Soda Play Clay

This is great fun. I know that soda clay is a well known recipe, here are mainly some more ideas to use it, ornaments, fridge magnets, jewelry or gift labels. Years ago my mother-in-law gave me the most horrible box with twenty different colors of eyeshadow bright pinks, blues and even yellow shades. I almost threw it in the bin, but felt I could not do that. I use it now for many craft projects and it works wonderful on this clay.

• Ready In: 15 mins
• Yields: 1 batch play clay

Ingredients

• 2  cups baking soda
• 1  cup cornstarch
• 1 1⁄3 cups water
• 1  teaspoon  vegetable oil (optional)

Directions

1. Optionals: rubber stamps; ink pads; use different colored pads for a rainbow effect; shallow plastic plaster mold (s), small Christmas figurines/ornaments; flowers or fruits for magnets, brooches or earrings; cookie stamps; craft paints; eyeshadow; magnets; fittings for earrings or brooches; glitter; ribbon/string; glue.
2. In a pan mix the baking soda with the cornstarch.
3. Add the water and the oil, keep stirring and cook until thickened and it looks like you have mashed potatoes in the pan, usually after 5 minutes up to 10 minutes on a low heat.
4. Remove from the heat and cool.
5. Knead the clay, it should not be sticky, if too dry add a bit more water, too wet add some cornstarch, put in a plastic bag.
6. Super easy is to roll it out and cut out shapes with a cookie cutter, pierce a hole in the top.
7. Rubber stamps: ink the stamp, roll out the clay,very gently stamp into the clay,if you do this too hard it will definitely crack during drying, with a small knife cut away around the stamp impression, flatten rough edges gently with your fingers.
8. Use a spatula to lift onto baking tray lined with kitchen paper, to let it dry, don;t forget the hole in the top.
9. When dry you can still paint it if you want too.
10. Plaster molds: use enough clay to fill the mold, use your rolling pin to even it out, it should go over the edges of the mold, carefully and gently ease the clay out of the mold, sometimes a thin knife helps to give you a grip on the clay.
11. When out of the mold trim with a knife and smooth the edges with your fingers.
12. Again let it dry, for ornaments pierce the hole in the top, leave plain for kitchen magnets or earrings and brooches.
13. Cookie stamps: Use like stamps but without the ink for a nice embossed look.
14. You can finish them when they are dry with craft paints and you get a beautiful result using eyeshadow with a soft brush almost a water color effect, blusher works too.
15. For an old/antique look, brush on antiquing medium,wipe off with a soft cloth right away, take in mind that there are water and oil based mediums and they will have to be used different so read directions first and try it out first on the back of your clay object and you might have to varnish it before you can use the medium.
16. If you want to use glitter, brush a thin layer of glue on the area, sprinkle with the glitter shake of the excess glitter.
17. Drying time depends on the thickness, keep an eye on them and turn them over during the drying process.
18. Leftover clay keeps for a few days in the fridge, keep it in the bag, personally I prefer it kept outside the fridge.
19. I do find that when the weather is hot and humid, it seems to crack more during the drying process.