We wouldn't have Fimo Clay if it weren't for Fifi

If you didn't know the history of Fimo Polymer Clay,
you will be as surprised as I was at how it came about.

It all began in 1939

In her search for a new material to use for her dolls' heads, the well-known doll maker Kaethe Kruse begins experimenting with a new substance.

As the material turns out to be unsuitable for serial production, her daughter Sophie does some experimenting of her own with it, mixing pastes and colours into it and then kneading it into whole variety of shapes and objects. She uses the material to create vases, mosaics, pictures, miniatures, figures and toys. Sophie Rehbinder-Kruse sums up her philosophy as follows: ‘‘Mankind instinctively wants to model things; it is his way of cherishing and preserving something dear to him”. As a result, she goes on to develop her first modeling clay kit in 1954.

She created the brand name FIMOIK by using the first two letters of her nickname ‘Fifi’, the ‘Mo’ from modeling clay and the final letters of ‘mosaic’, one of her favorite techniques.

It wasn't until 1964 that Rehbinder sold the formula to Eberhard Faber. The manufacturer tweaked the formula dropped the "IK" and renamed it FIMO.

Origin verified: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fimo

Can you imagine ~ It took a few more decades before polymer clay began to catch on as an art medium

Sculpey

In the mid 1960s, Zenith Products Company in the United States "accidentally" created its own variety of polymer clay. The company developed "Polyform" in hopes of using it as a thermal transfer compound. While it didn't work in its intended industrial capacity, a young visitors interest illustrated that the product had great potential as an arts and crafts medium. (The owner's daughter sculpted an elephant from the clay.) "Polyform" was the original version of what is now known as "Sculpey". Though the white Polyform/Sculpey was sold as early as 1967, it didn't get its present-day brilliant line of colors until 1984. Until that time, artists had to add their own pigments to colorize the clay. polyform products began manufacturing an American polymer clay (the Sculpey and ProMat line of products) and in the late 1990s, polyform introduced their Premo line . With this line came the first, strong and truly translucent polymer clay, and in 2003, renowned polymer clay artist Donna Kato introduced her own line of polymer clay.

"A Thing a Day"

For the past three years Polymer Clay Central has held a "Thing a Day" for the month of February. This is my first year to do this and I am having such a great time with it. At the end of the day, it is so much fun to see what everyone has created.

Below are a few creations that I have created for TAD

Little Imp ~ Big Heart

This little polymer clay Imp has a big heart and very tiny wings. As it is, he can't get very high off the ground and with this big heart he's carrying around it's utterly impossible. I created him with polymer clay and large glass beads for eyes.

Pearly Puffy Pendant with Fish Bail

I created this pendant with white polymer clay and embellished with a swirly stamp and gold mica powder.

I thought the fish bail was a perfect fit for this creation.

Blue Beaded Heart
To create this pendant, I made a heart out of black clay, filled it with blue/green beads, then used clear embossing powder as a fixative.