Hope for Translucents
I’ve been keeping an eye on the experiments people have making with the Pardo translucent clay. At this point, I think it’s pretty obvious that it is the clearest translucent on the market. It also seems to be the most elusive which is probably because it’s becoming quite popular. Just look at what can be done with it.
Here we have a Lindly Haunani inspired pinch petal necklace by Nora Pero of San Diego, California. The petals look to be made from sheets that, judging by the other photos she has on her Flickr site, are probably 2 cards thicks and yet the dark background comes through with no visible yellowing. How cool is that?
When I was in Atlanta last month, I got to see and handle some pieces made by Ellen Prophater with this clay. So clear with no yellowing, I was amazed. They sold it there but since I was traveling by car in the south, there was no point in packing some up as it’d likely be baked in my Subaru-style oven. What the heck, I’d seen it at a local hobby store. I’ll get it when I get back home.
But alas, there has been no translucent, and very little Pardo to be found all along the Colorado front range. Some intensive research on the internet brought up only two sources — Amazon, where someone who has realized the value of the rare material was selling it at twice its retail price and our friends at Poly Clay Play.
I have, however, written my contact at Viva Decor to get the scoop on the translucent clay supply. I will update you as I get information!
I LOVE Pardo. LOVE LOVE LOVE it – mostly for the translucent. It’s very strong and flexible, even in very, very thin sheets, and like you said – NO yellowing. It’s also amazing what you can do with it with alcohol inks. Hobby Lobby won’t be carrying it anymore, they’ve discontinued it – when I found out, I went to every HL in the Kansas City area to buy what they had in stock, and purchased quite a collection of the opaque colors on clearance.
My mother owns and operates Poly-Tools.com, and at my urging, she contacted the US distributor of Pardo to see if she could distribute this awesome clay via her store, but never received any reply. The website for the distributor is odd, it’s very hard to find any info on Pardo at all. I think that they are doing this product a huge injustice.
Even at it’s higher price, if this clay were readily available to me, it would certainly be my go-to clay. As it is, I have several items that are “Pardo” items (as I cannot replicate the effect with any other translucent clay), and I guard my small stash with the ferocity of a dragon. I’m so surprised that this clay did not catch on any more than it did!
What a gorgeous work of art! I have wanted to try that pardo translucent for a while now. Thanks for the updates about availability 🙂
Stunning work of art! Can’t wait to try the pardo translucent. Thank you for the updates about availability!
I decided to order some after Cynthia Tynapple’s class last week. It’s back-ordered to the end of the month there. Except for Amazon, I don’t where to get it.
I really wish they would expand and be available from more vendors.
Thanks for featuring Thanks for featuring my petal beads!
Absolutely, Nora. Lovely work.
Polygolems–write me at sbray@thepolymerarts.com and I’ll send you/your mother my contact at Viva Decor. We do really need more sources for this awesome clay.