Help: air dry clay - 48 hours - still not hard - WetCanvas: Online Living for Artists (2024)

lene

Hi
I am all new to the fun of creating with clay.

I bought some air drying clay (Creall Do & dry). I made a small bird (massive body), 2 small plates and a flowershaped small bowl. So the items vary a lot in thickness.

After 48 hours, the clay is still not hard. I expected it to be very hard by now. The 2 plates are kind of hard-rubber-like, I can press into it (don’t want to destroy it though), bend it and rubber-like to beat on.
The bowl I can bend the leaves.
The bird, even the most solid, seems to be a bit harder, but still the wings can be bend.

Could I have done anything wrong?
I used a very limited amount of water, but only to build together and smoothen a bit….

Did you ever have to wait 48 hours + for clay to dry ?
I expect the clay will dry very hard – isn’t that so ?

BugFolk

How big is your bird sculpture? How thick is the body? Is it thicker than your finger?
The stuff dries very slow. Seriously slow. If you’ve got an opaque model magic/ hearty/ or modena soft like base, expect it to take even longer to dry.

If your bird’s body is thicker than your finger/ hand, expect it to take a week to be fully dry. It may or may not crack as it dries from the outside inward. I hope t doesn’t, but there’s that risk. I have a thicker styled flower I use for the softer/ more brittle clays and they may take up to a week to be fully dry. If I am lucky I can demold in about 24/48 hours, but the inside will still be soft. So far Hearty clay is the quickest drying that I’ve tried, but it is the weakest. Modena soft is the strongest of the foam clays I’ve tried but drying time is the longest. My thickest sculpture using it took over a month to cure.

Crayola model magic – I had to add this in because it was the first one I’ve tried- Takes a full month or two to fully cure. It’s also pretty weak as it goes from moist to fully dry.

The translucent stuff might take just as long. I’m still waiting on a coneflower that I made early this week to be fully dry in the center. I’ve tried in the past to press full thickness of a coneflower base but have had to give up because it failed to dry after three days. Removing it too early was also a mess.

What may help is to make the thickest parts hollow or semi-hollow. Some clays you can get thinner than others. Making a test piece and abusing it later gives an idea how thick/thin you can go. If you can go thinner, it saves drying time considerably.

—–

Paper based air dry clays:

About 2-5 days from moist to fully hard and ready to paint. If it is a thicker sculpture, it may take longer.

lene

Hi
Thank you very much for your reply Yes, the bird is a size like a baby-fist. The plates a lot thinner. I will remember your advice about a hollow body for future priducts – and to be patient. I read about the 24 hour dryness. That must be theory – in reality it is a longer time then

BugFolk

I just saw a web page where someone made a face from air dry clay but for filler used styrofoam.

You may be able to use foam, wood or foil to use as a filler if the clay doesn’t hold up as a hollow sculpture.

lene

Thanks I am happy for ideas;)