Making Clay

Ever wanted to do something that involved clay, but didn't have any? Well, there's lots of instructions on here on how to make it, but most of them call for lots of ingredients, or have lots of steps. This recipe will teach you how to make clay easily with just 3 ingredients and 2 simple steps.

Stuff You'll Need

1. 1 cup of water
2. 1 cup of cornstarch
3. 1.5 cups of baking soda
4. 1 saucepan to mix ingredients

You can add food coloring and/or vanilla extract to this if you want a colored or scented clay, if you want.

Making the Clay

To actually make it, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat, mixing occasionally so it doesn't stick to the bottom. It should go from a watery, somewhat sticky glue-type substance to clay after a couple minutes. If it's crumbly or brittle, put more water on it and heat it again. It should get to a point where it's an easily pliable, somewhat stiff paste that holds its shape. The second picture in this step is a batch of clay that was a little bit overcooked.

Using the Clay

Now that you made the clay, you can use it to make cool stuff like pots, jewelry, silverware (or would it be clayware?), or little sculptures. This will air dry, but it gets sort of cracked if it does. I suggest baking on 250 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30-60 minutes, or until it is hard. Also, a commenter pointed out that poking small holes in the clay helps to prevent cracking. I made a cool little Deathly Hallows sculpture out of it.