very like Fimo. I dropped them in boiling water for 5 mins. and they were hard when I took them out and drained them on a paper towel. Filled them with beads for cherry pies today and they seem to be fine.

Boiling Polymer Clay: I just place the piece in a "retired" soup pan, make sure it's submerged, and boil it for the same time as baking - 15 mins, generally. Water boils around 225 degrees, which is the recommended temp for Sculpey hardening.

Courdee

Cooking Fimo in the Aga: I have a similar (Rayburn) cooker in the UK. Your friend ought to be able to get a thermometer that can go in the warming oven and then cook the Fimo on a dish in there. It does not get anywhere near as hot as the main oven.

Colette

Bowls: The trouble with making bowls over a form of some sort is the difficulty of getting the edge even. Marbles roll around a lot! Here is what I use. In your country, wherever, do you still get Vicks Nasal inhalers? (Discontinued here) (Not the spray) Well they are the perfect former because they have a line around the top at just the place where you need to trim off the excess clay/ das/ paper clay/ 2 part clay/Fimo, etc. They are perfect for small bowls and the line gives you a straight edge to cut against.

Barbara B in South Africa

Bowls: You can also use a smaller wooden bowl to use as an impression when you make your clay bowl impressions. If it sticks, spray the bowl with a bit of PAM cooking spray.

Nancy Hunot

Crumbly Fimo: One person suggested glycerine, which I purchased, and it worked very well. I also discovered after reading the various comments that it needed to be warm which my crumbly block wasn't. I laid a couple of my blocks behind the wood stove and they did not crumble when I worked with them.

I couldn't understand why the first time, awhile back, I worked with a block in a cool room and it did not crumble, was very soft, and come to find out it is Sculpy III so maybe there is a difference.

Elizabeth Cooper

Slicing Fimo Canes: I always bake the canes first when I'm making mini candy and then slice the cane while it is still warm.  If you try slicing the cane before it is baked, it has a tendency to "squish".   Slicing while the cane is warm, not hot, gives you a nice clean cut.  Works really well when you make Starlight Mints or licorice all sorts, etc.

Paula Foerder

Fimo Warmer / Softener: The heating pad that you saw is a traditional Africa heating element. The contents usually are made of the so called, Indian corn (maize) kernels, which will not pop while heating.

I have used that pad for pain in joints and for warming clay, since I started with clay. The pads also make excellent gifts for the elderly, or those with arthritis pain. Mine is 24" long and 4" wide. It is great for wrapping around the shoulders after long hours of bending my head towards the computer.

Peggye L. Mills

Fimo Warmer / Softener: I now have one for my very own self, and it cost me about 50 cents. I also made up a small one, using a 'tired' Halloween mask as a pattern, to put over my eyes and keep the sun out early in the morning.

I used unbleached muslin for both the one I made for my poor cold feet as well as the small one for my eyes, and slipcovered them in appropriate fabrics. I would think fleece would have the effect of making you 'feel' warmer, but I would definitely recommend the slipcover approach. Mel suggested men's athletic socks, which could be emptied out, washed, and refilled.

Dani Rice

Warming FIMO: Just wanted to give everyone a little hint about using the rice bags. Be careful when you put them in the microwave. I had one that a friend had purchased for me at a department store. One time I set the microwave on 4 minutes and the tube, where it was touching itself where I had to bend it to get it to fit, not only scorched but actually burned through in several places. It was ruined, of course, and I thought I would never get the smell out of the microwave.

Ann Anderson

Bricks:  Have you considered making bricks with Sculpy? I bought 3 colors: terra cotta, a brownish granite shade, and a greyish granite shade (called "Granitex because they look like rock) and mixed a few colors together so that not all the bricks would be uniformly colored. I rolled out the 5 or 6 separate colors of Sculpy to about 1/4" and used a ruler to score lines, and cut it with a razor. Important to make lines straight so bricks are all the same size. I embossed about half the bricks with a little rectangular impression in the center of each brick, using a piece of wooden moulding that had a rectangular end a little smaller than the brick Baked them at 275 degrees F. for 15 minutes.

Maureen

Finishes for Clay and Naturals: Lately I have seen folks talking about polymer clays on SS and thought you might like to know of an alternative to the lacquer finishes that Fimo markets that mess up your brushes big time or the Sculpey finishes which seem to go bad in the bottle so quickly. Most hardware stores and home improvement stores carry Minwax products. Minwax makes a finish called Minwax Polycrylic Gloss Finish that dries super quick, water clean-up, and does not react with the clay. It also comes in a satin finish. If you need a super gloss finish it is a good substitute for Flecto Varathane which the polymer bead folks use which is not available everywhere.

While you are poking around the Minwax shelf, look for Minwax Wood Preservative and buy a can for your "stash". This stuff is great for preserving twigs, lichens, mosses, mushrooms, all sorts of naturals. Warning: this stuff STINKS so use it outside! The smell alone should kill any bugs! Several dips with drying time in between will result in a shiny finish but one dip-soak usually leaves a matte finish. It melts through plastics so dedicate an old junky pan for dipping purposes.

Sammy (I'm a girl) Smith

Old Fimo: To answer the question of what to do with old, dry and crumbly Fimo. Its my experience that there are a couple of choices:
1. Throw it away and start over.
2. Add a drop of Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion to Fimo and knead it in until it sticks together.
3. My last suggestion is what I do more often than #2, I add Vaseline Intensive Care and drop it and my Fimo into a small chopper (Betty Crocker or Black & Decker) and whirl it around until it begins to stick together. Then I finish the job using my hands or a pasta machine until I get the pieces to hold into a ball.

Barbara

Reconditioning Fimo: I am a Fimo hoarder and never, never throw any of it out. You can soften it by kneading it a long time or by adding transparent, which is a softening agent.

Mary Kaliski

Melting into plastic: It doesn't take years for Fimo to "melt" into plastic. Sometimes I put some in one of my little drawers and it eats away at the plastic...and in not a lot of time. Protect it with paper, plastic baggies or wax paper

Gail Spector

Crayola's Model Magic: I have used Crayola's Model Magic for some time now for minis and crafts. The best way I have found to keep it moist is to put it into a canning jar, or cleaned out jar from food. I've had no luck with plastic bags, even when I doubled them.

Pattie Thompson

Making fimo gold: To make fimo gold, I have a wonderful gold powder that I rub into the fimo before baking. I believe this is commonly done by polymer clay jewelry makers. The metallic powders are available at art or craft supply stores.

It has been my experience that fimo reacts chemically when incompatible substances, like clear finishes, are applied to the baked object. Not all finishes are created equal where fimo is concerned! A softening of the surface of a previously hard object is a good indication that there was a chemical reaction to the gold leaf paint you used.

Anne Gerdes