DIY Air Dry Clay
July 17, 2012 by Jessica Christman
Filed under General Crafts
Air dry clay is one of those staples that every crafter should have in their arsenal. Handy for a variety of projects, it’s also easy to make with supplies you already have in your kitchen. As with any stove related project, children should only make this with adult supervision.
Things you’ll need
3 parts salt
1 part cornstarch
1 part water
Pot
Foil
Wooden spoon
Things to do:
1. Add your water to your pan and bring to a boil. Slowly add your salt to the boiling water until all has been dissolved.
2. Little by little add the cornstarch, stirring as you go, until the a solid lump of clay forms.
3. Dump the clay onto a sheet of foil and allow it to rest until it’s cool enough to handle. Once cool, knead until smooth and then use in your projects.
4. This clay will dry to a smooth finish overnight.
Can this be stored in any way? Or does it have to used right away?
You can store the clay in an air tight container or in a ziplock baggy for a couple of days with no issues. After a while, it will dry out though.
is it absoutely necessary to use a wooden spoon?
No I dont think it would be absolutely necessary to use a wooden spoon for this project.
errm i cant get mine to work it ended up a gritty salty ball that didnt harden not sure where i went wrong but i definatly had the right quantities….?
Did you dissolve your salt in the water first? If your texture is too thin, try heating it up a little longer until it is thicker. Let me know if if this helps and please let me know if you have any other problems!
Do you dissolve the salt in the water first? Mine had a bit of a grainy texture.
Yes, dissolve the salt in the water first. This should help with your grainy texture issue! Please let me know if you have any other issues.
didnt know you could make this stuff until last night, i now have 18 mini masterpeices drying in the kitchen, my son made me snowmen and snails. honestly the quietest afternoon weve had in months! thank you.
can clay be coloured and at what stage .Cooking stage or Kneading stage.Also can dough/clay be kneaded in electric mixer with dough hook?
Great questions Trish! You can color the clay with food coloring. Do this in the kneading stage. Add a little bit at a time until you get the color you want. Im not sure about the electric mixer though. I have not tried this myself but I dont know if it would work that great since it will become very dense. You could try it though and see if it works. I would love to know how it turned out!
Never seen this site before, picked it up from my nieces face book page. i make cards, not very well but every one says they are nice, this is something i will definately try, it sounds good, thank you
Im trying this for the 2nd time, i just cant get the salt to dissolve. Im using 3cups of salt. Do you think this is why? X
The 3 cups salt shouldnt be a problem, assuming that you are using 1 cup cornstarch and 1 cup water with your mixture. If you arent, this may be the issue. Are you letting your salt dissolve in hot boiling water before adding your cornstarch? This may also be another reason why your salt isnt dissolving.
I tried this too – but also could not get that much salt to actually dissolve in so little water, even with boiling water and trying to simmer and stir it on the stove – i just made rock salt out of it all… i added more water to make it loose again, then the cornstarch…. and i got a gritty mass that wasnt smooth nor the same colour as the photo. I just needed enough to make a tiny starfish for a wall hanging Im making, so i went ahead to try that but it was drying out faster than i could work with it so i kept wetting it as I went (like you do playdough) and hopefully Ill get my starfish to work…. just hope it can be painted once its dry.
I am preparing crafts for a large group of Girl Scouts. I have done a test run on several different types of air dry clay. Some are expensive to make and some never really dry. I need one that will dry in about 36 hours and wont crack as it drys. Have you had any issues with this dough cracking?I love the low cost ingredients!
Hi Michele! This airy dry clay recipe is just what you have been looking for it sounds like! We have used this recipe for several different projects {factorydirectcraft.com/factorydirectcraft_blog/index.php?s=air+dry+clay} and you can see there is usually minimal cracking. It’s more likely to happen if you have a ball of clay and you press your fingers onto it but you can easily smooth the edges out before the clay dries. This recipe usually dries overnight but of course this also depends on the thickness and type of project.
Some people add a tbs of oil or cold cream to prevent cracking. Also, I have really good results coloring mine (I make flowers) with chalk pastels and a medium soft dry paint brush. The effect is translucent and blending colors is very easy. Hope it helps!