Welcome

Welcome to the New Clay News....all about air-dry, self-hardening, no-bake clays.

Shaun the Sheep
clay animation character

Self-hardening air-dry clays have been around a long time, but these were mostly 'school quality' clays intended for children and not suitable for detailed sculpting or fine art.    In recent years, many "new" clays have become available that are a much finer quality.   Many polymer clays users are turning to air-dry clay because of allergies or other reasons or just because it's fun to use, durable and very versatile.   People with arthritis find the softer air-dry clays much easier to work with than polymer clay.  Read more about how Air-Dry Clay is different from Polymer Clay.

Aside from being a no-bake clay, one of the big differences between air-dry clay and polymer clay is that the characteristics of the clay can vary greatly from brand-to-brand.   The stiffness of various polymer clays may vary a little from brand to brand but essentially the different polymer clay brands are very similar.  Not so with air-dry clay!

Clay Flowers

Many people have been disappointed the first time they tried air-dry clay.  Maybe they just picked the wrong
brand to use for that particular project.   There are a zillion brands to pick from and it can get very confusing.   Therefore, we're looking for user reviews to help take the mystery out of  "...which brand should I buy?"

I consider the various brands of self-hardening, no-bake, air-dry clays to belong to 4 general types or 'groups'.  Each has their own unique characteristics.   Some are soft and best suited for simple shapes and clay flowers.   Some are stiffer and better suited to sculpting and doll making.  Most are available in white only (or off-white) except for a few terra cotta brands.   The polymer-based clays that are often available in a rainbow of colors.  The 'white' clays can be tinted before curing or painted after curing.

Cold Porcelain

The 4 groups of air-dry clays are (1) wood pulp and paper-based clays such as Creative Paperclay and the instant papier mache products; (2) stone-based (pumice) clays such as LaDoll; and (3) polymer-based resin clays such as Deco Clay, Hearty, Model Magic, Lumina, Luna and many other brands of "soft" clays usually used in crafting clay flowers.  The 4th group is the homemade and commercial cold porcelain clays, which are made with cornstarch, glue and other ingredients.

Mary in Oregon   ;-)