Cold Porcelain Clay

Back in 2009, I took some classes here in Manta, working with Cold Porcelain clay, (Porcelana Fria).  It is a huge thing here, and even bigger in Argentina where I have read and been told they have schools teaching it.

This is something that both Teddy and I enjoyed working with, but since our teacher moved away, we kind of got out of it.  Teddy has been after me for a while to make some more dough, and try our hand at it again.

This morning we made a batch.  Here is the recipe we used:

1 kilo of white glue (That's about 4 cups of white glue)
1/2 kilo of corn starch (That's about a pound)
15 drops of Porce Clear, (and no I don't know what this is in the US... you can check it out here: http://meirebari.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=121
3 Tablespoons of baby oil, or vaseline, (we used baby oil, today)
2 Tablespoons of glycerin
1 Tablespoon of Sodium Benzoate (didn't have this, so left it out)
http://www.amazon.com/Sodium-Benzoate--2-oz/dp/B0064O8OAE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367094361&sr=8-1&keywords=sodium+benzoate

1 Tablespoon of Stearic Acid (you will find it with the candle making supplies in your local craft store)

(I have found some recipes that call for Tylose, and  Wilton White White, which I might try adding when I have access to them. ;)

Before you start mixing or cooking anything, prepare a flat surface, (can be your counter top, can be a mat on your counter or a glass cutting board, etc.) by spreading cold cream, (like Ponds or Nivea) all over it, as if you were greasing a cookie sheet for cookies. ;)  Once that is ready, you can go on with actually making the clay...

You will need a non-stick pan.  We have one that is used exclusively for crafting.

You want to start out by mixing the glue and the cornstarch.  You will want to mix this well until it is totally incorporated. (use a wooden or heavy duty plastic spoon.)

Once the cornstarch and glue is mixed well, add the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.

Over medium low heat you want to stir constantly, (and you need to be ready for a workout!), until it starts to form a ball and is no longer sticky when you touch it with you finger.   We're talking about 15 or 20 minutes here.  As soon as it reaches this point, you will want to turn it out onto your prepared surface.   Cover your hands with the cold cream, (have the jar open and near by, so you can keep applying as needed)., and you want to start kneading the dough. Yes, it is hot at first, so you need to be careful.  You want to knead it until it is all smooth, and cooled.  When you reach that point, knead it for about 5 minutes more.  Then divide it into 4 parts, (if you made the whole recipe), and form it into logs and wrap each log in plastic wrap, then put them in a zip lock bag, and then in another zip lock bag.   This dough works best if you let it set for a couple days up to a week before you work with it.   Also you do not want to put  this dough in the fridge.  

There are lots of recipes and tutorials out there.  We should have taken pictures while we were doing it, but to be honest blogging about it didn't occur to me until we were almost finished! ;)

Here is our finished dough.  I put these 2 bags into a larger zip lock and then that into a plastic (tupperware type) container.  If you take these precautions and keep this dough in an airtight container, it will last a LONG time.  

We had some that we purchased over 2 years ago, and were sure it would be bad, but got it out today, and Teddy was actually able to work with it!  :)

Here is what he did today.  He wasn't totally happy with it, but as I reminded him, it's been a long time since he worked with dough, so I thought it came out pretty good keeping that in mind. ;)

He has some cracks in it, and that is due to the fact that he didn't work it well, to keep it smooth, and some times he took longer, and didn't always keep the dough he wasn't working with covered.   But I thought for his first attempt in a while, that it came out well.   He wanted to make a Panda, because he's been studying China in school.  So this is part of his end of unit project.  He will be writing a report about Pandas to go along with it.  

If you are interested in learning more about his neat type of Air Dry Clay,  you can check out this wonderful blog...

http://coldporcelaintutorials.blogspot.com/

Here are some photos of things we made in the past...  

This was my first project in class. ;)

I made these magnets to give out at a ladies conference. :)

I hope that you enjoyed visiting with me today, as much as I enjoyed sharing.  We are really newbies to working with cold porcelain, so if you have any tips or ideas you would like to share, feel free.  

Blessings to you!

Joy

New Blog

Happy Monday, Everyone!

If you are a friend on FB or even have kept up very much with my blog here, you know that one of my favorite hobbies is Digital Scrapbooking.  I have had several people contact during the last few months, with questions about it...how do you do it?  Where do you start? etc.  So I decided to start a new blog dedicated to sharing my love of this hobby.

I am by no means a professional, so it will just be tips and things that I have learned along the way.   If you are interested in digital scrapbooking, please check it out.

http://memorymosaic.wordpress.com/

Thanks and have a blessed week!
Joy

Paper Making

Teddy has been studying China.  Along with his other books we purchased The Great Ancient China Projects book, and have enjoyed it immensely so far.  This week he read about the invention of paper.  Yesterday he tried his hand at it, and had a great time.  I think this is going to be his "hobby" for the time being.  (until something else catches his fancy. ;)

Here are a few pics of the process...

1. fill the blender half full with torn paper.

2.  Add warm water, to almost full.  

3.  Blend, slowly at first and then increase the speed.  The longer you blend the smoother the pulp. ;)

 4.  We cut the bottom out of an aluminum pan and covered it with screen.  We sat that pan in another pan.  Then you start pouring out the pulp...

 5.  Spread it around... you want to try and get it as even as possible...

6.  Keep pouring and spread.  Then he added some bits of colored string to this one...

7.  Once you have it spread out, you want to flip it over onto a smooth cotton dish towel or something else.  (we used an old table cloth.)  At this point, we used a rolling pin to try and smooth it out a little bit more.

We also added a small fan to blow on them to help with the drying time.  

8.  Here is the finished product, after it dried over night.  The top piece, (the lavender color) you can see the smooth side, which was the bottom side while it was drying.  The pink one you can see is the rough side.  It is a little thicker than your normal "card stock"... I'm thinking note cards, book marks... there are lots of possibilities. :)

9.  Here is one happy boy...thinking about all the different kinds of paper is going to be making. :)  He already has a bag that he is collecting "trash" to recycle.  

Family Tree

I have been trying to make time to be "creative".  It is one of those things that when I make the time, the payback is so great!  I always feel rejuvenated, but making the time is the hard part!  It seems that our days are so full of just "surviving" that we often forget to take time for these things.

My latest "creative project" has been our "family tree" in our entry way.   I got the idea about 6 months ago, and started collecting the photos that we needed.  This past month, Tony was able to paint the wall for me, and my sweet daughter, Alexis, drew me a tree and sent it to me by email.  So I have to give her credit.  The tree is from "A Taylor Designs".  :-)

After we got the wall painted, I decided  that I wanted to use black, cream, and turquoise frames. So I spent a couple days painting some of my frames.

Tony helped me by sketching it on the wall for me, and then I spent the last week painting it. :-)

I am so excited with how it came out.  We still need to get a picture of Tony's grandparents, Grandpa and Nana Anzalone.

Here are a few pictures of my "family tree"...