Fimo Air Light - Microwaveable Review

This review is based on my experience, the first time that I got to experiment with Fimo Air Light, microwaveable clay, it is my own opinion and nothing more.

This version is almost exactly like the air dry Fimo Air Light (please see the previous blog post for a review on the air dry clay) except that as the name suggests, you can set it in a microwave. You simply make your product, pop it into your microwave next to a small bowl of water and zap at 600w for 10mins.

The clay has no scent even whilst cooking which makes it great for using with children and you do not need to have a separate microwave either. The white version is brilliant white, I added mica pigment for the creations in the image above, the gold looks great but the silver made the clay look a bit dirty. The clay is hard to keep clean and you cannot use a wet wipe as you would with polymer clay because the moisture smooths the details that you have purposely added.

I found that the texture was brilliant for making marshmallow charms though! This is another product that works better with the moulds than sculpting figures although I did create a small bird figure which has a very simple shape. Once dry the beak of the bird is extremely sharp and surprisingly hard. It can be painted and varnished once the clay has been set too.

I would highly recommend the microwave version rather than the air dry version if you are intending to use the product with children because the fact that it is so fast to set is amazing, it really helps if they want to add colours afterwards. I do not think that I would use this clay to make anything with a lot of detail but I will definitely be using it with my own children as an introduction to clay.

Fimo Air Light Review

I have only used Fimo air light once and this review is my opinion and other people may have had very different experiences with this product.

The large packet that I have is white and it is pure brilliant white, you cannot fault the colour. I used chalk pastels in small quantities to add colour to the white clay and it seems to add a really lovely effect to the clay. As the name would suggest it is an extremely light clay and is entirely differnt to the Fimo soft which I am used to creating with. It is also stickier and the consistency is more like a melted marshmallow than clay, you do not need to condition the clay at all which makes it ideal for using with small children who often find even Fimo soft a bit tricky to condition. A definite bonus is that it does not smell at all, no fumes as it bakes either because it is air dry.

It was difficult to compress the clay without creating folds and cracks, you can use water to smooth them over but as you can see from the chibi on the right, cracks and folds seem to come back as the figure dries. I found it extremely difficult to create small details without creating more creases in the clay and adding water to remove the creases then removes the details that I am trying to create.

The moulds (made by Staedtler also) are perfect for this clay, I used a dry brush to spread powdered chalk to the moulds before adding the clay and afterwards used water to spread the chalk around the shape.

The clay takes 24 hours to completely air dry, once it is dry you can paint it and create more effects but it does feel a lot like plaster and powdery, it can be sanded down if necessary and can be varnished but the examples that I have shown have not had any afterwork to them other than small dots with a sharpie marker on the chibi. After the drying time, unelievably it is even lighter, I can imagine that it would be perfect used for mobiles and large statement pendants.

In conclusion, this clay is perfect for larger pieces that require bold details but in my opinion is that Fimo air Light is not suitable for small detailed pieces. It is perfect when combined with the Fimo moulds and could be of benefit in creations where weight is a problem. However the colours that can be achived are lovely and it is well worth playing with if only for the fun of the marshmallow like squishyness xxx