Corn starch dough tutorial

For those people who asked me more about corn starch dough (also known as "maize dough" or "pasta di mais" in italian) after reading my previous posts (1 and 2) about it...

 

... these are some things I made with mum during these holidays with this surprising dough:

 

 

They are pendants and small figurines of animals I like (and a tiny house and some beads). You can see them better in my Flickr album here.

 

Working with it is super funny and simple, a great idea to keep the children busy too! You can made almost anything with this dough: you can find a lot on the web, for example writing "pasta di mais" in google images.

 

I took some photos while mum was preparing the dough, so I can explain you a bit how to do if you want to make it for you (Pam, I know you want! :P).

A sort of tutorial, in my not-so-technical style (sorry!).

 

 

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 cup (we used a yogurt pot) of corn starch

- 1 cup of vinyl glue

- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

- 1 tabelspoon of liquid vaseline (vaseline oil) 

 

PROCEDURE:

- mix glue+vaseline+lemon in an old pot/pan

- add corn starch and blend it very well to the liquids (no clots, please!)

- put the pot on your kitchen's burner (low fire) and go on blending till the dough will thicken and separate itself from the pot

- turn the fire off, remove the dough with your hands (some people suggest to massage your hands with some moisturizer before) and start knead till the dough will be cold.

- save the dough in plastic wrap (it lasts 3-4 weeks if well closed into the wrap)

 

With this method you will have white dough (mat or translucent, it depends of the quality of the glue you use).

But the funny thing is that you can colour it simply adding some drops of tempera paint (add it to the dough and knead it till the tempera is totally absorbed).

You can even mix two coloured dough to have the color you want (example: mix some yellow dough and some blue dough to have green).

 

DRYING OF YOUR MASTERPIECES

after shaping your corn starch dough into something (pendants, animal, little bowls...) you have to wait 1-2 days for the drying.

Simply place your masterpieces on a fabric cloth and... wait! :)

No oven or other cooking methods; and this is good!

After the drying the dough will be strong and smooth.

 

DECORATING and FINISHING

When the dough is dry you can decorate it with drawings and paint.

Mum made some beautiful pendants adding some flowers or lines+dots with tempera paint on the dry surface. I painted some snowflakes (I know, I'm obsessed!) and a mountain landscape.

And don't forget to embellish your masterpieces with some transparent varnish to protect them!

 

I hope this post is clear.

You can also look at this video to see all the passages (in italian, but intuitive for all, I think).

 

Please, let me know if you try!!! :)