Can you make a sculpture with playdough? Can you cook it and have it stay in the shape?

Question

Can you make a sculpture with playdough? Can you cook it and have it stay in the shape?

Answer 1

You can, but as mentioned, it will likely get a bit cracked (especially if dried too quickly).  

It will basically stay the same shape though whether you speed up the drying on a low-heat oven or just let it dry in the air, but all air-dry clays will shrink as they dry.

You might want to check out another type of air-dry clay which you can buy at the store or make, or buy a polymer clay (which never dries out in the air, but must heated in a home oven to harden).  (Note that clays calling themselves "modeling clay" like ClayToons or other heavy colored old-fashioned clays won't dry out in the air, but they can never be hardened because the added wax in them will just cause them to melt in the heat.)

The most common air-dry clays to make at home are "salt dough" clay and "bread clay"...the recipes for salt dough clay can vary a bit, but recipes for both will be easy to do an internet search for.  

Some air-dry clays you can buy are Play Doh or Model Magic, but better quality ones are Creative Paperclay or Makins or Hearty (last 2 come precolored), or for a rougher surface, Celluclay, or for a more earth-clay-like clay, Mexican Pottery Clay, etc.

HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 2

i believe so, but i dont know exactly what temperature or for how long, so........i dunno how helpful this info will be

Answer 3

no, it will crack.. just get clay.. its way cheaper anyways

Answer 4

I don't think you would even have to cook it. Just make the sculpture, and let it sit. It should harden on it's own.

Answer 5

Commercial play dough doesn't bake well, it gets goupy and weird.  Home - made play dough works, though.  

4 cups flour

1/4 cup salt

1 1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon oil

- more flour if too goupy, more water if too powdery.  Bake the sculpture at a low temp for a long time to harden.  I always used model paint and sealer to color on top instead of dying the dough itself when I did this as a kid.

Answer 6

You can make a sculpture with playdough, but it won't last. After it sets for a while it will begin to crack, and your sculpture will later be destroyed. Your best bet is to get Mud Earth Clay, you can bake it in a 300-400 (not to sure on temp?) degree oven, any oven will work. It will depend on the clay you get, some has to be left out to dry for about a week, and then you can fire it in a oven. Then, if you like you can glaze it any color you like. The clay usually has to bake for about 30 mins. -  60 mins. Hope this information helped.