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No worries William, if that's the way you like your videos. Good luck

A microcrystaline wax would be a good place to start. I suggest you make a small batch and experiment with the ratios of bees wax and microcrystiline wax to make the clay either softer (beeswax heavy) or better for carving (microcrystiline wax heavy). Adding a small amount of Rosin can also increase the stickyness if you need to get the wax sticking to itself better. Good luck

i would assume no, but i dont see why youd want to replace it as at a good pottery shop you can get 5kgs for £10~

@@someth1ngs_f1shy35 unfortunately I don't live near any pottery stores that sell just the powdered form of clay. And I'm in the u.s. and shipping rates are high

@@smiley.exe.5928 i see, i have heard that you can use talcum powder in the comments here, so maybe try that, but i havent tried it myself! michael has said he has done it and made it work.

Hi mate, you can adjust the ratio of wax and oils and that will change how hard it is. Increase the wax, the more hard it will be.

@@michaelarmstrong1910 how would you make it softer? add more baby oil or just put in less wax to start with and slowly add till you have a desired consistency..

Hi Anton, you can remelt the clay. If you take it to 80 degrees centigrade it remelts nicely and you can hold it at that temperature for 10 minutes or so to sterilise the clay if you're worried about contamination

Hi Anton, you wouldn't be able to use plaster. Any moisture, and the heating process would interact with the plaster and cause stability problems with the clay at the very least. I would avoid plaster, lime, cement or anything else that's not chemically stable.

Hi Matthias, the most expensive ingredient for me to buy in Australia is bees wax. When I made this video I was spending about $28 per kg on bees wax, it's gone up to between $32-$35 per kg at the moment. Everything else is pretty cheep when brought in bulk. I look at the price of the bees wax and if it's still cheaper than the cost of Chavant or Monster Clay by weight then I know I'm saving money to make it myself. I can't recommend a supplier for Europe unfortunately as I've never brought these supplies from there. The cost of shipping would be excessive for me.

I also plan to update the video soon and provide an updated price too

No. It would just melt. It's designed for taking a mould from and not firing

You're very welcome. You will need a good armature to support larger sculptures as the clay is great to work with but like all clay isn't structural. Good luck sculpting

any oil will work - I've experimented with a wide range of types. The reason why I use baby oil is it won't go rancid like vegetable oil will.

@@michaelarmstrong1910 searching oil clay from many years . I m from India and here no oil clay found at any store . Love from India 🇮🇳.

Few month ago I mix hard wax , bike engine oil and French chalk powder but it remains hard .

@@microangelo97 Interesting combination of ingredients you have combined there. I wonder if the ratio is off. More oil, less wax. Then gradually add the clay into the melted wax/oil until you have a slurry. Let it set to test how pliable it is once you work it. Clay will be quite hard when it's freshly set out of the mould. I have to heat it in my hand and work it between my fingers to get it elastic and ready to sculpt with it.

adjust the ratio of wax and oils to increase the hardness. This version is pretty close to the Chavant Le Beau Touche HM version

I use a portion of paraffin wax amongst other waxes but I have found that using only paraffin produces a brittle inflexible clay

Hi, this should be pretty close to the same hardness of chavant. If you increase the ratio of wax content, that will increase the hardness of the final clay

well done for giving it a go. I would use a small amount of the clay and do some tests. I usually get rid of stickiness through the use of the clay filler. Add a small amount of powdered clay (measuring everything so you can be accurate when you do the big batch) and stir it in. You will need to re-melt the clay before you mix in the powder. The oil or jelly will soften the clay and probably won't improve the stickiness. If the addition of clay doesn't work, try adding some more bees wax. Let me know how you go

You need to find a microcrystalline wax to get the pliability you need. Candle wax won’t work as well

​​@Michael Armstrong I get it, is another name for the candle you mentioned as paraffin candle? I don't have complete knowledge about this subject, I think paraffin wax is also called microcrystalline wax! Monster clay is very expensive due to exchange rates. Thank you.

have u tried making it with paraffin ?

Thank you 🙏

Can you confirm what you mean please? If you mean how do I make a liquid like slip from this clay all you need to do is gently microwave it in a pyrex container, stir, and it will pour into a mould like heated monster clay.

no es nada parecido a la plasticera, tiene una textura muy diferente.

Candles can be made by many types of wax. Soy and paraffin are quite common as they’re cheap. They behave very differently though. Soy is soft with a low melt point and paraffin is a hard wax with higher melting point. What this means is yes, candle wax can work, but depending on what type of wax it is will change how hard it can become

@@michaelarmstrong1910 Thank you very much! :3

Hi Suzite, great question. If you increase the ratio of wax it will become harder and require carving as opposed to the softer mailable recipe I’ve used.

