DIY Air Dry Clay Recipes (FAST and EASY)

Air dry clay is a fun and easy craft to make at home but there are a lot of recipes out there. In this video, I mix and test out three recipes. I am a ceramics teacher and all of my students are currently E - Learning at home due to virus social distancing measures. You can imagine how hard it is to teach clay to students online, so I made this DIY video to give my students some sort of clay alternative. Again, this is air dry clay. These are all no cook, no bake recipes.

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Each recipe was easy to follow and if I wasn't filming, I probably could have made all three in under 30 minutes. It was a fast and easy craft and my toddler loved it. I hope you find value in this resource. Enjoy!

My name is Jim Fazio. I'm an art teacher and practicing ceramic artist. I make ceramics and pottery tutorials, clay creations, and give you an inside view of the life of an artist. I'm also hopelessly addicted to colored clay. Check out my channel for more if you're interested!

[CeramicJim]

Thanks for watching. Which one worked best for you? Did you try #2? Best texture, am I right?

[Whole-Milk]

A little tip! If using food ingredients to make clay, it can easily grow mold if you plan to keep it soft and not let it dry right away. If you add borax (some people use liquid hand soap) it can act as a stronger mold inhibitor than vinegar or lemon if you want to keep the clay stored soft.
Also daughter rolling the clay with her little hands is the cutest!

[atheaguitering]

The one moment when you have everything in your home to make clay-

[emiliechartrand]

THANK YOU! As an art student, all I want to do right now is keep myself busy with art, but I can’t get more supplies. This helps so much.

[Mnchrmatic]

Me: sneaks into kitchen and hopes nobody you live with notices

[gabijones]

have used the salt dough with my grandkids, you can bake it to really harden it off, and you can paint it. Fun easy projects. You and yours stay well. Thanks for the video.

[josie]

I know that the glue dough is the most expensive and messiest, but i love it. You are limited on what you can make with it since it can be sticky and tough, but it dries hard and you can make all kinds of durable things.

[Liliarthan]

With salt dough, I find that if you dissolve the salt with the water (I use warm water) first, then mix in the flour and knead it quite a bit (I used a Kitchenaid mixer), it becomes a really soft and smooth clay.

KNEAD: you need to adjust the amount of water and flour slowly depending on how wet/dry the dough feels. I aim for a nice smooth consistency, sort of like pizza dough. And when you're using it, it'll start to dry out and that's when cracks are more likely to form. You can then add dabs of water with your fingertips to remoisten the dough and it'll be good to go again. I find that you can use some of the same sculpting techniques as you do with clay - e.g. scratching up the surfaces for joints, using a touch of water can help you smooth the surface or joints, and avoid leaving it out to air-dry because it'll dry unevenly between the top surface and the bottom that'll trap more moisture leading to cracks.

BAKE: as soon as you're done sculpting, you'll want to pop them in an oven to bake on 100 degrees Celsius for 2+ hours (depending on the thickness of your pieces). You may be able to push the temperature up a little bit more but I would be careful as much higher temps tend to brown the pieces like it does bread dough. Baking it at 100 degrees Celsius keeps the pieces white (if you use white flour).

PAINT & VARNISH: After that you can paint on them - avoid water activated paints like watercolours and gouache as the moisture content soaks into the baked pieces and it gets soft and gross. Lastly, finish the painted pieces with varnish for even longer lasting wear. Not safe to use for human consumption after it's been painted and/or vanished - i.e. don't make drinking cups and plates etc out of this.

[canidisownmychildren]

I’m using this to make earrings and it’s ez so me and my friends are gonna look fab on our ears

[doreenwatson-read]

I've used salt dough when my kiddies were little, we made Xmas decs with it and I still have them now. they are 17 and 18 years old now so that shows how long the salt dough lasts. I loved watching your little girl copying what you were doing. Maybe one day we will see her here on youtube teaching others too

[shweetycore]

Ok, but who else was VERY grateful to here him say that the first one (the easiest) was the best? I was so happy, and I want to make clay right now :)

[wafflestraw]

I tried the salt dough. it was wonderful and perfect consistency. it was a huge success and my little baby guy loved it :)

[Chowmder]

I tried the first one and it works great! It’s super easy and quick and it doesn’t crumble easily!

[tegly]

It really helped me out! Thank you so much! I didn't have any cornstarch at the moment so I tried the first recipe and it worked so well! I loved this so much and I found everything around the kitchen! Thank you, you're a LIFESAVER!

[Moonlightggg]

I just came here so I can make frog rings 🐸

[evardostudios]

More people should see this.







Do you need to bake the clay?

[emfx]

I ended up making candle holders using the first clay recipe. I found it easier to work with when I microwaved it for 15 seconds then ran it under some water.

[lovemendez]

I liked all of them but I would go with number 1 for our students

[daricezdrazil]

Thank you! My girlfriend and I want to do something this year for all the children that fit all ages. Something that didn't require heating, cooking and a lot of steps. I forgot about the salt dough. Except I'm thinking maybe add some cinnamon to it for that little extra Christmas touch! Thank you!

[ManImDan]

this is just what i needed for my figure- well, figure. gonna use the clay for the body parts. you do not know how much this has helped me