The recipes below are fun and easy, and you can learn to make 'clay' with household materials!
Try these ideas:
* cut flattened dough with a butter knife or cookie cutters, creating shapes that make great holiday ornaments, pendants, pins, and refrigerator magnets *
* shape and model figures, make ornaments, or cover molds *
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Cornstarch Clay
This recipe makes a dense, easy-to-shape dough with a sticky consistency. The mixture's high salt content gives it a grainy texture and a sparkly white color, ideal for dyeing with food coloring or decorating with tempera paints.
1 cup salt
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
food coloring or acrylic paints (optional)
Heat the salt and 1/3 cup of water over medium-high heat for about four minutes, stirring occasionally. (An adult should prepare this mixture, which gets quite hot and bubbly.) Remove from heat and add the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water. The mixture should now look like thick mashed potatoes; stir until it thickens, then let cool for a few minutes before kneading. If the dough feels too sticky at first, knead in a little extra cornstarch. Split out into sections to add food coloring, if desired.
Will take from 1 to 4 days to dry, depending on thickness. Use acrylic paints when completely dry.
Cornstarch Clay will keep unrefrigerated for up to two weeks when stored with a small bit of wet sponge in a sealed plastic bag or container.
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'No Cook' Dough
This simple dough recipe is great for modeling, as it is really pliable. Even better, no cooking on a hot stove.
1 cup flour
3/8 cup salt
3/8 cup hot tap water
Food coloring (optional)
Combine the flour and the salt in a medium bowl, then pour in the hot water and stir well. Knead on a floured board for at least five minutes, working in food coloring if desired.
Depending on the thickness of the dough, air-drying will take anywhere from one to five days. Small or thin shapes can be dried more quickly by baking them on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees for about two hours.
No-cook Dough will keep for up to a week when refrigerated in plastic bags or containers.
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Microwave Play Clay
This recipe takes a little longer than some others to make, but final product has a silkier feel to it.
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 cups water
2 tbsp. baby oil
2 tbsp. cream of tartar
liquid food coloring
Combine dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Stir well. Microwave on high 4 to 5 minutes. Stir again. Microwave another minute. Stir. Continue to microwave one minute, then stir, until dough is the consistency of mashed potatoes. Cool it enough to touch. Knead in food coloring until dough is desired color. Store dough in air tight container or zip-lock bag. Dough will keep several months in an air-tight container. Projects will dry overnight.
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Stovetop Dryer Lint Clay
3 cups lint from the dryer
2 cups water
5 drops oil of wintergreen
1 cup flour
Put lint in a 2-quart saucepan and cover with the water and oil of wintergreen. When the lint is saturated, add the flour. Stir until smooth. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the dough forms peaks and holds together. Pour it onto newspaper to cool and drain. If too wet, will not work as well.
Model figures out of cooled dough, or use it to cover a form (balloon, paper bag, etc.). Allow the finished craft to dry about 5 days. Once dry, paint or decorate as desired.
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No-Cook Dryer Lint Clay
2 cups firmly packed dryer lint
1/3 cup warm water
6 tablespoons white glue
1 tablespoon clear dishwashing liquid
Food coloring
Put lint into a mixing bowl.
Add the other ingredients.
Mix thoroughly. When you can no longer mix, knead with hands until of a uniform texture.
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Cinnamon Clay Dough
This pleasantly aromatic recipe is perfect for ornaments, but can be used for refrigerator magnets and pins as well.
1 1/8 cup flour
3/4 cup ground cinnamon
1 cup salt
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. ground nutmeg (optional)
1 Tbsp. ground cloves (optional)
Mix dry ingredients with water to form smooth, stiff dough. Divide dough into three or four portions. Place each section between two sheets of waxed paper, and roll to 1/4-3/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of dough.
If making ornaments, while dough is still soft, use a straw to make a hole near the top of each shape where ribbon can later be inserted for hanging. Bake cut shapes at 350 degrees 15-20 minutes to dry.
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Oatmeal Clay
This could be the clay equivalent of comfort food: a sturdy, nubbly dough that dries rock hard overnight and makes earthy and rustic-looking figures.
1 cup rolled oats (you can use instant or old fashioned)
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra
½ cup water
Food coloring (optional)
Stir together all the ingredients in a large bowl, adding more flour if necessary, until the dough forms a lump. For colored clay, you can add drops of food coloring to the water before combining it with the dry ingredients.
Knead it on a floured surface, adding flour as needed, until it is smooth and not too sticky.
Leftover clay can be refrigerated in a sealed bag for up to three days.
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Oven Flour Clay
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Salt
2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
3/4 - 1 Cup Water
Mix together flour and salt. Add the oil and then slowly add the water and stir until you get a nice clay consistency. Once completely mixed, make into the desired shapes. Bake in a 250 degree oven for approximately 1 hour. This will vary depending on how thick you creations are.
This mixture is not good for thick figures, as they will crack with baking. For a golden appearance, paint your creations with egg yolk before you put it in the oven.
Another variation on this recipe:
4 Cups Flour
1 Cup Salt
1.5 Cups Water
Bake at 300 degrees for about an hour.
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Bread and Glue Clay
8 slices of day-old white bread (less expensive fluffy type)
1 /2 C. White Glue
Food color
Flour for work space
Wax paper
Remove Crusts. Break bread into small pieces and put in mixing bowl. Pour glue over bread. Mix with one hand until it becomes a sticky mass.
Take the out of the bowl and form into a ball .With both hands keep working into a smaller ball until it becomes just slightly tacky. Dust work surface with a small amount of flour and knead gently until it becomes smoother and more pliable. Continue to knead firmly until texture is satiny, about 5 minutes.
To color dough, tear off portion needed, flatten and add color directly onto dough. Blend until satiny again. Dust with flour if needed to achieve the proper texture.
Air dry. Drying times vary depending on thickness.
Paint with acrylic paints (optional) and seal with spray on finish.
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