We love a good craft! In this post you’ll find a bit of a product review and a bit of a plug for my own art–you have been warned!
My little munchkin received Mondo Llama’s polymer clay trinket tray craft kit last night as a solstice gift. (She also received a number of other fun activities which I believe she plans to dole out to herself over the next few days; thank you A & J!) It is a testament to her development that she patiently waited a whole fifteen hours to be able to dive into the project. Unsurprisingly, she requested that we forgo the suggested dish or bowl in favor of a unicorn. Sheesh, kid. We did it, though!
It’s been a minute since I worked with polymer clay. One of my grandmothers got me into it back when I was perhaps ten or eleven. Progress in this particular craft has been slow, though I am quite fond of these lil babies: Shimmer Dragon Egg Earrings (available on my Etsy store, which I just reopened now that I have the mental capacity to ship things again!)
The clay in Mondo Llama’s kit is very different from the Sculpey, Primo, etc. polymer clay that I’ve worked with in the past. It was very easy to massage, roll, blend, etc. with no crumbling even during the third hour sitting out. Not bad at all for little kid hands either, though my kiddo molds with beeswax on a daily basis so she’s used to putting in the work. We did go ahead and use all of it, just in case it did not store well. It left a waxy feeling on my hands and began sticking to the mat; after a while, pieces would leave little bits behind on the mat. I switched to parchment paper (something like this) and found that to be a better work surface. What surprised me the most was that even after cooking 20-30 mins in the oven, it was still soft! When any of the pieces touched another piece while in that state, there was a transfer of clay–as if it had melted a little. After being left to cool for 15 mins or so, the pieces hardened up enough to be usable. That said, they were all a bit pliable even when completely cooled. It seems that this is normal for this brand, just a bit interesting for me as I’ve never experienced that before!
Now, without any further ado… the yield from this kit is unreal! We were able to make the aforementioned unicorn trinket tray, a lil ghostie, a ruffled dish for the ghostie to live in, a kit for her dolls (four plates, four bowls, one fruit bowl, a smattering of bananas, apples, avocado, bread, pasta, bagel, and plums/blackberries), and two dishes for her play kitchen. Tangerine for reference.
