How to Store Air Dry Clay

I love making my own air dry clay, but it’s hard to use it all at once, so we need to know how to store air dry clay to keep it fresh as long as possible.

What Is Air Dry Clay?

You can purchase air dry clay or make your own, but either way it’s a non-toxic substance that is generally smoother, softer, and finer than traditional clay.

It also has the benefit of being able to dry in the open air rather than needing to be dried in the oven or using a kiln.

For that reason it’s a great craft medium for kids, and for people who want to play with clay but don’t have access to expensive equipment.

When you make your own air dry clay (at least with my recipe) it uses only three ingredients: baking soda, corn starch and water. There are no preservatives, and of course if it dries out in the open air you have to work to keep it from drying out when you consider how to store air dry clay.

Storage Considerations

One thing I have noticed in my work with air dry clay is that sometimes drying out isn’t the problem at all, but the air dry clay will get moldy before I can use it.

I assume this is either from my hands or surface being dirty when I used the clay last (eww) and/or that it was warm in the room where it was stored (this did happen during the summer) so the combination of moisture and heat caused mold to grow.

So the potential for contamination is another consideration when it comes to how to store air dry clay. Sorry I didn’t take a picture of that, but I’ll bet you can imagine what it looked like!

How to Store Air Dry Clay

The best way to store air dry clay, then, is going to be as air tight as possible and away from heat and probably light, too. I generally keep my air dry clay in a plastic zip top bag, and I roll the clay into a tube and then roll the bag around the clay, pressing out as much air as I can before I close it.

You could also use a plastic food storage container with a lid.

Since I’ve been using air dry clay a lot lately, I tend to keep the bag on my desk, but that’s where the mold happened (it was both warm and gets sunlight from a large window in my office) so if I wanted to be more diligent I’d throw it in my office closet, which is generally cooler and definitely darker than my office as a whole.

But I also don’t pay that much attention to how to store air dry clay properly because I know I can just make more and the ingredients are relatively inexpensive. But then again, it feels like a waste to throw it out! So this is a do as I say not as I know better than to do, and maybe together we can store air dry clay so that it lasts longer.

How to Refresh Air Dry Clay

If your clay has been sitting around for a while, even properly stored, it will start to dry out. This makes the clay a bit crumbly and harder to work with.

You can refresh your clay by spritzing it with a little water.

Then knead the clay a bit so the moisture distributes and it should feel and handle more like fresh air dry clay.

If you get it too wet and find that it’s now sticky, add a little corn starch to your hands while you work.

Do you have any tips for how to store air dry clay or have you experienced mold or drying out with your clay? I’d love to hear about it!