does anyone know if you can bake modeling clay? i need it to get hard, or will it blow up my kitchen?

Answer 1

If what you have is what's traditionally been called "modeling clay," it's the kind that kindergarteners always used to play with (before Play Doh came along) and I guess they still do. It's a heavy clay that often comes in long bars like sticks of butter.

You cannot harden that type of "clay" at all.... it's meant to stay the way it is pretty much forever. If you did put it in the oven, it would just melt if the temp were high enough (from the wax added to it), and perhaps the wax would catch fire again if the temp were high enough.
(There is a "higher class" of this type of clay too, often called plasticine, etc.... it's used a lot for creating animation figures --one popular brand is Van Aken's Plastalina, I believe) but it would do the same thing if put in the oven.

Premo, Fimo (2 types), Sculpey (3 types), and Kato clays are "polymer" clays and they must be baked in a home oven in order to harden and "cure" them (around 275 degrees for about 20 minutes if not too thick). They never "air-dry" because they're oil based. After baking, most will be very strong too (but the Sculpeys and FimoSoft won't be as strong as the other brands in any thin areas.) Oh and btw, *properly-baked* polymer clays need no sealer at all... they're highly water-resistant totally on their own.

There are also various kinds of "air-dry" clay, epoxy clay, earth clay, etc. Earth type clays must be fired in a kiln to a very high temperature before they harden very much and cure. Air dry clays will dry in about 24 hrs on their own or can be put in an oven to speed that up a bit, but don't require it and don't "cure" (after drying, most are not as strong as polymer clays).
Some of the brands of air dry clay you might be familair with are Makin's, Hearty, Creative Paperclay, Celluclay, Play Doh, Model Magic, various types of papier mache, etc.

If you really want to keep a piece of modeling clay for a long time, your only real choice is to put it up on a shelf, maybe under a glass dome and not touch it. Or take a good closeup photograph of it, then keep that or even frame it.
Another option might be to make a mold of the clay item (with plaster or a number of other things), then "cast' some other material in that mold which you could then bake or allow to air-dry for a more permanent duplicate.


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 2

How To Bake Modeling Clay

Answer 3

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Sorry, conventional ovens are no good for pottery, the temperature just isn't high enough. The most you can reach with a domestic oven is usually 240 or 250 degrees centigrade and for the temperature you need to make clay hard enough so that is won't disintegrate in a damp atmosphere, you'll need at least 1000 degrees centigrade. You can usually only get this in a potter's kiln. However, all may not be lost because a lot of colleges have them and some don't mind if you want to pay for a small space in one. ASk your local school or college if they have the facilities and if you could pay for space in a firing. Obviously students' work comes first so best to avoid exam times but its worth a try. However, I may have a little bad news for you here on two counts. If it is one inch thick you might have a problem with air bubbles trapped in the clay. Maybe not at 1000 degrees but almost definitely at higher temperatures. Unless you have prepared your clay properly by 'wedging', thumping it first on a flat sturdy surface to drive the air out of it, then tiny air bubbles can be trapped during the making process and cause problems when you fire it. Air expands and because clay has such tiny fine particles, it traps the air and it cannot easily escape. As the kiln gradually gets hotter, the air also warms up and expands, then finally it will explode your pot, or at least blow a part of it away as it tries to find a way out. Secondly, you cannot 'fire' it with wood attached because the wood would just burn away at such high temperatures. A solution would be to use a polymer clay. You can get the colour and they are plastic based so they are waterproof when baked. You can bake them hard in a domestic oven at about 130 degrees. I would caution against putting wood in with it, depends on the ovens power - if gas (and thus a naked flame) wood would not be a good idea. Electric has no naked flame so may be safer but still not advisable. However, you can get terracotta coloured "Sculpy" or "Fimo" brands. You might also use Milliput, an solid epoxy resin made of two equal parts of model material and fixer. You can get terracotta in this too. It has a limited time to use it before it sets though, it is predominantly used for plugging holes in plumbing and car bodywork and sets without the need for baking. You can use it for modelling certain things but it doesn't hold shape well as it is being modelled where as polymer clay holds its shape well (provided it isn't too big) and won't properly set until baked. I hope the above is useful and don't be put off too much.

Answer 4

Can You Bake Modeling Clay

Answer 5

Play-doh will air dry but it also shrinks and cracks.
Polymer clay like Fimo or Sculpey bake at about 275 degrees for twenty minutes or so.
Seal them after drying with a clear acrylic spray nsealer because both will soften some in humidity.
There are some cheap (and I mean available at everything is a dollar store) modeling clays that never dry, baking them causes them to melt. That is a mess I made so, get out those packages and read the directions.

Answer 6

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RE:
does anyone know if you can bake modeling clay? i need it to get hard, or will it blow up my kitchen?

Answer 7

did your clay come in a packet? there should be instructions on the drying there. Letting it dry should harden it, but if you want to bake it do it in a slow oven (not high temp ) over a longer time and I dont think it will blow up unless its make with plastic explosive modelling clay!!!

Answer 8

Modeling clay will melt if you bake it. Try polymer clay, like fimo or sculpey You can bake them at a fairly low temp in your oven.

Answer 9

Measure some ice cubes, calculate the volume of each one add the volumes together to get the total volume of ice. Let all the ice cubes melt so that there is no more ice left---there is only water. Place a funnel into a graduated cylinder. Pour the water into the funnel. Remove the funnel. Read the volume of water. Is the volume of water greater or less than the volume of ice??? By how many % What does this mean with regard to density?

Answer 10

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