Where you purchase your polymer clay is important. Case in point, I was in the middle of working on color mixes for the Kato Spring 2012 color recipe ebook and opened a “new” package of magenta. The first thing I noticed was that the color in the middle of block of clay was much pinker than the outside. I thought maybe it will be ok once I condition it. Nope, the color cured a totally different shade.
So, now I’m beginning to panic, thinking that the magenta color had changed drastically and that all my color recipes were wrong. Sent a message to Tony Aquino from Van Aken, the makers of Kato Polyclay. Excellent customer service! Found out that this block of magenta was 3 years old. Huh? I just bought it a couple months ago at a local Hobby Lobby. I’m guessing this Hobby Lobby doesn’t have a very high turnover of their clay and/or someone found an old box buried in their store room. I definitely won’t be purchasing clay from them again.
This means that the Kato color recipes won’t be available as soon as I had hoped. Once my clay order arrives I will get them finished.
bummer….i hate it when that happens with my leathers & suedes too! dye lots drive me coo-coo with some colors!
I order all my clay from Clay Alley and have never had a problem. Sure you have to pay for shipping but I’d rather have fresh clay.
Getting what I now know was very old stock, almost caused me to give up on polymer clay. It was SO crumply and hard. (I use Kato). But I decided to try again about six months later….ordered a pasta machine and new supplies from Shades of Clay (wonderful on-line store) and wow, I could almost condition the clay by hand! Like you, I won’t be returning to the local store! And, again like you, I’m hooked.
Hi Jackie! Old stock can be a pain to work with. I generally order online, but occasionally will pick some up locally when I’m out…but no more.