Clay is a wonderful and versatile material for creating diverse items — ranging from pots and sculpture to jewelry. Natural clay is a type of fine-grained soil found in certain types of geologic deposits, but for this project, we will recycle paper to create our own type of homemade paper clay to use for sculpting!
Supplies
- Non-glossy paper of any kind (after soaking, blending and squeezed out, should equal about 2 cups)
- Water
- ½ cup craft glue
- ¾ cup corn starch
- ¾ cup white flour
- ¼ cup oil (vegetable, olive or baby)
Instructions
Step 1: Shred or rip paper into very small pieces. Put these pieces in a bowl or bucket and pour hot water over the paper until it is completely covered. Leave it to soak overnight for best results.
Step 2: Blend paper and water mixture. Use a hand pulse (immersion) blender or transfer the mixture to a full-sized blender. Pour mixture onto a thin dish towel and squeeze out the excess water (ideally on a thirsty plant) until the paper paste is mostly flaky.
Step 3: Put paper paste in a bowl and mix in ingredients one at a time starting with the craft glue, followed by the dry ingredients one at a time. Mix the oil in last. Tip: If the mixture is sticky, slowly add flour.
Step 4: Enjoy your clay crafting project made by recycling materials from your home!
Tips: This clay dries strong and is lightweight. When sculpting with it, make sure to use water if it becomes too dry and flaky. This clay has the ability to sculpt fairly thin. My favorite project with this clay is to sculpt delicate flowers.
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