One of the most used materials by all those people who love crafts is cold porcelain, this is thanks to the fact that it is a cheap material, very easy to work with and shape, and a complicated process is not needed to dry it.
Thanks to cold porcelain we can create figures, ornaments and other decorative objects, including decorations for cakes and centerpieces.
If you want to know more about this material and how to use cold porcelain, in this doncomos.com article we are going to give you all the necessary keys for it, as well as all the utensils you will need to work and paint this material.
What is cold porcelain
- As we have mentioned, cold porcelain is a material used to create figures and other objects since it is a mass that is easy to mold. Among its most important components we find corn starch and vinyl glue, but it is also composed of sodium benzoate, paraffin, citric acid, Vaseline and glycerin.
- This dough can be easily created at home, but in specialized stores you can buy it ready to use at a very low price.
- It is a dough that is very easy to shape and handle, and for drying it does not need anything special (such as an oven), since it is done in the open air. For the figures to be perfect requires a little skill and experience, but that is achieved by creating and working with cold porcelain, you will not need too much time to start obtaining better results.
- With cold porcelain you can create both small and large objects, including more or less details. Among its most notable characteristics are softness, whiteness and elasticity. In addition, once it dries, it loses between 15 and 20% of its volume, in some cases even losing 30%, so you should always take it into account and create your figure a little larger so that when it dries it stays the same size. wanted.
- Cold porcelain is a material that can be painted, not only at the end when it is dry to highlight details and decorate, but you can also tint the mass with acrylic, tempera, coloring and oil paints to work with a colored mass.
Tools needed to work with cold porcelain
Of course, the main tool you will need to work and shape cold porcelain is your own hands. In addition, to make details or give certain finishes you can help yourself with simple objects that we easily have at home, such as kitchen utensils, both wooden and plastic, pens, toothpicks, keys, or whatever you can think of. that can give the effect or finish you need for your porcelain object. Don’t worry, since while you’re working with the dough, you’ll come up with objects to help you with, and with experience this will be much easier.
Also, once you finish your design you should just leave it resting somewhere safe, since it dries only with the ambient air. The drying time will depend on the thickness and size of your objects as well as the manufacturer.
After it is dry you can continue working with it and add more details or start painting it.
Coloring and painting cold porcelain
- As we have mentioned, the cold porcelain mas can be colored, so if you prefer to work with the colored mass instead of having to paint everything after the mass dries, you can do it perfectly, but you must pigment the porcelain before using it. You must calculate the amount of dough you need so that later you do not have too much dyed dough.
- To dye the dough you can use oil, acrylic paints, or coloring powders that have already been created specifically for this task.
- Flatten the dough a little or make a hole in the middle and add the coloring you want, then you must knead the porcelain until the color has expanded and is uniform throughout the mass.
- On the other hand, you can also paint once you have made your figure and let it dry, which can even take more than 24 hours, taking into account the size, the weather, etc. For this you will need acrylic or oil paint and brushes. With this paint you can cover both large surfaces and add specific details and finishes to your object.
- Painting only the exterior saves on paint, also if it deals with objects with different colors it is also faster because you save coloring the mass of different colors and then shaping them separately to later assemble them and create the final figure.
- After the external paint has dried, it is best to apply a coat of varnish to protect the paint and details.
Helpful tips when using cold porcelain
Next we are going to teach you some tricks that will help you work with cold porcelain.
- If you have to glue several pieces together to create a cold porcelain figurine, then use vinyl glue to glue it together.
- If you have gone too far adding water and the dough has become too wet, you can leave the dough in the open air for a while, so it will dry out, and when it loses moisture it will be more solid and it will be much better to work with it.
- If, on the other hand, the dough has hardened a lot, then you should add a tablespoon of glycerin and knead very well until this substance is distributed throughout the dough.
- If you have leftover dough or if you are going to use it at another time to make other parts of the figure, you should store the dough in an airtight container. This is because if it were left out in the open or in some container where there is even the slightest hole or open space, then the porcelain mass would dry out and harden. If you want to be much more cautious, you could wrap the dough in plastic wrap and then store it in an airtight bag, like the ones used to freeze food, and even later you can put the bag in an airtight container.
- In the event that you decide to color the dough before molding, then you must take into account that the duration of the dough will be reduced. Therefore it is important that you try to pigment only the amount of mass that you want to use in a short time.
- When coloring the dough you should also know regarding the color that once the tone dries it will be a little darker than when it is wet. Also, you should not go overboard with the amount of paint used, otherwise cracks may appear when it dries.
- You can apply a little hairspray to give finished figures and objects a layer of protection. You can also apply a coat of varnish, but it will take longer to dry.
- If you are going to make large or medium-sized figures, then it is best to use a piece of expanded polystyrene and cover it with cold porcelain, so the result will not weigh so much, you will save on mass.
Now that you know how to use cold porcelain, you can get down to work and start making beautiful crafts.