ACTÍVA Products - my REVIEW

Do you have crafters in your family?  More to the point, do you have non-crafters in your family?  :)  This most recent review product is something you might want to look into when it comes time to make a prop or something to go along with a history lesson or to illustrate a talk or so many other things.



ACTÍVA Products has a product which is called Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik-Sculpting Kit and an accompanying free e-book called ACTÍVA Products' Favorite Sculpture KIDS CRAFTS which gives ideas and instructions for projects you can make using this clay-like product.  



We received the products and upon opening them discovered that there are two rolls of a wrap material that kind of looks like it is plaster-impregnated and then a bag of a powdery substance. 

My kids read through the e-book and got an idea about how the products are used and what kinds of things they could make with them.  The e-book gives instructions for different projects such as little model animals, beads, bowls, decorative items, and more.  By reading through these projects they got the idea as to how to se the materials correctly.  

Next it was time for my kids to choose a project.  My 15-year old son and 12-year old daughter were the ones interested in giving it at try.  My son chose to make a Darth Vader mask :) and my daughter wanted to make a bowl like the peppermint candy bowl in the e-book instructions.

They found the objects they wanted to replicate and covered them with plastic wrap to protect them from the sticky stuff.    They followed the directions to moisten the Rigid Wrap and applied it to their chosen form.  (By the way, in case you were wondering what it is like, it reminds me of the old cast material they used to use on broken arms!)

They let their projects dry (it took several days, but it was pretty rainy and humid here, so that might have lengthened the drying time) and then my daughter painted hers with acrylic paints.  My son wanted to leave his white and plans to hang it on his wall.

There is another part of this product and it is the CelluClay.  The texture of it reminds me of finely shredded paper or something similar (with a name like CelluClay I assume it is some sort of cellulose type product?)  This powder is mixed in a ziplock baggie with some water (the amounts aren't given, but you can add till you get the right texture).  My son didn't like the feel of the clay so he didn't use that part, but my daughter did--she made a tiny knitting bowl and ball of yarn with toothpick needles in it for her mini dolls :) She also experimented with a few other different things with this CelluClay, but wasn't happy with the end result.

So...what did we think?  Well, we didn't love it.  The wrap material was pretty neat to use, but we didn't really enjoy the CelluClay.  It was hard to figure out how to use it with the initial directions that came with the kit, but the e-Book was helpful for understanding how to mix it up.  I think that these materials would be great when you have a craft that you don't want to take too much time--it's much faster and easier to use than papier-mâché and it is nice and easy to paint.  We had a difficult time getting it smooth, especially the CelluClay It would be good for younger kids as well, because the process (other than drying) is pretty quick and easy.  I will say, also, do this over newspaper or something, because it is messier than it might appear.  My kids used it on our island and we washed it like 5x or so to get it clean.  

Oh yes, all the mini dolls seemed to have some "major accidents" this week and find themselves in need of casts :)  haha :) ...so that works too :) 

If you'd like to hear what others think about these products, be sure to click on the box link below!