a glimpse of our life: ACTÍVA

The following is a review of Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik-Sculpting Kit from ACTÍVA Products with the TOS Homeschool Review Crew. An Amazon affiliate link is also included below for your convenience.

About two years ago, we added sculpture lessons to our art plans. My son continued past what the lessons covered and made his own landforms for his model train out of plaster of Paris. What a mess that turned into! I swept up piles of that fine white powder and declared from then on it needed to be an outside project. Fast forward to this review. I read about the strips and it sounded so much better than those messy boxes of powder. I knew my son would enjoy using ACTÍVA's kit, but he surprised me. He had already used this product even before we received this review box!

ACTÍVA shipped us a box like this of their Quik-Sculpting Kit. It contained two rolls of Rigid Wrap which is (described by my son as) "paper like threads cloth infused with dry plaster." The official terminology is actually plaster gauze. A plastic wrapped block of CelluClay for shaping details was also included. (CelluClay is recommended for such details as making grooves on a volcano for the lava to flow through.) In addition to the pre-coated Rigid Wrap and CelluClay that came in the box, a few additional items are required to complete the crafts. Plastic straws, water, a container to hold the water, scissors, colored pencils, paint, or markers, and newspaper are just some of the basics. Paper or plastic under the projects is also helpful for catching drips. This is so much neater than traditional plaster of Paris!

They also emailed us a copy of their free ebook: ACTÍVA Products' Favorite Sculpture KIDS CRAFTS. Necessary items to complete each sculpture or craft are listed in the ebook and in the four page handout included in the box.

Some of the ideas included in the ebook are forming sculptures of insects or dinasours and making a festive mask.
My son formed a new mountain for his train set.

The unrolled Rigid Wrap is pictured above,

and below is how it looks after dipping it in water.

My daughter followed the instructions provided and made the Rigid Wrap beads. She decided the girls that she babysits will have fun painting them. She formed these by cutting then wrapping small moistened strips of the Rigid Wrap around a straw. Smaller beads can also be formed the same way using coffee stirrers as the base. Though most projects suggest three hours to dry, these beads dried very quickly. My daughter's quick summary was that this process was neater and fun.