Self Hardening Clay. Fully cured clay with no kiln!
I love working with self hardening clay. Get your hands into it. It responds to your touch. And it works very much the same as wet clay or sculpting clay.
What I don't like is the drying, firing, glazing, refiring. Yes, it might come out beautiful. But it also might be doomed to be a studio brush holder or mixing pot.
Sculpting in wet clay requires it all be done at one time, or the drying be retarded enough to allow work being done over a period. Then when it is fired it may shrink, or worse yet, explode or crack.
Adn of course kilns are not cheap, and the electricity or gas to run them is also not cheap. Yes, the clay is inexpensive, so that's one advantage.
Different self hardening clays for different purposes.
There are several different types of self hardening clay -
* Air dry clay
* Air dry polymer clay
* Epoxy clay
Self hardening may refer to any of these. The final application of your creation will influence which of these types you might want to use.
Epoxy clay becomes extremely durable in a short time.
This is my favorite in this group. It cures to a very hard consistency. So hard it is very difficult to break. It's adhesive strength is usually stronger than the surface that it adheres to.
It can be sculpted with normal clay sculpting tools. It is non-toxic and bare hand friendly. It allows an adequate working time yet cures overnight to an amazingly hard surface.
You see the magic stuff in TV infomercials that seal anything, even underwater, and all its other magic. This is epoxy clay. And yes it will do all that.
It will stick to most anything, especially if it has a tooth. And since it chemically cures itself it can actually be placed underwater and it will still fully cure.
These include Magic Sculpt and Apoxie Sculpt.
Air dry polymer clay is fairly new and extremely versatile.
New no bake polymer clay has created new applications. It dries slowly when exposed to air allowing plenty of working time.
It dries to solid consistency. It is not super hard like epoxy clay, but actually stays a little flexible. This is an interesting quality for a self hardening clay. It allows creation of a part that might be applied to something else after it is dry.
For example a face could be sculped or molded for a figurative sculpture. After the sculpted face is dry or while still curing, it can be molded over another surface.
A pasta machine or polymer roller can squeeze out tissue then sheets of air dry polymer. Or multiple colors can be rolled together to form varigated or detail designed color patterns.
And all without the oven. So combination with other materials that might not can go in an oven are no problem. Look at self hardening air dry Makin's Clay.
Air dry modeling clay creates quick sculptures.
The last type of self hardening air clay is what appears to be a somewhat dry water or wet clay. Very similar in consistency. It can be shaped, molded, and sculpted much like regular modeling clay.
This clay air dries over several days. The cured art piece can be painted, sanded, or polished. Although it is not as durable as the epoxy clay, it will dries to a permanent hard state. One of these is Ave's Critter Clay.