Make your own air dry clay

It's very easy to make your own air dry clay. It's much cheaper than buying from the stores and we've achieved some very good results with it.

It's not weatherproof though, so we don't recommend it for outdoor use. But even so, we have a few things we've made for outdoors with this clay, sprayed with a weather sealant or varnish and left outdoors but under cover .

This is a lovely soft dough, that's also great for practising modelling or craft projects without the expense of store bought clay.

You will need:

1 cup of cornflour 1 cup of glue (PVA or wood glue is fine) 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil 2 tablespoons white vinegar (cleaning vinegar) [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]Method

1. Mix together the cornflour and glue until smooth in a microwaveable container.

2. Add the oil and the vinegar and mix well. This will be very sloppy and messy.

3. Microwave for 15 seconds. Mix well again and then microwave again for 15 seconds.

4. Continue microwaving and mixing until the mixture starts to form into lumps.

5. Knead on a hard surface covered lightly with extra cornflour for 5-10 minutes until cool and firm. CAUTION - the mixture is hot when first taken out of the microwave so allow to cool slightly first until it's comfortable to handle.

6. Continue to knead until the mixture is soft and dough like. If the mixture is too wet, add more cornflour and if the mixture is too dry add a touch more oil.

The clay will shrink as it dries. We painted ours with acrylic paints once it was dry. It may crack as it dries. As we were making mushrooms, we filled the cracks with some reindeer moss and once painted they didn't show.

Store unused clay in a plastic bag, removing as much air as possible, and seal as tightly as possible.