DIY: Playdough, play-doh!
This playdough was made based on instructions that can be found on the Instructables website. Playdough (a.k.a Play-doh) is a non-toxic dough that has been sold as a children’s toy since the 50’s. The recipe is a trade secret, but playdough is primarily a mixture of wheat flour, water, deodorized kerosene or another petroleum distillate (which provides the smooth texture), salt, a drying agent such as borax (which deters mold), an alum-based hardening agent, and colorings and perfume (Wikipedia). The instructions that I chose to follow recommended the following recipe:
Basic ingredient ratios:
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)
food coloring
vanilla
The main trick is to heat the dough mix long enough in order to get the right, thick and elastic texture. It takes about 5-10 minutes. Apparently, the dough lasts longer if you use mineral oil rather than vegetable oil in the mixture.
After I made the multi-colored playdough, I felt like exploring and learning even more, so I decided to make a short stop motion (frame-by-frame) movie. There are plenty of instruction on how to make your own stop motion movie online. I used my own digital camera to take photos of the clay figures and used Windows Movie Maker to put the images together. I named the movie Making clay dance (note: my roomie in the background):