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what kind of modelling clay should i use?

i’m doing a school project and i’m making winnie the pooh figurines so i need an affordable modelling clay that doesnt crack or crumble when it dries. i visited the crayola website and they have something called model magic and model magic fusion, does anyone know if those are good or if there are any better ones? and also the price range and where i would be able to buy them?
thanks :]

There are lots of kinds of “clay”…and some people call all of them “modeling clay” because they can all be modeled with. Technically though, modeling clays are only the clays that are “plasticines,” and those will never harden (in the air or with heat) because although they are oil-based they’ve had a wax added to them.

So if you want something that will harden, you’ll want an air-dry clay of some kind (preferably a good quality one if you don’t want it to perhaps crack while drying, and also to be able to take reasonable detail).
Or you could use a polymer clay (sometimes called “oven-bake” clay because it must be heated in a home oven for a short time to harden and won’t just harden in the air by “drying”).

Better quality air-dry clays can be purchased or made at home (they will all need to be sealed when dry though with permanent paint or clear permanent finishes).
Purchased ones (in order of quality, smoothness, and detail-ability) would be:
Creative Paperclay or Makins, followed by Crayola Air Dry Clay, Crayola Fusion, Crayola Model Magic, PlayDoh, or even Celluclay.
Homemade ones are quite good too, but the bread clay and salt dough clays would be the easiest to make:

http://www.google.com/search?q=bread+clay

http://www.google.com/search?q=salt+dough

If you want to use a POLYMER CLAY, some of the brands I’d recommend would be:
Premo, Cernit, Kato Polyclay, and FimoClassic (FimoSoft can be okay or goopy… never know).
Sculpey III, flesh-colored SuperSculpey and white or terracotta original Sculpey would be okay if you don’t have thin or projecting areas, or the items wouldn’t get much stress after baking (original Sculpey is the mooshiest polymer clay there is).
You’ll find different brands, lines and even colors at various craft, hobby, or art supply stores.
(On, and polymer clays never need sealing since they’re automatically waterproof all by themselves.)

You don’t mention the size figures you need, but as long as the clay isn’t thicker than 1 1/4″ anywhere** and you have “conditioned” it (by rolling, banging on, and/or kneading) until it’s smooth and pliable, it shouldn’t ever crack and will be quite durable.
Polymer clays can be painted on (2 coats of acrylic paint usually) or you can use (or mix together) the colored polymer clays, or you can mix artists oil paints or *small* amts of acrylic paint into the raw clay before shaping among other things.

**if an item is thicker than 1 1/4″, use a permanent armature under the raw clay like a tightly scrunched wad of aluminum foil
**if you have parts that stick out, you can use wires, mesh, or various other things inside to make them stronger

If you do want to try polymer clay, you’ll need an oven or toaster oven (and hopefully an oven thermometer, or experiment first with a *test piece*) to harden the pieces in, and something to bake the figures on.
There’s lots of info on all those things on this page at my polymer clay “encyclopedia” site:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/baking.htm

For tools if you need them, a toothpick is great but otherwise you can do most of the shaping by hand or on a work surface.

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/tools_Dremels_worksurfaces.htm

There are also a lot of lessons for making sculpts like these at my site on several pages. Many will be similar items and you can just use the basic shapes and techniques to make your items, but I’ll see if I can locate some pics of Winnie the Pooh figures in particular too:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=polymer+clay+Winnie+the+Pooh

http://www.bigbigforums.com/arts-crafts/64367-polymer-sculpey-clay-winnie-pooh-sooo-cute.html (instructions but no pics)
And here are the pages at my site with instructions/etc:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/kids_beginners.htm

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/sculpture.htm > Websites > Whimsical sculpts

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/sculpting_body_and_tools.htm

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/heads_masks.htm

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/Christmas.htm (look for bears, and other animals)

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/miniatures.htm

HTH,
Diane B.

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