Do I need a kiln to harden my clay? ?

Question

Or can I just use my oven?

Answer 1

It depends on the kind of clay you're using. If you're using sculpey, then you should use your oven. But some kinds of clay need a kiln. Personally, I would test some in your oven and see how it works, even if a kiln is recommended. Experiment with different temperatures, settings, and clay sizes.

Hope it works out for you!

Answer 2

Depends on the clay . Polymer clay can be baked in your over. If you bought it from a craft store then it will be able to be hardened in your oven . Let us know the type of clay ;)))

Answer 3

As mentioned, there are various kinds of "clays" ...most all of them can be found at craft stores.  

Many clays will air-dry (they're water-based), and earth clay will also air dry but can be fired in a high-temp kiln to make it even harder.  Air dry clays can be put in an oven, but only to *speed up* their drying.

Polymer clays will not dry (they're oil based), and must be heated to a particular temperature for a certain length of time depending on thickness (in a home oven at low temp, or in other ways) to cure/harden... this is a chemical reaction, not "drying."

So how you can harden your clay depends entirely on the type of clay you have... here are some examples of types and brands:

AIR-DRY:

Makins, Hearty, Creative Paperclay, Celluclay, Crayola Clay, Model Magic, Play Doh, cornstarch clays, homemade clays like salt dough and bread clay (and various others), as well as earth clays and Mexican Pottery Clay, etc.

POLYMER CLAYS:

FimoClassic, FimoSoft, Premo, Kato Polyclay, Sculpey (various lines), Cernit

("Modeling clays" are also oil-based so won't dry, but have had a wax added to them too so will only melt if heated...they're the heavy type that kids and animators play with.)

If you have a polymer clay, there's loads of info on baking it and things to think about, on this page of my polymer clay "encyclopedia" website:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/baking.htm

HTH,

Diane B.