These cold porcelain clay recipes are great when you need some clay, and you don’t have any paper or polymer clay! Cold porcelain clay is for a number of crafts, such as adding noses to snowmen or ornaments for your Christmas tree.
Although you can buy air-dried clay in a package, these recipes will save you money. I saw how expensive the air-dried clay is since many are imported. At some point, I would like to experiment, comparing different brands against these homemade clay recipes. There are several different recipes to make this kind of air-dried clay. And each has a different look to it based on the ingredients.
Cold Porcelain Clay Recipes
It may take a few tries to get your clay just right. Cooking time can vary. Our first two recipes are cooked in a microwave. Cook at 30-second intervals to avoid overcooking. It will be sticky so you can use some corn starch or body lotion on your hands to help stick less. Be careful. These are hot, so you may need to them cool a minute before you can knead it into a ball.
Recipe # 1:
This may be my favorite method because I don’t have to worry about handling hot clay since this one doesn’t need heating. See how close the above recipe is to this one? Just a little change in ingredients makes it possible.
- 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
- 1 cup school glue
- 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon of cooking oil (olive oil) or baby oil
- 1 teaspoon of body lotion
In a large bowl, mix your ingredients together. Stir until it’s thoroughly combined.
It will have a sticky consistency but start to form a shape. Remove your clay mixture from the bowl onto a surface sprinkled with cornstarch. Knead the clay, mixing in a little addition of cornstarch as you go until it forms a smooth ball and stops being sticky.
Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a plastic bag. Like the following two cold porcelain clay recipes, this is meant to be air-dried, not baked.
Recipe # 2:
1/4 cup of each: water, cornstarch, and baking soda.
Mix all your ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring until a ball forms. This happens quickly! Remove it from the pan and mix thoroughly with your hands on a cornstarch surface. Put in plastic wrap and seal in a plastic bag. DO NOT Refrigerate. Air dry; don’t bake.
Recipe #3
This 3rd recipe is also very nice…because my glycerin also contains rosewater, and the cold cream has a soft scent giving the clay smell pretty. This recipe results in quite a bit of “clay.”
- 3/4 cup white glue
- 1 cup Cornstarch
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon cold cream
- 1 teaspoon glycerin
Mix wet ingredients until smooth over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, and add Cornstarch. Stir constantly until it forms a ball. This doesn’t take long!
Remove from the pan and mix thoroughly with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and seal in a plastic bag. Do Not Refrigerate! ~AIR DRY…don’t bake.
In a large bowl, mix your ingredients together. Stir until it’s thoroughly mixed. It will have a sticky consistency but start to form a shape. Remove your clay mixture from the bowl and onto a surface sprinkled with cornstarch. Knead the clay, mixing in a little addition of corn starch as you go until it forms a smooth ball and stops being sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a plastic bag. Like the other two cold porcelain clay recipes, this clay is meant to be air-dried, not baked.
Final Thoughts
- The first recipe gives you “clay,” which is very dense white in color, while the other recipes have an almost translucent quality, which I really like.
- You can add color with a few drops of acrylic paint. Also, the paint makes the clay more opaque/less translucent.
- Add fragrance to your clay with a few drops of a candle or soap fragrance oil.
- The clay will shrink as it dries over the course of a day or two. Dry time depends on thickness and humidity. Avoid putting it near a cold draft; it can your clay crack.
- When stored in an airtight Ziploc bag, the clay lasts over 2-3 months. I stored mine for at least that long, and it was still like new. I double-bagged it, making sure all the air was out of the bags.
