I’m often asked where I buy things and which suppliers I recommend. This page will be a home for those details: it’s a work in progress both in content and organisation so please check back from time to time!
NB: While not primarily a supplier, if you’re taking a class at Sydney Jewellery School check out the supplies for sale applying to the medium your class is in. For polymer clay, the Makin’s Extruders (the green aluminium model and the stronger stainless steel version) are currently a super buy.
“Go-To” Suppliers
These are the suppliers I go to most often, whether it’s for items I use regularly or when I want something new. I’ve found them to be particularly good with their service, product range or prices, and in many cases all three! Suppliers are in Australia unless otherwise noted.
| Eclectic Studio | Eclectic Studio is run by my wonderful friend Roz Eberhard, founder of Sydney Jewellery School, now based in Brisbane. Eclectic Studio stocks Premo polymer clay and related tools, but also less common items such as etching and electroplating supplies, a great range of enamels, and the best casting resin around. Roz is extremely knowledgeable about a vast range of jewellery-making techniques and is a super person all round; Eclectic Studio is at the top of my “go-to” list. |
| The Whimsical Bead | The Whimsical Bead stocks a select range of polymer clay and jewellery making supplies and tools, including Premo polymer clay and my preferred liquid polymer clay, Kato Clear Medium. Owner Dani Rapinett is lovely to deal with and provides consistently excellent service, putting The Whimsical Bead next on my “go-to” list. Dani also runs workshops in a range of materials so if you’re in Victoria check them out! |
| Over the Rainbow | Over the Rainbow has by far the largest range of polymer clay and related jewellery-making supplies in Australia. Polymer clay brands include my favourite Kato and second-favourite (and more student-friendly) Premo, as well as others such as Fimo, Cernit and Souffle. Heaps of materials to apply to polymer clay, textures, more silkscreens than you’ll find elsewhere in Australia, as well as everything you need to assemble completed pieces of jewellery. Just remember to check the approximate order processing time shown near the top of each page as it can vary by several days. |
| Craft Online | Craft Online has a huge range of general crafting items, many of which are handy for polymer clay and jewellery-making. Think individual alcohol inks (and Copic marker refills which can be used the same way), StazOn ink pads, mica powders, embossing powders, stamps you can use as texture sheets, and a whole bunch more. Free shipping within Australia for orders over AUD $50. |
| Fire Mountain Gems and Beads (USA) | Located in the USA, Fire Mountain Gems offers USD $15 flat rate shipping to Australia and has an amazingly vast range of goodies, both of which make it attractive to buy from even with the poor current AUD/USD exchange rate. Polymer clay brands include my favourite Kato, second-favourite Premo, as well as Fimo and Cernit. Tools, beads, findings, stringing supplies, packaging, displays… you name it, they probably have it. They also have a heap of online resources for handy reference and a gallery for inspiration. |
Suppliers by Item
These are the suppliers I recommend for various specific items. I’ve only just started on this section… if there’s something you’re interested in that I haven’t listed yet please let me know! As with the first list, suppliers are in Australia unless otherwise noted.
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Sanding, Buffing and Finishing Supplies |
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| Regular wet-and-dry sandpaper up to P1200 grit | Bunnings or other general hardware stores |
| Fine wet-and-dry sandpaper up to P2000 grit | Super Cheap Auto or other automotive stores |
| Micro-Mesh sanding sheets, fine-grit sanding belts, and generally any kind of unusual abrasive |
I cut 150mm x 300mm Micro-Mesh sheets into 150mm x 100mm thirds to use, but since I’m still on my first set of thirds after years I can also recommend the 75mm x 100mm sheets You can use the same set of sanding sheets for both polymer clay and resin, but if you also want to finish metal or metal clay get a separate set for that |
| Pledge Floor Care Multi Surface Finish (alternative to Pledge One Go) | Polish Up |
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Tools and Equipment |
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| Atlas pasta machines (for conditioning and sheeting clay) | Peters of Kensington |
| Clay rolling slats | Over the Rainbow Fire Mountain Gems and Beads (USA) |
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Clay extruders Whatever you do, DON’T get a syringe-type extruder where you have to push a plunger straight in! |
Lucy Clay Tools (LC Tools) heavy duty extruder: Next best, look for stainless steel construction, or after that, aluminium: |
| Texture sheets |
Everywhere! But I particularly like: Helen Breil’s textures (and silkscreens); try Over the Rainbow in Australia and Cool Tools in the USA Cool Tools (USA); the full range of textures are a small size more suited to metal clay than polymer, but the Rolltable Texture Tiles and Mega Tiles are great |
| Shape templates |
It’s fun to make your own, but check out: |
| Icing tips and tubes for use as cutters | Baking Pleasures Spotlight |
| Bracelet and cuff blanks | The Whimsical Bead |
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Art and Craft Supplies |
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| Individual alcohol ink colours |
Craft Online (scroll down the page past the papers and 3-bottle sets to get to the individual bottles); you can also use Copic marker refills as alcohol ink NB: Many papercraft and scrapbooking stores such as Fantasia sell alcohol inks in 3-bottle sets in fixed colour combinations |
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Metal leaf NB: Suppliers often list metal leaf and metal foil together but they are not the same thing! Both are compatible with polymer clay but they are applied differently and give different effects. Metal leaf refers to super-thin sheets of metal supplied between pages of a “book” to stop it from blowing away. |
Over the Rainbow (extensive selection; most have “leaf” in the name) The Whimsical Bead (small selection; look for “leaf” or “leafing”) Craft Online (small selection but the Speedball/Mona Lisa brand is very good) |
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Metal foil NB: Suppliers often list metal leaf and metal foil together but they are not the same thing! Both are compatible with polymer clay but they are applied differently and give different effects. Metal foil (in this context) is clear plastic with a metallic coating behind it; you need to transfer that coating to polymer clay and discard the plastic. Metal foil is much easier to find than metal leaf because it’s very popular with papercrafters at the moment. |
Craft Online (extensive selection including Thermoweb Deco Foil, Heidi Swapp Minc Foil and Clear Snap Designer Foil. Note that the Craft Foils page also links to a bunch of things which are totally different) Over the Rainbow (Jones Tones and Lisa Pavelka Foils; also glueFoil but I haven’t tried that one) The Whimsical Bead (Lisa Pavelkva Foils) Fantasia (Jones Tones) Hobby Craft and Scrap (Thermoweb Deco Foil) It’s also worth trying your local papercraft or scrapbooking store as metal foil is very popular in that community at the moment. |
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Other Consumables |
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| Paper balls (for making hollow beads) | eBay UK seller “swincraft” (Swindell’s Crafts) eBay UK seller “4408nick” (Craft Unlimited) |
| Isopropyl alcohol (get 99% or purer) |
Barnes Products: I buy 5L at a time but the 1L size is also decent value You can also get small spray bottles from Bunnings or Officeworks |
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Miscellaneous |
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| Custom-cut acrylic, custom-made displays | KF Plastics |
| Product display and packaging | Shop for Shops |
Sue Fisher 