My Quest for the Perfect Cold Porcelain Recipe Part 2

Hello all! It's been awhile but my life has finally settled down (I changed jobs, bought a house, and got a new puppy!). It’s past time for my very belated, promised cold porcelain recipe review.

I had a few comments on my last post (My Quest for the Perfect Cold Porcelain Recipe Part 1) and they led me to the third recipe (Thanks Rosebug and Julie!). It's based on the video of Sangeeta Shah and unlike the first two recipes this one uses the microwave instead of the stove top.

On-hand Ingredients

Ingredients:
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup Tacky Glue
2 tablespoons baby oil
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon tempera paint
1 tablespoon Nivea Creme

This recipe includes tempera paint and white vinegar, which were not in my previous recipes. I did not have tempera paint (for color?) so I skipped it. She specifically says Tacky Glue and Nivea Crème, but I wanted to make it with what I had (Elmer's Glue & Ponds). I also decided to half the recipe because I'm running low on glue and cornstarch.

Mix, mix, mix!

Lucca and Chloe

This recipe is slightly more involved than the first two, but I had two helpers with me. The black dog is from my post: My Pets Aren't Fat, They Have Big Bones and I'm happy to report that she lost 20 pounds! :) The blonde one is our new puppy and I will have plenty of silly antidotes about that "little" ball of trouble later.

Stir, stir, stir!

Micro power!

One of the biggest differences between the microwave and the stove top is the time it takes to "cook".

This looks familiar...

Blend, blend, blend!

The total "cook" time is 1 minute 30 seconds in 30 second intervals with a pause
between each interval to mix the "paste". I accidentally set my microwave to 1 minute for the first interval but it did not seem to hurt it too much. There was some slightly discoloration in what I'm assuming was the glue. It all came together in the end. (Taking one handed photos and demonstrating is difficult!)

At the end, I kneaded the paste into the cold creme I had spread out onto a cutting board (as depicted in the video). I taped a piece of cling wrap around the cutting board to protect it. I would have rather used wax paper or parchment paper but it worked out rather well though. (You can see the blue painter's tape I used through the board ^_^ )

At first, the dough was separating and becoming more lumpy but I soldiered on kneading it. It came together about halfway through. I kneaded the dough for a good five minutes until the clay began to become sticky again. It has a pleasant rubbery texture.

The video instructs you to store the clay in an airtight bag you've covered with more cold creme for at least 24 hours. After a day, you're supposed to take it out and put it in a fresh bag with creme but it does not say if you should wait longer or if you can begin working with the clay. It ends by saying that "the paste is almost ready to begin working with your projects..."

...Your guess is as good as mine. Use your best judgement.

No cracking! I couldn't wait so I started sculpting before a full 24 hours had gone by and I think that caused more shrinkage than is normal. The second unicorn I made did not shrink as much. Some of the bits fell off but they can easily glued back on. Overall, this is my favorite recipe by far but I might try to find another variation.

My Quest for the Perfect Cold Porcelain Recipe Part 1

I've been promising Christen to post a review about 2 different cold porcelain recipes I've tried. I FINALLY got the ingredients for the second one a week ago and FINALLY had time to try it out. Firstly, what is cold porcelain? "Cold porcelain is not real porcelain, it got its name because the finished product looks like porcelain. It is air dry clay that does not require firing or heating of any kind." It's basically: glue and cornstarch clay. It's a cheap alternative to polymer clay that you can make at home! (Or buy in the store but that defeats the point!) I've seen many beautiful and delicate sculptures made from it. (All images taken from deviantart and the sculptures belong to their respective artists: Veggies, Kirara, and Mew) All recipes for cold porcelain contain glue and cornstarch and have the same basic instructions: combine ingredients in a pot over medium heat and stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides. Cold porcelain dries semi translucent and you can add paint to tint it. Something to keep in mind: the color darkens as it dries and it shrinks (which can cause cracking it it's not kneaded enough). After a researched several sites, I settled on this one to try first because the ingredients were the simplest and easiest to find. I found the first cold porcelain recipe I tried from squidoo.com. Ingredients: 1 cup pva glue (white glue like Elmer's Glue All) 1 cup cornstarch 1 tablespoon mineral oil (baby oil) 1 tablespoon lemon juice, witch-hazel, or clove oil (I used lemon juice which is not pictured.) I did not like this recipe. The ingredients required a lot of stirring and took about 10 minutes to solidify. Afterward, the clay was really sticky so the cleanup of my pot and spoon required a lot of scrubbing. I had to add cornstarch to be able to use it and then when it became too dry I added more mineral oil to moisturize it again (like the instructions say) but the mineral oil didn't fully mix with the already-made clay. Pieces of clay didn't want to combine or stick to one another properly. Everything I made cracked no matter what I did and the clay itself was just difficult to work with. My second attempt went much better! The ingredients were a little harder to find because I didn't know where to get glycerin or what cold cream was! I used the recipe from craftstylish.com. Ingredients: 3/4 cup white glue 1/2 cup water (not pictured.) 1 teaspoon cold cream (such as Pond's) 1 teaspoon glycerin 1 cup cornstarch, plus additional for dusting your hands For those who are ignorant like me, cold cream is used to remove make-up so it is found with cosmetics. I found my glycerin in the pharmacy department of Wal-Mart near the bandages. It was on a bottom shelf. Glycerin is also used in baking (for icing, fondant, candy, etc.) so it should also be in the cake decorating section of your local craft store. This recipe was slightly different because it had me combine the wet ingredients first which didn't take much time. After I added the cornstarch, it took about a minute for the mixture to solidify and pull away from the walls of the pan. The clean up took far less time. At first, I put it on wax paper to cool but when I tried to knead it the paper tore. I don't know if this is because my wax paper is cheap or the "clay" was just too hot. I switched it out for parchment paper. The clay itself is far less sticky but more malleable than the other recipe. (It smells nice too because I didn't get the unscented cold cream.) I dyed it with acrylic paint and made a little monster. I'm sad to say this recipe is actually worse than the previous recipe. I can't get it to dry without cracking. TO BE CONTINUED...