Whip cream mediums test

Hey everyone!

Like I said in one of my previous post, I have been trying to find new and better products to use as a whip cream. I really like silicone because it's relatively cheap and easy to buy, not like proper clay whip creams, which I have to have delivered from overseas (and that's expensive). But silicone doesn't hold the details and you can't varnish it.  Therefore I followed Tiff's advice and purchased four different brand modelling pastes. Yes, I know it was expensive :D It happened shortly after my disaster with Halloween cupcakes and it probably was a depression caused impulse :D I also bought two tubes of sealants: white Polyfilla and Unibond sealant. I forgot to take pictures of them so I just add links so you could see what kind of products they are.  I wanted to try a products similar to silicone but also being able to varnish them and glue deco items to it.

The most expensive modelling paste I bought were these two, Windsor & Newton brand. I was thinking to buy Liquitex brand, but I've read some reviews about it and apparently it cracks. The Artists' modelling paste costs about £9 for 237ml and Galeria is about £5, if I remember well (I'm too lazy to check my recite :D ).

Both of these pastes have creamy and light consistency like cream, which is what I was looking for. The Galeria was a little bit more fluffier than Artists' and I could compare it to whipped egg white :) It was really easy to pipe both of them, easier than Grace clay, similar to silicone.

The two other modelling pastes I bought were Marabu's brand and they cost around £5 each for 100ml pot. One is Light structure modeling paste and the other one is just a typical modelling paste. 

As you can see in the picture on the right, both of these pastes are grey and a bit grainy. They don't look like whip cream at all and that's why I didn't include them in my test. I don't know really what I will do with them. I couldn't be bothered to return them, so I might sell them on eBay or wait for some ideas.

The first product I've tried was an acrylic sealant. I bought it as a mistake about a week ago, thinking that I'm buying silicone sealant. I didn't read the label and I ended up with two tubes of it. I decided to try it out, but I didn't take any pictures of it. It took about a week to dry properly, and even after that time I could feel that the samples were still soft inside and I could easily squish it with my fingers and it had a bit grayish colour, not white. So the verdict is: not suitable for whip cream.

Here is my attempt to compare two modelling pastes and two sealants. The first thing that is really obvious is that two sealants are grey or even beige, in comparison with modelling pastes. They all keep they structures well and don't "melt". The Unibond, which had a bit of silicone in it's ingredients, was shiny and had a rubbery feeling. Polyfilla was mat and hard. Both modelling pastes were bright white and they kept their shape well.  I don't know if you can see it on the picture,but in reality I could see that Galeria became a little bit pinkish after a day of drying. It could be because of the black card (maybe the paint in the paper) which became wrinkled underneath both of these pastes.

I decided to check how these mediums will stick to other materials, so I applied all four of them onto plastic photo frame. I hope you can see which brands are they :) It's more obvious here that both sealants are beige not white, where both modelling pastes are ice white.  Well, after that I thought: Perfect! :) I also stuck some pearls into them to check how they will hold the decorations. All of them passed the test. The extra advantage is that you can apply a little bit of glue under every deco and you could be sure that they wont fall off. And you can apply varnish after drying for that super extra protection :)

Btw, these five dollops on the bottom right (and at the bottom of the picture above) are made from this unlucky acrylic sealant. It's not grey but it's not white either. I put them onto the frame when they were already dry and after a while I noticed that they glued themselves to it. That's the proof that this sealant doesn't dry very well.

Here is the close up of Unibond sealant. It keeps it's shape very well but ou can see how dark it is in comparison with modelling paste in the back.

And here you can see Galeria modelling paste closer. It's bright white but not shiny. I want to varnish it but I just couldn't wait much longer to post it. Yeah, I'm a bit lazy :D

I also wanted to know how these mediums will look on clay items. I've used air dry clay ice cream cones ans cupcakes. The ice creams are made with Unibond sealant and the cupcakes with one of the modelling pastes, I can't remember which one :D I'm sorry!



I have to say that I didn't bother with nice pattern on the cupcakes and I messed it up while applying the paste. The main point was if these mediums will hold the items and the metal loop, and also if they will stick properly to clay. They both passed my test :) I haven't varnished them and you can see that modelling paste is not shiny, but it still wins with the sealant because of it's colour.



So what are my thoughts after this little test? Well, I'm glad that I bought both modelling pastes, even if they were expensive. The prices are similar to Grace whip cream, but at least I don't have to wait weeks to receive my parcel, modelling paste is easy accessible in UK. I am not sure if modelling paste would be suitable for filling Sundays glasses with it, I don't know how thick layer you can apply and be sure it will dry inside. I might use silicone underneath and then top it up with modelling paste. I will definitely use modelling paste for frames etc. I might also use it for smaller items like jewelry, but for now I will stick with Grace clay as I have quite a bit of it in stock :D

I hope that I didn't make you bored after all of this comparing. Choosing the right product for a whip cream is crucial for me and probably for most of you. It has to look nice but also it has to be durable and not too expensive, as it is one of the main components in deco sweets crafts.

Thank you for reading this! :)