All Glossary

Plasticine

Plasticine is an oil-based modeling material that feels superficially like pottery clay but behaves very differently. Unlike ceramic clay, it does not dry by water evaporation, does not harden on standing and cannot be fired in a kiln. Potters encounter it most often in mold making, sculptural mockups and industrial design work where a shape needs to remain workable for long periods. A block of plasticine left exposed on a table for months can still be softened and reshaped by hand. This is possible because it contains no water at all. Instead, it is a blend of fine clay powder, waxes, oils and soaps. The clay acts mainly as a filler and body-builder while the oils and waxes provide the plasticity.

For a potter accustomed to throwing or handbuilding with ceramic clay, plasticine can feel strangely “dead”. It has no memory of water content, no drying shrinkage and no leather-hard stage. It cannot be joined with slip and it does not develop the stiffness that ceramic clay gains as water leaves. Thin sections sag because there is no particle-bonding mechanism comparable to drying clay. On the other hand, it offers advantages impossible with pottery clay: It can be endlessly reworked, carved cleanly without producing dust, pressed repeatedly into plaster molds and softened or stiffened simply by changing temperature. Industrial and animation studios often formulate their own versions by blending mineral oils, petroleum jelly, paraffin or microcrystalline waxes with powdered clay or calcium carbonate to tune hardness, tackiness and sculpting properties.

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