There are few crafting supplies more versatile than clay. You can make just about anything you can dream up with clay—assuming of course that you are working with quality clay which doesn’t crack.
One of my favorite YouTube channels is Creative Mom. Her amazingly inspired fairy houses have captured my imagination. I’ve featured a number of her projects on the site as a result, like this one for turning old mason jars into fairy mushroom houses, and this one for a fairy tree house.
What blows my mind about her work is how detailed it looks at the end—but how simple her supplies are at the beginning.
Anyway, to make her projects, you need air dry clay. And unfortunately, all the clay I have tried using in the past has cracked. I’ve had site visitors write in about this problem, and as it turns out, her fans on YouTube have also asked her about it. So she made a tutorial for air dry paper clay that doesn’t crack!
Video Instructions:
Materials:
7/8 cup (100 grams) of all-purpose flour
4/5 cup (100 grams) of cornstarch
8.8 oz (250 grams) of joint compound
5.3 oz (150 grams) of school glue
1.4 oz (40 grams) of olive oil or baby oil
1 roll of toilet paper
Instructions:
1. Soak the toilet paper in the warm water.
2. Squeeze out the excess water.
3. Put the toilet paper in the bowl.
4. Add the glue, joint compound, flour, oil and cornstarch to the bowl, in that order.
5. Mix everything together.
6. If the clay seems too dry, you can add more water.
It really could not be simpler! I gave this a try, and the clay was awesome—it didn’t crack at all either while I was working or while it was drying. Give it a try!
Sally E. Goff says
i`m thinking this will be the very thing I need to make my Fairy House. Thank You .How long will it last sealed up like you had it,before i must use it?
Lolita says
Can you post a recipe in US measures? Like Cups and tablespoons…please!
How long will it keep while you are working with it?
Tessa says
What are the amounts in cups? Thank you!
Vanessa Beaty says
Hi Tessa, I have converted the ingredients to US measurements.
Deb Gordin says
I made the clay for the fairy houses yesterday. What a flop! I did exactly as the recipe said but it was WAY too crumbly so I added more water. Too wet, Add more glue, patching compound, flour and cornstarch. Did not help. Tried adding more water and just patching compound. Finally got it to hold together but when trying to smooth it out on something, it would come apart. The only thing I can think of that might have made a difference was the size of the roll of toilet paper used. I used a roll from Costco which is bigger than a roll of some other brands. formed it into 4 balls, put it in a ziplock and left it until this afternoon. The balls were hard on the outside but broke apart easily. So I tried crumbling one up and mixing it with a patching compound paste. Too grainy and dried WAY too fast to work with. SIGH! Back to store bought air dry clay!
Vera Clyne says
It looks like your joint compound is a powder in the video – is that so? I have joint compound that is more of a paste/wet plaster.
Alyssa Rainey says
Can I make this without the joint compound and the cornstarch
renee newberry says
question: I have stones white paper clay. I want to strengthen that. do you have any tips? thanks.
kang hyun woo says
Hello! I am an artist living in Korea. I have a question. What is the reason for adding oil? Is it related to cracks? Please email me.