Homemade Modeling clay recipe

[pennywise]

I'm not good at writing tutorials but I really wanted to share this with everybody. It's called Modeling Goop and it's a cheap and readily available substitute if you can't get regular clay.

The Recipe:
Mix 2 cups salt and 2/3 cup water in saucepan. Heat 3-4 minutes or until warm. While this is heating, mix 1 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup water in a separate bowl then add to the warm mixture in saucepan, stirring quickly. Let cool.

This stuff works great! You can model it, sculpt it, or whatever. It isn't as stiff as regular clay, but it holds it's shape well. It takes about 2 days dry depending on thickness. I made a severed hand back in April with it, and it came out OK, but then I'm not a great sculptor lol. I will post pics here of a new project I have been working on with this stuff. Hopefully you guys try it out and post some pics of the stuff you make. I would love to see it :D

[pennywise]

Here is a zombie head I sculpted a while back with this recipe:

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g57/pennywise753/Halloween/ModelingGoopSkull.jpg

[RoxyBlue]

Also known as "salt and cornstarch clay", for obvious reasons:D

Do you find this cracks on hardening?

[Bone Dancer]

Thanks for the recipe. I need to make a cat skull and I might just try this stuff out.

[pennywise]

The first batch I made was not thick enough so as it dried it shrank a little and caused cracks where I dug too deep with my high-tech sculpting tool...a toothpick. I just filled the cracks in with more modeling goop and that solved the problem.

@Bone Dancer: I can't wait to see you cat skull! I was thinking about trying to sculpt a cow skull with it, but haven't tried it yet.

[howlin mad jack]

Corn starch, salt and water, can't beat that on the cheap meter!!! What does that come out to, about a buck?!!! I'm going to have to try this out on some of my props. How hard does it get, and how long does it take to dry? Or is it like modeling clay that cracks if you let it dry out completely? Can this stuff be used as a final product?

[pennywise]

I have used it as the final product in the zombie head above. It seems to shrink a little as it dries, which takes about 2 or 3 days. For the zombie head, I sculpted the lines on his face too deep (plus I had no clue what I was doing) and when it dried the lines widened, but the smooth areas didn't crack at all. That was the first batch I ever made and I made it too soft. I have another batch that is a lot thicker and stiffer. I sculpted a couple small wounds on a paper mache mask I am making. When it is dry I will post a pic :D

[RoxyBlue]

More clay recipes here, in case anyone wants to try them out. Some mention baking; others just say "let dry".

http://fun.familyeducation.com/sculpting/recipes/37041.html

[pennywise]

Cool. Thanks RoxyBlue.

[pennywise]

Oh I forgot to mention that it gets really hard when it dries :D

[ProjectFEAR]

Would this work for making pour molds?

[pennywise]

I am not sure. I have tried it once, but it was my first ever attempt at making a mold with plaster. I used plaster of paris from Walmart and just totally botched it. The plaster crumbled so I never got to see if it would work.

EDIT: the batch I am currently working with did not seem to shrink at all. There are no cracks other than the ones I intentionally sculpted, and they do not appear an wider than they were when the goop was wet.

[SuperCreep31]

two cups of salt sounds like a lot! how much does this make?

[pennywise]

I usually stuff it into a ziploc sandwich bag and it fills it up. I get my salt at Walmart for $0.34 for about 2 cups worth.

[pennywise]

Borrowing the idea from Jaybo in this thread: http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=27135 I decided to try an experiment. I quickly sculpted a sort of sloppy severed finger from this stuff and popped it in the microwave. Doing it only a few seconds at a time, the finger was dry and fairy hard after only 40 seconds (nuked for 20 seconds then let cool, then nuked 20 seconds more). I found that if I nuked it for 40 seconds all at once, it tends to get distorted. when I have the time I'm going to sculpt an entire face and nuke it slowly.

Just a (hopefully) helpful tip for anyone who is trying the recipe and not wanting to wait 3-4 days for it to harden :D