Daiso Soft Clay

After a lesson with Kin, my interest in clay crafts begins! I saw quite a number of youtube videos on Daiso soft clay and I decided to try it. Omg $2 only and you get a huge chunk. Daiso soft clay is said to be paper clay, and it really is very light. It feels very soft and some moisture can be felt on your hands when you knead the clay.

This is the paper clay right after I pinched it out. It looks like snow on TV [Because I have never seen real snow, I guess it is more icy looking?] or bubble foam.

After kneading, this is what the clay looks like. The clay cracks a lot and I can't seem to smooth it no matter what. Adding water does make it more moist and softer but the cracks still exist. Therefore, I recommend Daiso soft clay for items that generally look cracky, like macarons. It is also better to use Daiso clay with a cookie cutter so that the cracks at the edges are removed.

Daiso soft clay takes acrylic colour paint really well. You would generally achieve pastel colours through paint mixture unless you add more paint. Or black, but add black with caution. I bought my acrylic paint tubes from Popular but you can also get them from Daiso. Pastels can also bought at Daiso but I still don't know its quality. Oh my pink clay sheet is also bought from there! For kids, as stated on the packaging.

This clay is really good for food with a definite shape that can be cut out with a mould or cutter. Although there are some frills showing at the edges where it is cut, those can easily be smoothed. The whipped cream looks very real! Just mix water with the clay and stir. The dried end product looks like foam sheet and is extremely lightweight. 

However, it is a big no no to make items that require shapes kneaded by hand. Just look at my failed pencil with so many cracks. And it has nothing to do with the clay being too dry. If you intend to stick different parts together, you need some glue because this clay doesn't stick to each other. In this case, the different parts of the pencils can be broken easily because they don't stick without glue.

Daiso soft clay is really fragile. So paperish that it breaks after drying. Making the craft work thicker might help, but my pencil broke too when I exerted some force on it. My strawberry and whipped cream is also torn out easily [Whipped cream: The wet clay is sticky so it can stick the strawberry to the cake in this case. But it still broke after it dries.]. I guess you should only use this clay for display items as it is not suitable for making jewelleries or keychains.

I also bought this varnish from Daiso to glaze the clay after they dry as a protective layer. But it doesn't work and seems to just wet the clay. Hence, I bought this Fimo gloss varnish from Popular. It doesn't work very well with Daiso clay as well, as the clay seems to be absorbing it. However, the Fimo gloss does work better and a layer of shine can be seen.

The good points:

Inexpensive,
Lightweight,
Add water to increase moisture,
Takes moulds and cutter well,
Mixes well with acrylic paint,

The bad points:

Cracks a lot,
It breaks,
Parts do not stick, requires glue, 
Lightweight [depends on how you see it],
Does not take varnish well,

The verdict: I would not recommend it. It is not durable because it breaks quite easily and can't be protected by external gloss.  However, this is suitable for children's play time, cheap and fun.