FAQS
What is Cold Porcelain?
Cold Porcelain is a very flexible and malleable clay that allows you to make practically any type of object. Its composition is based on vinyl glue and corn-starch, in addition to other components.
Cold Porcelain is a common material used for making crafts and figures, as it is a clay that is very easy to handle and mould. Nicron Cold Porcelain dries in the open air, without the need for oven drying or any other hardening process.
Our Nicron pigments are highly concentrated colours specially formulated for mixing with Nicron Cold Porcelain. You could choose the colour from our colour range or alternatively you could also mix it with acrylic paint.
Nicron Cold Porcelain, is a non-toxic clay and meets standards ASTM D 4236.
How do you use Nicron Cold Porcelain?
Cold Porcelain must be manually softened before using to make the clay workable and more flexible. The working point of the clay is easily achieved within a few minutes.
All work done with cold porcelain begins with a ball in which there are no marks or wrinkles, for example to use a mold we will introduce the smoothest and most orderly side of the ball into the mold, in this way we will ensure that the figure comes out without lines that are not part of the design.
The molded pieces can be glued with white PVA glue and it is also recommended to join one piece to another using a thin wire or wooden sticks to join the pieces.
When you want to stick to an accessory or another dry piece, we recommend gluing it using liquid or hot silicone. If it’s fresh cold porcelain, you would only need to use vinyl glue.
When making large designs, it is recommended to use wire or wooden sticks to join pieces together and EPS foam spheres to reduce the weight of the piece, (generally used in heads and bodies when they have a round shape).
The Nicron Cold Porcelain, is a modelling material that will stick to wood, glass, wire, paper, plastic and any fabrics.
How do you add color to Cold Porcelain?
A Cold Porcelain portion is made into a ball and flattened between the hands, a very small portion of the stain is taken and placed in the middle of the cold porcelain, then kneading it from the outside until it integrates well so that the pigmentation is evenly distributed.
We recommend adding very little color at a time to the porcelain so that you can gradually adjust the color you want to achieve.
We recommended to dye the Cold Porcelain with Nicron Pigments. These pigments don't dry the clay and are available in a range of highly concentrated colors.
Other options to colour the Cold Porcelain are to use coloured dust, oils, food colour or acrylic paints.
Also when the cold porcelain is dry you can paint the figure with acrylic or water-based paints. This requires a little more skill and effort as the figures are often small, the surfaces to be painted are minimal, and you must have the right size brushes.
How to prevent the Cold Porcelain from getting sticky?
If the cold porcelain is sticky and you want to:
Stretch the cold porcelain until it is very thin, or get a figure using a silicone mold or it just sticks to your hands when you want to use it…, then you can:
Sprinkle cornstarch or talcum powder on the work table and in your hands. (*Please do not use large amounts of cornstarch or talcum powder, as these products can dry out cold porcelain if used in excess.)
You can also use petroleum jelly, Crisco, coconut oil liquid form or hand cream.
If you want to use a rolling machine, we recommend that you use spray oil first on the roll and then position the porcelain so that it passes through the rollers and is stretched.
In the case of using molds, we recommend using petroleum jelly (cream) cornstarch or talcum powder or coconut oil liquid form and then place the cold porcelain.
How should Cold Porcelain be stored?
Unused clay must be stored in airtight containers. If left uncovered, it will become hard and dry. To ensure that the clay is not in contact with the air, it can be placed in resealable bags and it is very important to remove the air from the inside of the bag, close it with adhesive tape and then stored in plastic containers.
How long does it take for Cold Porcelain clay to dry?
Cold porcelain requires at least 24 hours to air dry. Items that are thicker than 1/4 inch (6mm) may require much longer.
This porcelain is air dried, and the drying time will depend on the size of the piece. This can range from one day to a week or two.
It is left to dry at room temperature on a polystyrene mat or EVA foam, and every so often its position must be changed for the piece to dry evenly and completely.
What is Cold Porcelain used for?
Cold Porcelain is a common material used for making crafts and figures, as it is a clay that is very easy to handle and mould.
Nicron Cold Porcelain dries in the open air, without the need for oven drying or any other hardening process.
The Nicron Cold Porcelain, is a modelling material that will stick to wood, glass, wire, paper, plastic and any fabrics.
Cold porcelain is used to make cake toppers and make fake cakes for exhibitions, flowers with which decorate a cake also decorations for children's rooms, to make wedding or communion party souvenirs, to make jewelry such as earrings and bracelets, to decorate glass or tin jugs for the kitchen or make hair ornaments. and…an endless number of other things that your imagination will give you!
What is the difference between Cold Porcelain and Polymer clay?
Cold porcelain clay and polymer clay are modeling materials.
The key difference between cold porcelain and polymer clay is:
Nicron Cold Porcelain clay contains cornstarch and white glue as main components, so it is non-toxic.
Polymer clay contains PVC resin and a liquid plasticizer. In addition, there are also some other ingredients. It is toxic.
It is very difficult when using Nicron Porcelain, to have a crack on the surface of the clay piece after drying, but if it is there we can easily correct it by adding a little cold porcelain moistened with water on the crack. On the other hand, once the polymer clay is baked, you won't be able to correct it.
