this is about making modelling clay out of cornstarch.is conflour as same as cornstarch?

Question

how do I dry it: bake it or leave it out in the sun.?
I want to make a napkin ring out of saltdough or modelling clay(cornstarch clay) . I tried the salt dough method but when I baked it it all puffed up( looked a little little like balloon.) that didnt work.....does anyone know why/? is it becoz I used too much salt? 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup salt and water to knead the dough; /.....is there any other method to make these homemade clay?

Answer 1

2 recipes for modeling clay on this site, and corn starch (Argo is the most common brand and is used as a starch when ironing clothing) and corn flour are not the same thing.
http://www.theholidayzone.com/recipes/dough.html

I've never heard of baking salt dough, just air drying, although some of the recipes say it can be baked in a warm oven. Maybe your temp was too high?
http://www.ancientnile.co.uk/saltdough.php

Answer 2

I believe that corn "flour" and cornstarch are the same thing, but Americans generally call the flour made from corn "cornstarch" where it's called "corn"flour in the UK, etc. My understanding is that we call the flour made from wheat just plain "flour" since it's our most common flour, but there can be "flour" ground from any grain --including corn. All those flous should be "starches" too.

At any rate, all the clays you're mentioning are "air-dry" clays, mostly based on grains. They don't need to be baked to harden since they dry in the air (in about 24 hrs, depending on humidity and temperature)... they can be placed in an oven at a very low temperature to help speed up the drying but may sometimes crack from drying too rapidly.


So "salt dough" air-dry clay is definitely one good possibility, but homemade cornstarch doughs aren't quite as easy or dependable... if you want to read more about them though, check out this page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/armatures-temp.htm
(...click on CORNSTARCH CLAYS...)

You might want to use something call "bread clay" though... it's also grain based but the wheat flour has already been turned into bread. It's a very nice clay to use, takes a lot of detail and has a very smooth finish, and can be painted just like the others. It will also need a sealer like other air-dry clays if you want permanence.

Here's a link to a various recipes for bread clay:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GFRC,GFRC:2006-50,GFRC:en&q=%22bread+clay%22+recipe

Basically you'll need slices of white bread, white glue (the permanent type like Elmer's GlueAll, not washable "school" glue), and most suggest a softener like glycerin or liquid dish soap or various other things.


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 3

Let me guess ... you used self-rising flour, right?

That's why it puffed up. Plain flour doesn't do that. It wasn't because of the salt.

Actually, any of the dozens of recipes available will work reasonably well, if they're actually *followed*.

Answer 4

and no, cornflour and cornstarch are completely different!