Sargent ArtPolymer Beige Baking Clay, 1 pound block, Easy to Use and Soften, Safe & Non-Toxic, Used for all types of Clay Sculpting Projects & Crafts

Disclaimer; I'm almost completely new to clay as a medium and just bought this to start experimenting with.I decide to go for this despite the bad reviews, and honestly I'm glad I did. The clay is definitely tough to get to a usable point, but to my understanding of polymers, that's how a polymer clay will behave. I found it was best to work with very small chunks, typically no larger than a marble. Just press between the fingers for several seconds to heat up, then knead back and forth. I was able to do larger chunks by pressing them between my palms pretty firmly for about a half minute to really warm up the clay. I started to think of the time working out the clay as a time for introspection and meditation, or contemplation on whatever idea is cooking up.You can see from the photos that the clay is able to be made smooth. Lots of kneading is the key. The clay does snap and get brittle again after it's cooled from being worked with, but the piece on the right was reshaped after being snapped from the two chunks in the middle. It also holds textures great. I played with it a bunch and it stretched really nicely too. You can seamlessly patch if it tears while stretching. This seems perfect for covering an aluminum base model or making lightweight costume/cosplay accessories. I'll try to update once I've actually baked it.If you're looking for something moldable/sculptable and lightweight that holds details, this is great. If you're looking for something that's more buildable and smooth like traditional clay, you probably want to look elsewhere.

It's my first time using clay and i've been able to create art for the first time that i'm really proud of so this is definitely a great product.Pros: It literally will not dry out on you. That eases the pressure of finishing your art piece on time, it is able to smooth quite nicely when using some water and the right tools.Context: Doing Bas-relief type sculptures :Cons: It's very very difficult to "smear" this clay. The surface of the board needs to be optimal or the clay won't stick to it, furthermore the clay tends to rip the sculpture if you don't slow down when you're doing even rough details, it seems the only way to create ridges and troughs are to physically add more clay and smear it. The distortions are not localized when making small details because the clay isn't adhered to the surface well, so the load gets transferred to the rest of the sculpture. It's not fun to spend time perfecting a horse sculpture and then adjusting the nostrils only to end up distorting the rest of the face and ruining it because the clay wants to unstick from the board.

Pros: The pros were not apparent to me until after the clay is baked, and they were as follows1. Surprisingly flexible after baking, kind of a stiff vinyl rubber bend that nicely springs back to its original shape (perfect for doll shoe soles)2. Tougher/less breakage than any of my sculpey clay creations (partially thanks to being innately bendier, I think…more internal strength, less brittle or crumbly)3. Wayyy easier to hand-carve the baked product with knife or chisel; it cuts beautifully… reminds me of that early-cure stage of bondo where a rasp can grate it like firm cheese but a fingernail won’t dent it.Cons:1. Hard, waxy clay is difficult to work. I see reviewers complaining about it being “dry” out of the package, and that is NOT what I am talking about. Honestly no one should review polymer clay until it has been properly kneaded and conditioned. I have worked for hours with this clay and can say it absolutely gets softer, but it’s just naturally a more curdlike texture than other polymer clays I’ve used.2. Sticky and shiny once conditioned. Sure it’s great to have clay that sticks to itself, but if any pieces brush together that shouldn’t, they are likely to tear in other places if you try to separate them.3. Very little smearing or blending qualities. This is the biggest con for me. Good luck trying to blend pieces together without mashing the shape.I salute the artists who can produce more complex art pieces with this clay… for me, there’s better brands out there for detailed art. I will always like to have this clay on hand for simple shapes like doll shoe soles or jewelry, where it definitely excels,… but only at the price I got it for, $13/lb.

Pro: it's not greasy, dries nicely, holds shape well for long durations if you set aside your project and come back to it a year later it's still good. Large block (1lb) I can make several characters. (With filler insides)Cons: it is crumbly. I have bought 4(?) Blocks now and they are tough to work (I use hands-not sure pasta machine would work, roller would). Best to work small chunks at a time into sheets and layer over, at least for my use. I haven't tried many other brands but sculpey 3 was too soft for me, easy to damage and collected hair too easily.

Ok so the title of this product is completely misleading. It is not soft and easy to use. It is in fact, extremely hard. Because it's so firm, if you have experience with clay it's fantastic. You can add some serious details and it holds super well but to get those details is really really difficult. The pro's and con's sort of balance out with this stuff so heres a little list.Pros:-Great for detail work, you can get really specific and work small without risking the overall quality of your piece-High quality clay, it's pretty great to work with if you know what you're doing-Lasts a very very long time, it's a small block but its kind of elastic so you can sort of manipulate it to make it look like moreCons:-Extremely firm, you're going to need copious amounts of baby oil to get this stuff workable-Crumbles easily, before the clay is softened it just sort of breaks into pieces and it's hard to smush back together-Slight smell-Really hard to connect pieces togetherDespite how much I really did not like this clay I did end up using the entire block so here's some tips I came across. START SMALL. The easiest way to make this stuff soft enough to use is to get little balls of it and douse it in baby oil. Then, after like an hour of kneading move onto the next ball and the next and the next. If you don't use your softened babyoil-clay within like two days it's going to firm up so don't soften too much at one time. As for joining the pieces together? I have no tips, never did I figure that out. I smooshed them together and it kind of worked but it looked pretty bad and needs some serious sanding.