Fimo and clay tips and tutorials
The basic recipe for a faux jade / aventurine in polymer clay is translucent clay
mixed with a small amount of green (or several greens). Add a little bit of dried herbs, mica powders, paints, or what not if you want inclusions or matrix patterns. Form your pieces without mixing up the colours too much. Cure, sand, sand some more, and buff like a mad woman. Joe Patouille’s YouTube tutorial is a nice step through of it.
There are some craft projects that feel like they belong on a rainy afternoon kitchen table, and this Milk Mache Molding Compound is exactly one of them. It is part craft, part science experiment, and part “wait… did we just turn milk into something solid?”
This clever little project from CraftBits shows you how to make a simple homemade molding compound using just milk and vinegar. The idea is wonderfully old-school: when the vinegar reacts with the milk, it separates into curds and liquid, leaving you with a soft mixture that can be pressed, shaped, and dried into a hard, stone-like material.
It’s a lovely one to try with kids, especially if you enjoy hands-on STEM-style crafts that do not require a trolley full of supplies. You can use the finished compound to make small charms, beads, ornaments, rustic tags, or simple molded shapes. Just keep the pieces small and thin, as this is not really the sort of compound you would use for large sculptures or anything that needs to be perfectly smooth.
What I like most about this project is how accessible it is. Most of us already have milk, vinegar, a bowl, and paper towel in the kitchen, which makes it a brilliant last-minute craft activity. It also has that slightly magical quality children love — one minute it is liquid, the next it is turning into a moldable material.
A couple of tips before you try it: use whole milk if you can, as it tends to give a better result than skim or semi-skimmed milk. White vinegar is also the best choice, as darker vinegars may affect the colour and texture. And don’t rush the draining stage. If the mixture is too wet, it will be soggy and hard to shape; if it is too dry, it may crumble.
This would be a fun companion activity for our other kids craft ideas, especially if you are looking for something simple, inexpensive, and a little bit educational. It also fits nicely with home crafts and handmade gift embellishments if you want to turn your dried shapes into tags or decorations.
Would I call this a polished, professional clay substitute? No. Would I call it a wonderfully curious, messy, memorable craft experiment? Absolutely.
If you enjoy homemade craft supplies, kitchen-table experiments, or easy projects that make children ask “how did that happen?”, this Milk Mache Molding Compound is well worth a try.
You can find the full project instructions here: Milk Mache Molding Compound
Wish you had posted a video in English
Roseanne there’s very few actual words in the video and the pictures are pretty explanatory, promise!
Soooooo…. does it automatically go from a white color with little green flecks to looking like actual jade? Or was there a step missing? Also… what were the green flecks? Honestly, I’m no closer to creating that than I was four minutes ago…
Translucent clay – and this is mostly translucent clay with a small amount of scraped in colour – always looks kind of milky to me.
I’d make a tiny test piece to see if there was enough green colouring before doing a larger batch because I’m always tweaking recipes.
Hi, what do you use for the green color, scraped pastel, scraped crayons, food color? Thanks.
The video uses pastel but I would use – have used – alcohol inks and also small amounts of green clay. You get a mix of cloudiness then. If you want the least cloudiness, go for the alcohol inks.