Activity Overview
Create your own polymer clay at a fraction of the cost of store bought polymer clay. This clay is malleable and easy to work with and a favorite because of its bright and vibrant colors. Best of all, you likely already have the ingredients at home to create this fun crafting material.
Use your hands and other tools that you have on hand such as cookie cutters to manipulate the clay to make pendants, beads, sculptures, models, accessories and more.
Materials Needed
- 2 cups of baking soda
- 2 cups of cornstarch
- 1 1/4 cup of water
- food coloring
- rubber gloves
- saucepan
- spoon
- handtowel
- plate
- stove
How to Make It
- Combine baking soda, cornstarch and a saucepan and gradually add cold water while stirring over medium heat.
- Continue stirring constantly until the mixture thickens up into a frosting like texture.
- Scrape out the contents of the pan onto a plate and cover with a dish towel until the mixture cools.
- Divide your clay into sections. The number of sections should correlate with the amount of colors that you would like to create.
- Put on your rubber gloves and drop a few drops of food coloring onto each clump of clay.
- Knead the clay thoroughly until the color is uniformly distributed throughout the clay.
- Use the clay to shape beads or other sculptures and bake at 200 degrees until the clay is dry. You can also air dry.
- Store in a plastic baggie or plastic container with a lid.
