What Do You Do With Old Polymer Clay?

What I do when I have an old, hard and crumbly clay is, put 2 drops of oil onto my palms. I personally use baby oil. I then rub my pals together to spread the oil all over it and then i take my crumbly clay and just work it on my pals. That way the oil is penetrating into the clay and softens it. If I'm not satisfied with its density, I add some more oil. but be careful not to use a lot of oil because your clay might get super soft. You can also make some deco and whip cream using oil and clay. mix the same amount of oil and clay in a small container and mix them well together until you get the desired texture. I use this technique to make icing for my clay cakes. Hope this helps. :)

If you get the clay warm in your hand and add some clay softener sculpy makes it. Work with it, and use your pasta machine you should get it to workable condition. Best of Luck!

Well as long as it is just dry and crumbly and not partially cured you are ok. Here's what I do and it works quite well. 1- put it in a zip top bag and either stick it in your bra or sit on it for a while. You want your body heat to make it nice and warm. I wouldn't try a heating pad or hot water cause they can be hot enough to cure the clay. 2- once warm put it on a safe surface and give it a few whacks with a rubber mallet. 3- then try putting it through your pasta machine a few times. IF after doing that it is still hard and crumbly you can add a few drops of baby or mineral oil. Now just use a few drops and knead it in. Then wait several hours for the oil to soften it up. Then repeat the steps above. I have not had to throw out any clay to date by using the method above -even on the most crumbly clay.

It sounds to me like the clay you bought was partially cured, possibly from being too close to a heat source, or in the sun, perhaps. I would suggest trying to get a refund from whoever you bought it from on ebay. I have never used the clay softeners, but you might try that. But if it has been cured, I don't think it will work. I think it's meant more for clay that might be a bit old, or that the batch turned out a bit drier than usual. Some people have used chopped up bits of cured clay in other clay things, sort of as texture, or bits of color, so that might be another idea. If you think it's just dry, but not cured, you also might try running it through a "clay only" food processor. That's my favorite way of quickly conditioning clay. When it starts to form a ball, it should be ready to work with. Hope this helps!