I've told you all that I live in the Netherlands. In two weeks time we'll be in California for a short visit, and I'd love to see the huge craft stores. Which one is the best for polymer clay and tools: JoAnn or Michaels?

Hi Plientje! Welcome and may you have a fun, safe trip to my home state.

I'm guessing that individual stores will vary from location to location, but overall, the Michaels in my town is far superior to Joann's. I wish it were the other way around, since the J store is much closer to me than M's. I *do* go to both, since they carry the same types of things and often I can use a coupon. I think J's deals/sales tend to be more frequent and better than M's. It seems that whatever I buy at J's turns out to be less at the register than it was marked on the shelves.

My J's only carries Fimo and SculpeyIII...no Premo. So, when I need clay, I go to M's to get Premo. M's has professional art supplies (paint, etc.) while my J's just has crafty kinds of things. I would say that M's has a far better selection of tools and extras (e.g., metal leaf) than does J. In fairness, my J store is dedicated over half to fabrics, etc. so there's just less room for crafts.

So, have fun, and tell us about your experiences!
 

In my area the two stores are a bit different so it sort of depends on what you want.  I would suggest that before you go shopping, go online and pull down any coupons from both stores, as they could come in handy.  Michael's will accept a Joann coupon but I'm not sure if it works the other way.

No Premo at J around here.  And the new Sculpey clays are only at J.  Tools - there is a bit of cross-over but you might want to check both of them if you are looking for molds, bead rollers and cutters since those can vary and they do change from time to time.  And they will both have books to some extent.

Depending on where you are going, if there is a true ART store you might find a good supply of clay stuff, depending on the store.  Some on-line research regarding your destination city might give you some idea as to if there is a local store other than M or J.

 if I had to pick one I would say Michaels is a bit better. since mine are located in the same shopping center I always hit both and usually come home with products from both stores.

I've found that Joann's will honor Michael's coupons, but not the other way around. 

 Our Michaels honors Joann and AC Moore coupons. We don't even HAVE and AC Moore, lol.

 Hobby Lobby is another store that carries a pretty good selection of clay items. You might also want to look into ordering online and having it delivered to your hotel while you are here.

Guess I'll have to pay a vist to both stores ..... They're located in Roseville, not too far away from each other as far as I can figure out. And that's close to where we're staying. I'll tell you all about it when we're back home. Thanks to you all!

Back home again! The trip was great, we went to both stores and I spent about the same amount of money at both of them. The polymer clay section wasn't as big as I expected, but I was able to buy lots of stuff much cheaper then over here. So I'm happy, still fighting a major jetlag ;(.

We visited Julie Picarello on Friday, she gave me a mini workshop and a pair of beautiful earrings, thanks again!

This is the bead I made, it's far from perfect, I need a lot of practice ;). These are Julie's colors, I'm already figuring out how to give this technique my own signature.....

 how luckyt you are! most of us would love a mini workshop with Julie, me included! glad your trip was a big success! cool bead : )

Yes - very cool bead! Nice edges too.   Lucky you for getting a workshop with Julie and how nice of her to do that.