Using Nicron Cold Porcelain you can make very thin pieces, using Polymer is complicated.
You can forget about finger marks on your pieces using Nicron, but using Polymer it is very easy to get them on your pieces.
For cold porcelain clay, we need to add glycerin, baby oil, or cooking oil.
For polymer clay, we need to add mineral oil, lecithin, zinc oxide, etc.
Cold porcelain does not need to be cooked; polymer requires baking in an oven.
Last but not least, Nicron Cold Porcelain is much cheaper than polymer clay.
Is Cold Porcelain a safe material to be used with children?
Cold porcelain is safe for kids to use as long as the paints used to color it are non-toxic.
Nicron Cold Porcelain is a non-toxic material and meets standards ASTM D 4236.
However those do not indicate that it is edible, it is not recommended to be ingested. In any case, its taste is not pleasant so the person will surely reject the piece that enters their mouth. It is recommended that if it is to be delivered to children it is dyed with non-toxic colorants such as our Nicron pigments and edible colorants.
Does Cold Porcelain break easily?
Another distinctive difference between cold porcelain and other air dry clay is the hardness and durability when dried. Cold Porcelain gets very hard when dried. It's as hard as if it was fired in a kiln. Cold porcelain can also be made into thin pieces without breaking.
And if you use Nicron Flex you can obtain the hardness of a normal porcelain but with a flexibility that will surprise you, it is special for making flowers since they will never break and they will look like real flowers because they are flexible!
How do you soften Cold Porcelain?
To soften cold porcelain place it in a air tight container and place the container in a bowl of hot (not boiling) water for a few minutes and it will soften almost immediately.
If your clay is too soft place in an air tight container and leave it in the fridge for a few minutes and it will become stiffer.
If it is really dry, you can moisten it with water and gradually mix the porcelain with the water, until you achieve the point you are looking for.
If the porcelain is not so hard, it can also be softened by adding fresh Nicron EVA to the dry porcelain and mixing well with each other.
How do you seal Cold Porcelain?
It is not necessary to seal the finished pieces but if you want to do it you can seal it with any Clear Acrylic Sealer or Sculpey Sealer or Finishing Sealer spray lacquer or simply by painting the final piece with the white glue that you use to join the pieces, let it dry and it will be sealed .
If you want to seal the piece so that it is protected from water, you should use a specific varnish or sealant to become water-resistant. Please make sure to cover the piece well since if the cold porcelain is exposed to water your piece will be ruined.
Can the different Nicron Cold Porcelains be mixed?
They can be mixed and the results are great.
For example artists often mix traditional porcelain with soft porcelain, in a 2: 1 ratio for modeling dolls.
We invite you to play with our products, mix them all with all of them, have fun and discover which combination you like the most!
Can the porcelain be in direct contact with the fondant or buttercream cake?
The cold porcelain can be in direct contact with fondant or Buttercream once the cold porcelain is dry, but we recommend putting a small cake board between the figure that was made with cold porcelain and the cake.
In this way you will not only protect the porcelain figure, also the person who receives the cake will be able to keep the decoration that you made as a souvenir.
It is important to mention that we do not recommend putting what you have created with cold porcelain in the refrigerator for long time, since the cold porcelain may get very wet and begin to melt.
How long does Cold Porcelain last if it is well sealed?
Two years 😊
Nicron Cold porcelains is translucent and which is not?
Cold porcelain Nicron Traditional, Nicron Color and Nicron Flex are translucent, which means that if you let them dry as they come from the package, they will result in a yellowish color that is not very pleasant to the eye, but if you dye it with color, you can achieve very intense or dark colors. It is ideal to achieve colors such as black, red or dark blue.
It is important to emphasize that in these two types of cold porcelain, the color that is seen when fresh will raise its tone twice when drying. If you want them to be white, you have to dye them white with some white pigment.
Nicron Soft and Nicron EVA, already come in white, so if you let them dry they will be white. These porcelains are ideal for working with pastel colors since, having a white base, they will not reach very intense colors.
Another difference in relation to Nicron Traditional Nicron Color and Flex is that when both Nicron Soft and Nicron EVA dry, they do not change the color they have when fresh.
Remember that all our porcelains can be mixed so by doing so you achieve super interesting porcelains to be worked on, encourage yourself to mix them and see which combination you like the most!
How Should the molds be cared for?
Ours Silicone molds are perfect for working with clay or fondant. It gives you the opportunity to work quickly with incredible precision. We recommend placing some release agent in the mold to have a good result, use cream Vaseline or baby oil but in small quantities.
To take care of your molds we recommend:
-Store in a dry place away from high temperatures.
-Never use sharp objects to remove clay from the mold
-The mold can be washed by hand with water and neutral detergent
-After washing and drying, put a cover of talcum powder to store.
- As a release agent, use cream Vaseline, baby oil (in small quantities), talcum power or Cornstarch.
Can we use Glue to stick the 3D Stickers?
Our 3D stickers come with glue but it is recommended to put a very small drop of white glue on the back surface of the sticker to ensure that it does not peel off.
It is very important to dip the sticker a little on the face you are making to ensure that it does not come off the face and to give it a more natural look.