How to soften a too hard dough ?

How to make up for clay that's too hard? How do you soften Fimo clay? You're about to start creating with polymer clay, everything's ready, but when you open your loaf of clay, you realize that it's hard, too hard... Fimo clay has become rigid and difficult to use.

What can you do about it? Here are 5 tips to soften Fimo clay and give your polymer clay a second life:

1- Knead Fimo to soften it

If your clay is slightly hard but not dry, you can try softening it by kneading it between your fingers or rolling it between your hands (clean hands, of course, to avoid mixing dust or dirt into the clay).

If your hands aren't enough, try using stronger pressure by rolling out the dough with a polymer clay roller (or, failing that, a rolling pin) or running it through the dough machine. Your loaf of clay will become flat, and all that's left to do is reconstitute it.

2- Heating the clay

If your clay is still too hard to knead, bring it closer to a source of heat. You can :

• put it on a radiator for a few minutes,
• place it under a lamp (close to the bulb),
• heat it quickly with a hairdryer,
• place in a microwave oven for a few seconds on defrost mode.

Fimo clay is a thermo-reactive polymer clay, meaning it softens with heat and hardens with cold. In summer, it will soften. You'll need to protect your clay from the heat by putting it in a cool place (but not the fridge). In winter, it will harden.

3- Use clay softeners

There are products specially designed to soften Fimo clay. They can be used with clay that is slightly dry and crumbly.

• Fimo Mix Quick: mix a maximum of 2/3 Fimo clay with 1/3 Mix Quick. You'll need to twist the 2 products together. The color may change slightly.
• Sculpey clay softener: add a few drops to improve the dry, crumbly texture of the polymer. Knead until desired texture is achieved.
• Cernit Magic Mix: mix a little at a time with the clay until you reach the desired consistency. It restores the clay's flexibility.

4- Mixing with liquid polymers

With very dry clay, you can use liquid polymers such as liquid Fimo, transparent liquid Sculpey or Kato Polyclay liquid clay.

It's always best to use the same brand of liquid clay as the one you want to soften, but there are a few exceptions:

• Liquid Fimo will work with Sculpey, Fimo and Cernit clay.
• Liquid Sculpey on Sculpey ,Fimo, Cernit.

How to use liquid polymer to soften clay that's too dry?

• Step 1: To make it easier to mix the clay with the products, cut the entire block of clay as small as possible, or use a special grater.
• Step 2: Wear gloves to avoid staining your hands. Add the product to your clay in small quantities. Add as you go along, so as not to overdo it.
• Step 3: Mix with your hands. When it starts to become less sticky, flatten the clay with your fingers.
• Step 4: Put it through the clay machine in all directions, folding it over each time until it becomes bound and supple.

5- System D: use moisturizer

This technique may seem surprising, but it works pretty well. To use it, simply mix your dry polymer clay with a dab of moisturizing cream. Be careful, however, as this technique tends to stain your hands. Be careful and wear gloves before trying this method.

Now you know how to recover dry Fimo clay. However, these methods don't apply to all polymer clay. Unfortunately, there are some pastes that are impossible to recover because they are too old, and even if you work on them for a long time with all these products, the clay doesn't regain its suppleness.

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