I’m so glad to hear that you’re having great success with it

Oooh, interesting idea. I’ve never tested it but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Adjust the volume of oil if it’s too soft or hard

I’m so glad I was able to help. I was looking myself and gave up to start experimenting to see if I could figure it out

Thank you, it was an amazing day

I’ve swapped out beeswax for other cheaper waxes but I find that the resulting clay loses its flexibility and elasticity. I’m still experimenting and if I find a cheaper alternative I will post

@@michaelarmstrong1910 I’m just looking for something short term so anything will do it’s just oil based clay is too expensive

@@weareyourtest6029 any microcrystalline wax added instead of beeswax will work. Some like paraffin are very cheap are quite brittle. Soy wax will give you some good savings and reasonable flexibility. Let me know how you go. Yeah it’s very expensive to buy oil based clay. It’s why I started exploring recipes myself

​@@michaelarmstrong1910 it can be used powdered Kaolinite or Bentonite clay instead of powdered ceramic clay.

@@se2881 Yes, I've used Kaolinite and Bentonite clay and even just talcum powder

Thanks John, I appreciate you watching and commenting

Thank you Matt, I look forward to sharing more soon

Definitely more coming, thanks for the support

You are very welcome

If it started to age at all I expect melting it down and throwing it back in a mould would help bring it back to life

Paraffin is quite brittle in the mix and doesn’t sculpt very well. You would probably have to increase the level of beeswax to compensate

I’d say it was good on its own but if there’s a way I can make it not leave my hands sticky then that would be awesome.

@@brare45996 That's such a cool idea Marilyn. I would have to experiment with the wax to work out why it's sticky, it could be that it has too much oil in it's wax oil ratio. If I get a chance I'll give it a go and post something

@@michaelarmstrong1910 Thanks for replying, this is gonna be awesome! 😁 I also have crayons I can add in, I wonder if that would be beneficial

@@brare45996 crayons would definitely add colour to your clay. They should also firm up the clay

@@michaelarmstrong1910 The wax is already red, so I doubt it will be reliable in coloring it

It will harden as it cools, I use a can of spray air I get from an electronics store that will rapidly chill the clay if I need it really hard for details

The white powder is ball clay, it’s essentially dry clay I buy from the ceramic store. I’ve experimented with other powders like talcum powder, kaolin and course clay. I like the ball clay, good texture and cheap when you buy bulk

Hi, I've never tried using marble dust but I don't see why it wouldn't work. It might have additional texture in the resulting clay is all. I've used other powders like Kaolin Clay, Talcum Powder and Terracotta Clay (in a powder form) and they all worked. There were some variations in the final clay's texture. Please let me know how you go with the marble dust.

Hi! Which was the result of using kaolin clay?

lol, I have made a non toxic safe to eat version of this clay but it is more expensive and has a shorter shelf life of two years so I stopped producing it

Reduce the petroleum jelly and let me know how that works. It should reduce the stickiness

Certainly is

Thank you for giving it a go and posting your experience, I’ll have a think and respond shortly to let you know what I think went wrong

I wonder if there was moisture in the clay still even though it felt dry? And perhaps the size of the particles matter like you suggest, you could pass them through a sieve. I’ve experimented with using other powders like talcum powder which is pretty easy to get and worked fine for the clay. Also don’t let the clay mix get too hot, that could cause the particles to separate, but also importantly the wax can burn and release smoke

@@michaelarmstrong1910 i did use a digital induction stove and never went over 80 degress but maybe i should check the displayed temperature separately to be sure. At least there was no smoke. I used a noodle sieve but it was'nt as fine as a powder, perhaps next time i should get a finer one. As for dryness that could be a reason. Next time maybe i put it in the oven at a low temperature for a while to get possible leftover moisture out or put it in a metal container and use several candle lights for several hours, like the ones you use to keep chinese food warm at the Restaurant. Last question. For harder clay you say i need a greater wax ratio. Hard moulding wax and bee wax or only hard moulding wax?

@@lazydownable I've found that the temperature you have the induction stove set to and the actual temperature at the base of the stove is two different things. I stir a lot to try and minimise this discrepancy but I have still burnt some wax when I initially started making clay and I now always work outside to be sure. I think drying your clay out in the oven sounds like a good plan before putting it through a sieve. I usually keep the ratio of moulding wax and bees wax the same when I add more wax. They both provide different characteristics that I like in my clay. If you like you can tweak these ratios to get a different feel from your final clay. Some people like to carve their clay, I tend to build with my clay which is why I like it a little softer.

I did not do the receipe but here a bit of a answer, when you do a soil test measuring the amount of clay, sand and organic maters ect the clay can stand up in the water of a bottle for a barely full day when every thing else is deposit to the bottom fairly quickly and the organic maters is mostly floating that lead me to this. Some clay are not exactly clay, some contain more limestone or silicon etc but not exactly clay. real clay have specific property that lime stone or silicon do not have, clay is kinda "complicated inter-connected micro sheets" of stone who can hide in is "micro pocket a lot by proportion of water by volume. And that give clay the property of stand way longer in water before deposit. So it maybe the same in wax. may this is something to think about.

what do you mean by 'flacking'

Thank you so much for checking out the channel. Good news is I’ve been recording a stack of footage and I’m in the process of putting up a pile of new content. I look forward to sharing it soon

No worries at, I really appreciate you reaching out to thank me though

I use a microwave and a double boiler to soften or melt this clay for pouring. I’ve not used isopropyl alcohol on it so I can’t comment but from an ingredient perspective it should work