How to Make Cold Porcelain

comments (37) July 11th, 2008

Diane Gilleland, contributor

64 users recommend

This pendant is made with cold porcelain, an air-drying modeling clay you can make in your kitchen.

Cold porcelain is made from simple ingredients: white glue, cold cream, glycerin, cornstarch, and water.

Cold porcelain holds tiny details beautifully. These amazing roses are by Cold Porcelain Designs.

This pendant is made with cold porcelain, an air-drying modeling clay you can make in your kitchen.

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There are lots of reasons to love polymer clay, but if you're of a DIY mindset, you might try making some cold porcelain—an air-drying clay that's amazing for jewelry and other small projects. Here's how!

What you'll need:
3/4 cup white glue
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon cold cream (such as Pond's)
1 teaspoon glycerin
1 cup cornstarch, plus additional for dusting your hands

Assemble all your ingredients before you begin. If you have trouble finding glycerin, try a drugstore's skin care aisle, or a cake-decorating store.

If possible, use an old saucepan and spoon for this process. The ingredients in cold porcelain aren't toxic, but they can be sticky, so don't use your best utensils!

Mix the wet ingredients over medium heat.

Begin by mixing the white glue, water, cold cream, and glycerin in a saucepan. Stir this mixture over medium heat until it's smooth. (You may need to mash that cold cream up a bit in order to get it to dissolve.)

Add the cornstarch and continue stirring.

When the wet ingredients are nice and smooth, add 1 cup of cornstarch. Be ready—the mixture will transform very quickly at this point. Continue stirring. The mixture will rapidly become quite stiff.

At first, the mixture will look like cottage cheese...

...and within minutes, it will stiffen into something that looks like mashed potatoes.

When the mixture forms one clump and has pulled away from the sides of the pan, it's done.

Wrap the hot clay in a clean, wet dish towel.

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Comments (37)

pakojetin writes: I love working with this medium but am having a problem with cracking when my project dries no matter how thin of a design i have. any hints?
pkojetin63@hotmail.com
Posted: 12:22 pm on March 15th

GinaLuna writes: I am looking forward to trying this recipe.
Can someone tell me if when dry, how strong it is? Would it break easily?
And some people were saying that there could be cracking in the drying process. How to avoid that?
Thank you!!!
Gina
Posted: 1:07 pm on February 19th

SAMI23 writes: HI this is really nice tutorial
I have a problem with this cracks appear after drying please send me any tip regarding this email address is
capricorn_shuaib@hotmail.com
i will be very thankful
Posted: 11:53 am on January 28th

McJulieO writes: So, how difficult is this to do without having resulting cracks? I'm almost scared to try...
Posted: 3:46 pm on November 29th

greenstew writes: This is a great tutorial, I have made two batches..but both times all of my little pendants cracked. Can you email me to let me know what I have done wrong? beth at greenstew.com. Please and Thank you.
Posted: 12:51 pm on November 17th

Grullon writes: It is a wonderful recipe. It came out the same way you said it would.The only problem is when it dries it cracks . Can you email me by telling me how to fix it ,so it won't happen again. Thank you for your time. My email is Archangel_0725@yahoo.com Once again, thank you.
Posted: 1:34 pm on October 20th

allieg1941 writes: I would like to try this..but like that one gal said..do i need water or can i make it without? And what do you do to it so it wont crack?
Posted: 2:09 am on October 8th

nerdygamergirl writes: I was wondering if there is an email I can reach you at so we can talk more about this recipe. I bought all the ingredients and followed the instructions to a T. My cp is in the second day of drying and when I went to check it out today, it is all covered in cracks and breaks. I am not sure what went wrong. I googled and read several different recipes and some people saying to exclude water. I really would like to make some beautiful cp jewelry. Please help! [=
Posted: 3:23 pm on October 5th

ary writes: hi
I would like to know if there's anyother cold cream that i could use to make this?thanks
Posted: 10:08 pm on September 6th

Preeti writes: Its really a great idea. Thnks for sharing. i'm looking forward to try this out!!!
Posted: 6:41 am on July 13th

golden_cicada writes: OMG!!! this is the greatest tutorial ever. i am so in love with the lilac and pink roses, you have to tell me how you made them or where you got the molds. They look like they would be perfect touches to my sisters wedding favors. please email me soraya0703 AT gmail DOT com
Posted: 10:54 pm on July 12th

walkiria writes: Hello, beautiful work. In Brazil we have ready clay. Just take the package and use. Very practical.
Posted: 10:03 pm on June 8th

lorrwill writes: Boy got all excited and should have said, going to try molding like this. I already have a mold and make jewelry so I will make eye pins in gold and silver cos you never know which mood will hit :-)
Posted: 12:46 am on May 8th

lorrwill writes: I was in Joann with my 40% off coupon and I picked up some craft porcelain today. I am so going to try this. Your tutorial rulez.
Posted: 12:44 am on May 8th

Aury writes: Thanks for the tutorials and the pictures.
Posted: 11:48 am on April 1st

Sister_Diane writes: chrissie1370, I can't find any references to cold porcelain not being compatible with a mixer. I'm not sure how or if it might affect the consistency of the clay, though. If you do try a test batch with this method, I hope you'll share your findings with us!
Posted: 5:58 pm on March 6th

chrissie1370 writes: I would like to know if you can mix the CP and coloring in a mixer?

