Cold porcelain without cooking: features and manufacturing methods

Needlewomen fell in love with cold porcelain for its ease of use. It is really easy to use, convenient and comparatively economical (when you count the cost of the components). It is noteworthy that the sticky mass for crafts can be made by hand. Most often, the future cold porcelain is cooked in a saucepan, less often the liquid composition is prepared in the microwave, but there is an easier option - cooking without cooking.

Convenience is a relative concept: many craftsmen really like to create plastic mass without heat treatment, so as not to contact with the stove, not to create an extra risk of getting burned. But not everyone will like cold porcelain without cooking, someone notes an unusual result, someone says that it is more interesting to work with cooking and production control is better. How to do you, you can only decide empirically.

To make the mass you will need:

• starch (corn or potato) - 2 tablespoons;
• petroleum jelly - 1 tablespoon;
• baking soda and glue, as appropriate.

So, you need to pour starch into a dry container. Vaseline is usually heated in a water bath (which already contradicts the recipe a little without heat treatment, but this point does not apply to the preparation itself). The softened petroleum jelly is sent to the starch, a little soda is added there and the composition is mixed until there are no lumps. Then, little by little, you need to add PVA glue.

There is another option for making cold porcelain at home. Instead of PVA glue, you can take wallpaper glue - 1 spoon, the same amount of baking soda and water. Petroleum jelly is added to this composition, all components are mixed. But such recipes are rarely used, because they lack the main ingredients - neither potato starch nor corn starch. And without them, the result is not always predictable.

Not a single master class can be called universal. You will have to try several recipes to find the one that works for you. But the trial and error method will not necessarily be long if you know the following nuances before working with the material.

• If you need to cook just a white material that does not give off other shades, you should work with cornstarch. Potato will give the mass a shade of yellowness, and this option is only suitable for subsequently painted work.
• To give the mass flexibility, some craftsmen add an automobile plasticizer to the composition.
• If you notice that the material does not hold its shape well, it may be due to starch. You will have to purchase better quality starch.
• The composition of wallpaper glue (if you are working with it) must include modified starch.
• If the material begins to crumble, add glue - it will return the raw material to its original state.

If this is your first experience with cold porcelain, each step is new and can lead to mistakes. In this case, it is better to work on step-by-step master classes, having done them in advance in your head. Make sure you understand the process of making dough in theory, and then do it in practice.

So, for the manufacture of cold porcelain without cooking, the following components are needed.

• Corn starch - sold in any supermarket, is cheap. It is better to buy a new package so as not to worry about a poor-quality result later due to spoiled starch.
• PVA glue. The brand of glue is not important, the volume is also not important, the main thing is that it contains a plasticizer.
• Hand oil. If you have coconut oil at home - great, if you have baby hygiene oil - it's also good. Regular greasy hand cream is also fine (the main thing is that it is not colored and does not irritate with an obsessive scent).

These are the main ingredients. Beginners should learn how to work with them, and only then various supplements will be used.

Then we work like this:

• Step 1... Put cornstarch in a small, clean, dry bowl. Sprinkle over the eye, but use 3-4 spoons as a guide. Then pour PVA glue there. The proportion is as follows: 1 part liquid ingredient to 2 parts dry. Then we knead the dough with a wooden stick (pencil, brush rod). Ingredients can be added during the mixing process. The main requirement is that the mass should crumple well in the hands.
• Step 2... Remember to handle your hands. This can also be done during the kneading process. Coconut oil is ideal as it smells good and your hands stay protected for a long time. The dough will not stick to your hands, the kneading process itself will be tactilely pleasant.
• Step 3. Many cannot endure until the end and spend literally a minute on kneading. But the stage is not so fast, it will take a few minutes exactly for the process of creating the porcelain mass. Take your time - you will feel that it has become homogeneous, pliable, pliable and smooth.
• Step 4. You can color the material directly while mixing. If you leave everything as it is, the dough will be white, but don't expect snowy whiteness.If you want a shiny whiteness, add white paint to the dough while kneading. It can be acrylic paint, oil paint, gouache and even food coloring will do.
• Step 5. A very important point - the mass must be stored correctly. Do this in bags or cling film. The main thing is to reliably wrap the film or bag so that the air does not approach the dough. Otherwise, the mass will begin to dry out. For work, leave yourself a small piece of dough, the rest - in film and in the refrigerator. Many people put the dough additionally in containers so that it can be compactly placed in the refrigerator without disturbing anyone.
• Step 6. Some craftsmen keep the dough at room temperature. And this is also possible - there is no significant difference between storage in a locker and in the refrigerator, the main thing is that the prepared dough does not interfere with either you or your household.
• Step 7. Beginners are often disappointed in this type of creativity as soon as they take the dough out of the refrigerator. They open the bag, and it seems to them that the dough begins to crumble a lot. But do not despair: remember the mass in your hands, in the warmth it will "come to life" and again become plastic and homogeneous. Cold porcelain is warmed up in just a minute.

Well, then you can sculpt, and this is a completely different master class.

Without them, it is difficult to learn new things, but after all, it is not necessary to learn from your mistakes every time, use someone else's annoying experience. Below are 3 common mistakes when working with cold porcelain.

1. Little glue, but a lot of starch. If you unrolled a bun of cling film dough, and the mass is very tight and it is difficult to pinch off a piece, you have overdone it with starch. If pores are clearly visible at the site of the rupture, this is a trace of unpolymerized starch. If there is a lot of starch, but not enough glue, the dough will be difficult to roll out, you will have to press on the rolling pin.
2. Non-plastic mass. If you started sculpting and found that the plasticity of the mass is at zero, then this is a gross mistake. With such a problem, rolling will be difficult, and all further stages of work are difficult. The fact is that, most likely, you took the glue without a plasticizer. Or even he was in it, but in small quantities (or maybe completely low-quality). It is necessary to change the glue, there is no other option.
3. Overcooking / undercooking. For those who do not cook cold porcelain mass, there is no risk of stepping on this rake. But whoever decided to try it, really often either undercoats the mass, or digests it. The first case is easy to fix, the second - you will have to redo and analyze why it happened.

Also, you are not immune to failure if you initially work with baking soda. More precisely, if you decide to add it during cooking. Do not add large amounts of talc, chalk or kaolin. Very often, beginners rush to the status of masters and, without having worked out simple recipes, begin to "conjure" over multicomponent ones. But this requires experience, a certain sensitivity of hands, "watching".

In general, however, porcelain that does not require cooking is easier to work with. And the masters who prefer this method avoid many mistakes.

They do not put hot material in the refrigerator, do not make mistakes with the cooking time and temperature, do not skip the time of adding paint.

But be sure to use the author's tricks. For example, there are masters who do not immediately put the finished mass in bags, but on a plastic board greased with oil or cream. And on this board, the material is mixed again, thoroughly, for a long time, and only then is it sent to packages.

Give it a try and share your findings!

For information on the features of cold porcelain without cooking, see the next video.