Making your own clay is a very simple process.  In this post, we are going to use 3 household ingredients: Water, Baking Soda, and Cornstarch, to make an easy clay recipe that you can use to form your own pinch pots, necklace pendants, etc.

Items needed:

Small sauce Pan

Bowl

Measuring cup

Rubber spatula

Rolling pin

Baking soda

Cornstarch

Water

Wax paper or cutting board to roll out clay

 

Recipe:

1 Cup baking soda

¼ cup cornstarch

¾ cup water

Measure and mix all 3 ingredients in a saucepan and stir until well mixed, using rubber spatula to scrape dry ingredients off sides of pan.  Bring to a boil and continue to stir.

   

Once mixture has started to boil, turn it down to medium heat and continue stirring until mixture thickens and becomes difficult to mix.

Transfer the mixture from the sauce pan to the bowl to cool. You’ll likely have a baking soda residue stuck to bottom of your sauce pan.  Just add a little water and put it back on the stove eye til it comes to a slight boil and it should rinse right out.  If your clay is still too wet or sticky after it has cooled, add a little bit of baking soda.

Transfer it to your wax paper or cutting board and pat or roll out to about a ¼ inch thickness, using a little baking soda to prevent sticking to hands or rolling pin.

     

Using a cookie cutter or glass, cut out desired shapes, and even roll out a few beads. You can also add designs with rubber stamps or other household items, and use a straw, skewer, or other household object to place holes for hanging, if so desired. Once you have your desired shapes cut out.  Place clay pieces in oven at 170 degrees for about 2 hours, flipping over about halfway through to dry on both sides.

Remove from oven and cool completely.  Paint as desired, create pendants, wind chimes, etc with your new clay pieces.

 

—Bridgett Gladney