i need a good recipe for home made saltdough or clay that will stand up to the heat and humidity of the south?

Question

ive tried sculpey and it meltd in the heat and humidity of this southern weather. i need something to make ornaments out of that will stay hard. and that can be painted. also, i dont live near specialty or craft stores. only walmart and the grocery store.

this is for making ornaments. not food.

Answer 1

There are several sites that have recipe's. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/modelingclay.html
http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/craft-ideas-nine.html
http://www.recipezaar.com/239794
...Good Luck...

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

Sorry I was thinking something more along the lines of playdough. I have a recipe for that if you're interested.
God Bless.

Answer 4

I've used bread dough. In the freezer section. Comes in loaves. Made faces with balls/coils of dough. Bake them as per instructions and when cooled, spray with fixative. You can paint them. Add food coloring to dough before baking for eyes, lips, hair, etc. I add wire glasses, cotton eyebrows or lint hair, mustaches, etc. They are only limited in appearance by your imagination.

Answer 5

There are two different things here:

If you want to use salt dough "clay" --or any other homemade or purchased clay that's *air-dry*-- you'll simply need to seal it thickly ENOUGH to keep the water-soluble ingredients inside the clay away from any moisture.

Sealers and finishes are different in how waterPROOF they are... most are water-resistant though so they're fine unless they're sitting continuously in water, but some are actually waterproof.
Some also may be affected by a lot of humidity in that the clear finish will be come less clear (ModPodge is a "decoupage" medium that's like that, for example).
You could use a clear acrylic finish or an acrylic paint, or an "enamel" paint or finish that's not water-based, among others... there are even special clear "marine" finishes that are highly water resistant (buy those are a hardware store).


However, you also said
"ive tried sculpey and it meltd in the heat and humidity of this southern weather" ---but that's impossible.
(. . . . though see text in CAPITAL LETTERS BELOW which could be the only case in which polymer clay would actually "melt" ---and perhaps that's what happened to you)

Sculpey (and all other brands of polymer clay) will never "melt" from heat because they're oil-based and aren't that type of plastic... they would only burn to a crisp and create thick black smoke if they were subjected to too much heat (and that would be over 385 degrees F).

Polymer clays are also for all intents and purposes waterproof. If you were to soak a baked clay item with water, over some months you might notice a bit of the surface becoming lighter from absorbing moisture, but it would take a lot. And it would never "melt" from water exposure.

So depending on the size of the ornaments you want to make, you could use polymer clay** alone, or you could use a layer of polymer clay over an armature of tightly-scrunched aluminum foil (or over glass xmas balls or loads of other things), then bake the clay properly, and use the ornaments outdoors after they're cooled (...some of the more "fugitive" pigments like red might fade a bit over time with exposure to UV light though, but that's true for other things besides polymer clay).

You could also wipe them down with alcohol to remove any grease, then apply a coat or two of acrylic paint if you wanted to paint them rather than getting the color from the clay itself (white or any polymer clay can be changed by mixing in artists' oil paints or alcohol inks, or even certain ground spices and other pigments, etc.

DON'T USE "ENAMEL" PAINTS DIRECTLY ON POLYMER CLAYS THOUGH...
--COME TO THINK OF IT, THAT WOULD BE THE ONLY THING THAT COULD CAUSE POLYMER CLAY TO "MELT"
... the solvent that's in "enamel" paint (or acetone, etc.)
WILL EVENTUALLY BEGIN TO DISSOLVE polymer clay... that would first be noticeable as the surface being "sticky."

THIS SOLVENT COULD ALSO BE PRESENT JUST IN THE PROPELLANT OF AN *ACRYLIC* PAINT, and do the same thing.

If you add a clear finish instead of leaving the clay items plain or painting them with acrylics, be sure and notice if the finish is "UV resistant" if you'll be leaving them out for a long time... some finishes will yellow a bit with UV light (making them look kind of "antique.")

If you want to buy polymer clays, you can do it by mail order (lots of clayers do that to get their clay fresher and more cheaply --Kato Polyclay is an especially good bargain these days).
I wouldn't buy Sculpey, SuperSculpey, or Sculpey III brands though** if there will be any thin or projecting areas in the ornaments, because those clays are too weak after baking when thin ... Premo, Kato Polyclay, or FimoClassic would be very strong, and FimoSoft would be in-between.

If you want to check out lots more about any of the things I've mentioned re polymer clay, go to my site:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
....then from the alphabetical navigation bar on the left side, click on the pages called:

Supply Sources
Finishes
Paint
Characterististics of Clay brands (and diff. types of "clay")
Baking
Christmas

and also:
OUTDOOR (the effects of sun and water on polymer clay, plus things to make with polymer clay for putting outdoors)



Diane B.

Answer 6

Mix water and flour until it becomes doughy. add more flour if it is watery.if you want it to be colored just add food coloring. email me if u have more questions! [e-mail]