Plasticine "Gamma"

Plasticine is perhaps the most common commodity for children's creativity. In our country, absolutely any child has probably used it at least once. The benefits of sculpting these days are obvious to absolutely everyone, so parents are actively interested in this material. Everyone has probably heard of such a brand as "Gamma", which is considered a kind of standard.

The widest popularity of plasticine "Gamma" has received, in particular, also because in fact - these are several companies completely independent of each other. It is worth considering the products of each of these brands to get a clear idea of what has fallen into our hands.

Factory in Moscow

Perhaps the most popular is the “Gamma” located in the Russian capital. This enterprise dates back to the distant 1899, although it all began not with plasticine, which did not exist then, but with paints.

However, in the following decades, the range of the company expanded significantly - it also included other goods for creativity, including children. Today, the products of this company can be found in almost any Russian stationery store.

Such plasticine by many knowledgeable parents is most often rated no higher than three - and the colors are not very impressive, and too hard, and leaves greasy marks on the hands, and heavily stains any surfaces that it touches. Of course, all these assessments are fair when compared with the products of world famous foreign brands, but here one cannot ignore the fact that the products of the Moscow "Gamma" are several times more profitable in price.

If you look at the cost of Play-Doh, it turns out that foreign plasticine is either a rare gift that needs to be cherished and cherished, or material for that child who has mastered modeling perfectly and is able to create masterpieces if you give him the material of the highest quality. As for everyday sculpting, here Gamma is most often suitable.

However, in fact, this company offers a pretty good assortment, and some parents, perhaps, should simply choose more carefully the sets for the child. In general, "Gamma" is criticized for its high hardness - they say, small hands cannot cope with this, and this is even true. But there are also wax sets "Kid" and "Bee", characterized by increased softnessmaking them accessible to the youngest children.

There is a special floating clay that does not sink or lose its shape in water. We also produce beautiful decorative pearlescent and fluorescent plasticine. Kits for creating flat panels are also produced, which initially include a field for filling with plasticine. On average, sets consist of 12-18 colors.

Ukrainian factory

There is another factory in western Ukraine, whose products are also produced under the Gamma brand, and there is also plasticine in the assortment. The products of the Ukrainian company, despite only a twenty-year history of success, have already managed to go beyond the country of origin, which only contributes to confusion. However, there are no particular differences in quality.

Naturally, this material also has advantages - in particular, it can be praised for its environmental friendliness and safety. This manufacturer does not hesitate to indicate the composition on the packaging, which most of its competitors do not.

It is noted that such a mass for modeling is non-toxic, however, in practice, the mixture smells a little of machine oil and rosin, which are normal ingredients for plasticine, but can provoke allergies in a child.

A separate feature of the recipe is the high content of chalk, which is not typical for all types of molding masses. The colors do not differ in extreme brightness, but they look natural and appropriate.

The range of plasticine produced is somewhat smaller than that of Moscow colleagues, but it is also designed for different age groups:

The softest plasticine is produced in the "Kids" series, it also belongs to the budget.
Plasticine for preschoolers and young schoolchildren is produced in the "Favorite Toys" series, for primary and secondary schools - in the "Hobbies" series.
The series "Funny Friends" has no specific reference to age - it is a fairly reliable and durable material that can hold even complex shapes for a long time, so that it can be interesting even for adult craftsmen.
There is also a series of "Fantasy", produced in a non-classical round design for our regions, and designed largely for export to European countries.

"GAMMA of Hobbies"

A kind of marketing trick was resorted to by a company from near Ryazan, which named its brand "GAMMA of Hobbies", which misleads many consumers, forcing them to think that this is the very well-known brand.

The company's website says that it is she who is the largest plasticine producer in the post-Soviet space, but at least the employees of the Luch chemical plant would be very surprised by such a statement.

The assortment of GAMMA Hobbies plasticine is produced in 10 series at once, but the manufacturer is more focused on the release of the material itself, rather than any kits for creativity. The most difficult additions to the kits are a stack and step-by-step instructions for sculpting certain funny characters, that's all the tricks to increase interest in the process. In all other respects, only the child's imagination will help him achieve success with such sets.

As for the differences between the sets, both the classic recipe and the improved one are used. For the smallest consumers, wax plasticine is produced, from which you can sculpt without any effort.

There are two types of fluorescent plasticine and one pearl, which allows you to both decorate figures from other materials and make full-fledged crafts exclusively from such material.

However, there is one interesting feature in the assortment: the company produces white sculptural plasticine in both hard and soft versions. Such material is produced in large pieces of half a kilogram and can be used for children's creativity in the form of an unusual mass for modeling, as well as used to train real future sculptors. It has all the properties necessary for a professional mass of this type.