I want a recipe for modeling clay.

[Massacure]

Using homemade ingredients. There are so many on the internet.

Some advocate using 4 parts flour to 2 parts salt and enough water to make it workable.
Some advocate using salt, cornstarch, and water in various combinations
Some even advocate using various other things such as sauce of tarter, alum powder, whatever...

I want something that can I can dry relatively quickly, but is easy to mold. When it drys it must end up being hard. I want to be able to paint it after the fact, mixing 5-6 different color clays doesn't sound too interesting. Can I paint it using water and food coloring mixed after I've already sculpted it, but it is still wet? I also want to coat it with clear nail polish to give it a glossy finish. I hope to sell these some cute little sculptures to make some money for college.

I've never done this before. Advice please? What kind of recipe and what kind of paint works best? Will nail polish work as a glossy finish?

[troubleinwinter]

1. The recipes with cornstarch make a smoother clay.

It would probably be easier to use water color paint or craft paints, rather than food coloring.

I would use canned spray plastic sealer from the hardware or craft store... it will be MUCH easier to apply (and cheaper in the end) than nail polish, and will dry harder.

[eleny]

2. I "second' the spray sealer advice

The only time I ever used nail polish in crafting was to coat some paper beads. It's smelly, should be used outdoors since it's not all that safe a chemical and it might chip after a while. Sounds like using the spray sealer outdoors is your best bet.

Can you post some pics when you're finished? I'd love to see them.

[Dora]

3. My mother made me salt dough to play with when I was young.

She still has several of the pieces that I sculpted, dried (air or oven), and painted, and they're now 30 years old and in good shape.

Now, the salt dough isn't any good for big pieces, but would work on anything that's no more than an inchish thick.

I think I used tempera paints, but acrylics would be better. I remember painstakingly clear-coating them with nail polish too.