Thank you
Christine
Posted: 7:00 pm on March 5th

Sister_Diane writes: Maria13, how interesting... I can't wait to try this in the microwave! Thanks so much for posting the tip!
Posted: 7:56 pm on January 29th

Maria13 writes: The cold porcelane can be cook in the micro wave Ive been doing it for the past 14 years.Same recipe just cook it in a glass bowl 3 minutes depending on micro half and half time.
Posted: 4:03 pm on January 28th

vianca writes: diane may god bless you thank you for the recipe you posted i kept looking for cold porcelein i never thuoght i was going to find it a had already giving up and because i dint know you could make it homemade i thought it was only store bought and i live in mexico in a small town so i realy have giving up and i found you in you tube i was watching how they made all the cool stuff and not beeing able to do it my self and i saw your recipe for diy cold porcelein i did my first dough but it cracked i dint have enugh glue and ran out so im thinking that has something to do with it but im going to try again Posted: 12:50 pm on January 22nd

solybarr writes: Thank you for this tutorial,

I had tried to make the recipe in the past, but most tutorials only cover up to the part where the dough pulls off the side.
After that I was left with a messy, hot mixture that I did not know how to handle.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
This certainly turned out to be like the dough I see in the magazines and very close to the one Ive bought..

I did have to add more cornstarch to the recipe you mentioned, but maybe that had to do with the glue I was using?

Regards,
Sol
Posted: 10:36 pm on January 8th

gabyta writes:

Hello
Thanks for the tutorial.
I make things whit cold porcelain from very young and never I made the mass myself.
I am going to try it.
A hug.from Argentina!

almacendegabyta.blogspot.com

Posted: 7:16 am on November 22nd

bluebutterfly writes: Hi Diane, I sent you email... thank you for help :)
Posted: 3:51 am on November 20th

Sister_Diane writes: bluebutterfly - let's talk more by email about what's going wrong with your cold porcelain. Will you email me? diane AT deepideas DOT com.
Posted: 2:28 pm on November 16th

bluebutterfly writes: Lovely, great work... My Cold Porcelain dosnt match these result, its too much split and crack... what can i do?
Posted: 8:04 am on November 16th

paperrain writes: Are you KIDDING? This is brilliant.
Posted: 11:09 am on September 10th

CaliBeadqueen writes: This is so cool! Cant wait to try it. I have a question about paint. Can u use any kind of paint, or does it have to be a special kind/type?
Posted: 11:34 am on August 30th

jewelelegance writes: WOW! It's simply outstanding!
I cannot believe this.With such a simple methodology and ingredients and in less amount of time i can have several designs of pendant ,earrings etc.So, i can easily take care of dress and jewelry color combination.

Jewelelegance
Posted: 2:48 am on August 12th

Bettsi writes: Way back when, when my teens were toddlers, I would make this for play dough. I would color it and scent it and keep it in the fridge in a ziploc. It was great fun to play with, but I never knew it could also be a durable clay too! I cannot wait to make this. Thanks, Diane!
Posted: 2:33 pm on July 25th

krafty_sheri writes: This is so cool, I see christmas gifts, and birthday and, and, lol.
Posted: 6:19 pm on July 19th

lasue writes: I like this idea. I'm always looking for things to make using everyday ingredients. Thanks
Posted: 7:39 am on July 17th

jonwen45 writes: Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial with us. I have been saving some candy molds and now I know just what to do with them.
Posted: 9:57 pm on July 14th

digibudi writes: This is great, just great! Could use it with ice cube shapes too I presume?
Posted: 6:35 am on July 14th

susanstars writes: what a cool idea - looks amazing!
Posted: 8:10 pm on July 12th

Jennifer_Nelson writes: What a great tutorial. I can't wait to try making some myself.
Posted: 6:21 pm on July 11th

StatGirl writes: Whoa. I had no idea you could make this with such simple ingredients. Now if I only I wasn't training for that stupid Chicago Marathon I'd spend all weekend making things. Thanks for the great tutorial!
Posted: 3:33 pm on July 11th

Jen_W writes: You are such a rock star with the tutorials. I can't wait to try this out.
Posted: 3:23 pm on July 11th

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