How to Soften Polymer Clay (Conditioning Hard or Crumbly Clay)

Start by snapping the dry block into the smallest pieces you can. Crumbly clay won't bend, so just keep breaking. If a block has gone almost to dust, that's fine - the smaller the pieces, the faster the oil will work its way through.

Don't try to run hard clay through a pasta machine yet. It'll just shatter into shards and you'll be picking pieces out of the rollers. Conditioning happens first, machine second.

Three oils work. Sculpey Clay Softener is the official product and it's an oil-based softener made for this. Mineral oil from the drugstore works just as well and costs almost nothing. Unscented baby oil is the same idea - skip scented baby oil so you don't add fragrance to the clay.

Cindy uses all three interchangeably. The expensive softener doesn't outperform plain mineral oil here. Pick whichever is easiest to find. Avoid vegetable oils - they can go rancid in the clay over time.

Put the broken-up pieces into a small zip-top sandwich bag. The bag does two jobs - it contains the mess, and it lets you knead the clay through plastic so the oil doesn't coat your hands until you want it to.

A regular sandwich bag is the right size for a half-block to a full block. Bigger bag for a bigger batch.

One drop. Maybe two for a full block. That's it. Squeeze the bottle gently and tip a single drop into the bag with the clay.

If too much comes out, dab some back out with the corner of the bag. Too much oil is the only thing that can go wrong here - over-oiled clay turns sticky and you'll have to leech it back out on paper, which is a pain.

Seal the bag and start working the oil into the clay from the outside. If the clay is too hard to squish with your fingers, lay the bag on a flat surface and press a smooth acrylic roller or rolling pin across it. Roll and press until the pieces start to merge.

This is the messy step done clean. The oil spreads through the broken pieces while everything stays inside the plastic.

Once the clay starts to come together in the bag, take it out and finish with your hands. Your hands' warmth helps the rest of the plasticizer absorb. Squeeze, fold, roll, repeat. Yes, your fingers will pick up the color - that washes off in the cleanup step.

Keep kneading until you feel the clay shift from brittle bits to a single smooth lump. Depending on how dry the clay was, this takes anywhere from one to five minutes.

Roll the clay between your palms into a small log or ball. It should bend without cracking and hold a fingerprint. That's workable clay. From here it'll go through a pasta machine without shattering and it'll take detail when you sculpt.

If it still feels stiff after a few minutes of kneading, add one more drop of oil and work it through. Stop the second it feels smooth - more oil past that point makes it sticky.

Polymer clay color comes off skin easily. A baby wipe or a disinfecting kitchen wipe pulls the pigment right off - no soap-and-water scrubbing needed. Wipe the work surface too while you're at it.

Now the clay is ready to use. Skip the expensive specialty softeners next time and keep a small bottle of mineral oil on your craft bench. A few drops will rescue almost any block you'd otherwise throw out.

Can I just warm it up in my hands? Yes - for clay that's only mildly stiff. Break off a small piece, work it between your palms for two or three minutes, and your body heat plus pressure will soften it. This won't work on truly hard or crumbly clay. Use the oil method for that.

What about a pasta machine? Once the clay is at least partially conditioned, running it through a pasta machine on the thickest setting and folding it back on itself is the fastest way to finish softening. Don't try this with hard, dry clay - it'll shatter into the rollers. Condition first by hand or with oil, then use the machine to smooth.

Does liquid polymer clay work as a softener? Yes. A small amount of Sculpey Bake-and-Bond or Fimo Liquid worked into broken-up clay does the same job as mineral oil. It's more expensive, so most crafters keep it for bonding raw to baked pieces rather than as a routine softener.

How long does softened clay stay workable? Forever, as long as you store it sealed - wrap it in plastic wrap or a zip bag and keep it out of direct heat. Conditioned clay won't go back to hard unless it dries out again.