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In July 2012 I was given some Jovi airdry clay as a birthday pressie.
Now as you know – I am a creative paperclay/delight clay type of gal.
Well I decided to keep an open mind and try out this block of Jovi airdry clay for a project.
Well price wise it is definitely different to creative paper clay.
For the same amount of clay in NZ dollars you can get Jovi for approx. $6 and creative paperclay is about $14 for the same amount. Vast price difference.
Jovi is easy to find in town – warehouse, warehouse stationery stores, Whitcoulls, paper plus etc all carry it.
Creative paperclay is a little harder to find but you can get it at zigzag.co.nz and other online stores. As well as hands ashford craft store here in Christchurch.
It is heavier than Creative paperclay. Similar to work with. Jovi is more of a plastic clay feel opposed to creative paperclay that has a paper or organic feel.
I can work with it nicely but the weight of Jovi is very heavy.
I wrapped my Kokeshi Doll around an old used cotton reel left over from sewing to aid the drying speed… The head is solid clay…
Standing 8cm or nearly 3inches high this doll dried to the touch in one and a half days. I know I’d be waiting for creative paperclay to dry for longer. Fully dry in 4 days.
But the shrinkage is quite noticeable….
About 3mm noticeable. See the bottom? That was level when newly moulded. Now it’s shrunk. Lucky it’s on the bottom and won’t be noticed much.
The hair piece shrunk a bit..
see the small gap? Yea I managed to clean it up so it wasn’t looking bad with a craft knife. But that crack on the neck line may have to be covered up with an embellishment I think.
I looked up Jovi on the Internet and found that it is marketed at children and teachers. I can see it being used in the class room nicely but equally in an art studio with skilled hands.
I wouldn’t stick it to canvas…. Too heavy. They suggest on the website and their YouTube channel to stick dry pieces on it with white glue. So I don’t think you could add wet clay to dry clay like creative paperclay.
Jovi has no strong smell – just a hint of clay/plastic sent that you have to sniff up close.
Painting…
Because of the plastic type of feel I didn’t try to attempt to paint it with my stampin up inks or watercolour paints…. I opted with Acrylic paint.
Acrylic paint takes to the surface really nicely without sinking into the product and having to paint it twice. I like this.
Here is a mini bonus…
To mix a skin colour get a large blob of white, 1/4 of the size of it in the burnt umber (darkish brown), and add little bit of orange… Keep adding orange to get the colour of skin you want. If you add more burnt umber then the skin colour will get darker… All depends on what colour skin you want your painting/doll to have. I love that formula for skin colour mixing its saved me many a time.
Well overall the Jovi clay isn’t that bad and when I can’t get hold of the creative paperclay I’d probably reach for the Jovi as a stand by… All depends on what I want to make of course.
And the finished Kokeshi Doll…
Thanks for dropping by.
I did not get paid for this review. Jovi was given as a birthday present in July 2012.
Thanks Debra, I’d noticed the shrinkage too, when an embossed strip was applied to clothespegs (then painted and coated in ice resin after it had dried). You can also put it in an oven – we had it set around 100-130 degrees C to hurry the drying process some.
Great review, Debbie! I’ve not seen this product before. Your little doll is so sweet!
Thanks Anne. Alway scared putting air dry clay in the oven because the faster drying can cause more cracks.
Thanks Nancy.
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