About Fimo Effect®

Fimo was a brand created by the Staedtler company. The main competitor of this German company is the US company Sculpey. Both make polymer clay. The clay comes in different colors. One can also add different finishes to the clay. I remember playing with Fimo when I was younger. My grandma always got me high quality clay to play with. I needed plenty of water to breathe life back into the clay. It was always better to store it in the refrigerator to keep it from getting too hard. I never made anything official with the clay, but Fimo is at least interesting to play with. Fimo is designed to work with the standard toaster oven. It needs about 130 Celsius to harden. Once backed the clay can be cut and made shinny. The first modeling clay was made in 1930s for the German dollmaker Kathe Kruse. It was designed to replace plastic compounds that became scarce after World War I. Since it failed to meet the standard for doll making, the clay was given to the daughter of Kruse. The name Fimo came from the girl’s nickname, Fifi. The clay was later sold as modeling clay. It has been refined over the decades.