Cold porcelain

It is an interesting process and I would love to know more about the chemistry behind how this mash-up of ingredients turns into such a great, maliable clay.  It is essentially just wood glue and corn starch and suspect it has something to do with the short protein chains for the corn starch and the proteins and polymers in the wood glue, but I would love for some proper chemisty teacher to explain it to me.  

A friend of mine is an assistant teacher at a local high school.  Her class wanted to learn a bit about soap making, so she asked if I would join them.  I offered to bring my whole soap making kit and make with them a big batch of lavender soap that they could sell as part of their Christmas sales/end of year fund raiser.  Because soap making from scratch really isn't a team sport, I brought some cold porcelain I had prepared the previous day so that the kids had something to do, while I soloed with the dangerous part of the chemicals.  They enjoyed it so much, they made cold procelain themselves the next week and sent me some pictures.  

Many hands make the dough.... sticky?

The students' final result was inspiring.

They used motiffs from serviettes (napkins to you Americans) and decopaged them on.  I think they did a stunning job.  

My friend, who is the assistant teacher there, deserves a big 'shout out' because she not only works with this great class of kids, but she also has her own busy business making these beautiful candles.  Ranveig's candles make perfect gift.

I hope everyone out there is getting their craft on and making gifts and/or buying local, handmade for the holidays.

What sort of crafts will be on Nerdy Girl?

I'm currently going through screeds of photos looking for one's I've taken during the making of different projects and it's reminding me of all the crafts I've tried in the past, but set down to one side for some reason or another.  This blog will be an excellent excuse to pick up those things again and explore the techniques and try to improve on the first-attempt results.  


Perhaps you're like me and you find an idea on the net and you give it a go with, perhaps, not the exact same materials or ingredients, but you figure you'll fluff it and see how it goes.  Unexpected results go with the territory, but who ever gets it right on the first try?  When it comes to crafts, I don't like to think in terms of 'right' or 'wrong', but simply varying degrees of self-satisfaction.  That is why we do these things, isn't it?  Not to get it 'right', but for that feeling of accomplishment and self-satisfaction.  As I often say to my friends, 'It's cheaper than therapy.'  


But I digress in my progress.  I mean to tell you a few of the crafts coming up on this blog that will be attempted, reattempted, photographed and tutorial'd.  


Crafts I am rather big on at the moment are cold porcelain, reusing plastic bags, naalbinding, fabric stencilling and, of course, soapmaking.


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naalbinding predates knitting.

making bathroom bags
from fused plastic

swirly, pretty soap