Play-doh is one of the most interesting ways to make children joyful and occupied. The energizing vivid colors, the gentle smooth texture, the mild aroma, the high flexibility, make play dough the ideal pastime for the kid.

When children make play-doh sculptures, it often leads to a demand that you want to harden play-doh. Is there any way to harden the play dough sculptures? What is the method to dry play doh without cracks?

There are several methods for you to bake play doh, including:

In the oven

In the microwave

In the freezer

Drying out

Battersby will help you do it with the detailed instructions below.

Contents

Is It Easy For Formica Countertops Chip?

The granite and marble countertop gain their popularity of sturdiness, but you can still trim them down. With suitable equipment, these countertops are quite easy to cut.

In contrast, the Formica countertop is not made of stone like granite and marble. Instead, it is a laminate countertop. The difficulty with trimming down a laminate face side is that there is a risk of chipping or wearing out the laminate layer. So how to cut laminate without chipping?

To make a laminated chipboard, manufacturers will glue several layers of paper together and then top them with a resin coating. If you do not lay masking tape on the laminate face side, the laminated chipboard may suffer from being chipped. Then, how to cut a formica countertop without cracking the resin?

If you intend to cut plastic laminate countertops in the kitchen or the bathroom, you will need to make some preparations.

While it is not easy to cut countertops, you can still do it yourself. Among several tools, the standard equipment to cut Formica countertops is a cordless circular saw. You can take advantage of the masking tape to prevent the hardwood kitchen worktops from being chipped.

The recommendation is to get a rip fence to combine with the power saw, plus a few extra blades. You are likely to prepare a fine tooth blade for this woodworking job. If not, it can rip the kitchen worktop or cause it to look messy.

Some Tools To Cut Formica Countertop

A tape measure
A circular saw or a jigsaw
A rip guard
A utility knife
A belt sander or a sanding block
Metal file set
Shop vacuums
Safety glasses or a mask

You should choose the blade designed specifically for woodworking tasks.

How To Dry Play Doh Without Cracks

The Method Of Drying Play Doh Without Cracks

In this section, we are going to discuss four methods of baking playdough without cracks. Now, look at each of them and find the best one.

Dry play dough in the oven

Now, how to dry play doh? The best technique to bake play doh is drying in the oven with the baking sheet.

The first thing you need to do is preheat the oven for 5 minutes. At the same time, you lay the play-doh on one cookie sheet. Then, you put this baking sheet in the oven at 200 degrees for around half an hour.

You should check the play-doh on the baking sheet every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure that there is no crack. The recommendation is gently touching the play-doh with a toothpick. If it feels soft, you should take it back in the oven for some more minutes.

You can try the covered baking sheet to get a better result. The foil covered baking sheet is another solution to prevent the play-doh from sticking.

View more: How to Make French Toast Without Vanilla Extract

Dry the play dough in the microwave

When it comes to how to make playdough hard, one technique to make play dough dry faster is using the microwave.

When you put play-doh in the microwave, it will help to thaw or dry it. If you crave to make the last choice, you should let the mixture stay in the machine for around one minute in a microwave heat proof container. Then, you could observe how the clay starts to harden gradually.

Keep in mind that the steam from the play-doh sculpture will give off many detrimental chemicals (sulfur for example) at a high temperature. These chemicals with the electromagnetic radiation by the microwave can cause harm to the body.

With the highest precaution, we suggest that you should use less aggressive solutions.

Dry the play dough in the freezer

For play-doh, you can harden in the freezer. This method will give you the answer for the question of how to make play doh hard. It will not get cracked as well. Still, you should take notice of one consideration with this method.

The clay will stay hard as long as it keeps cool. In turn, if you put the play-doh back to normal temperature, it will get soft after a certain time as a result.

Although a freezer can harden play-doh without cracking for a short time, it is not the greatest idea to harden the play dough carefully for all time.

When you harden in the freezer, the play-doh may also become damaged. Therefore, it is not worth trying this method. If you desire to freeze the play dough, put it in one airtight container to prevent the clay from freezer burn.

Dry out the play dough

The last technique of how to make play dough hard is dry out. It is possible to harden playdough without cracking by the technique of air dry play-doh. Yet, ensure to prevent placing it in a damp condition because the play-doh may have mold owing to over moisture.

You should let the play dough carefully in the air for two or three days. But there is a risk of cracking, so you should keep an eye on this clay.

FAQs: How To Bake Play Doh

1. How can I preserve the play-doh sculpture?

You can exactly preserve it if you harden the playdough without cracking. There are four methods that you can choose the most suitable one:

In the oven
In the microwave
In the freezer
Drying out

When you are questioning how to harden play doh without cracking, it is worth trying one of these above techniques.

2. Could I paint dried Play-Doh?

It is possible to paint dry models of play-doh with general acrylic paints. You may find it difficult to apply paint as the surface may not be flat.

Better options are to employ sealant or glue before you paint the play-doh model. This action can keep salt as well as gravel from affecting the paint. If not, the result can look awful.

3. Could I make play-doh soft after a long time?

Pouring water into the play-doh is one of the simplest methods to make it soft one more time.

Here is the list of steps that you should follow:

Place the play-doh in a glass bowl with one drop or two of water.
Do not pour a large amount of water at one time. The method will require several water drops and kneads.
Occupy the crack with some drops of water.
Rub the mixture again till these drops of water entirely absorb in the play dough.
If you see the play-doh is not soft enough, put in other drops of water and begin kneading the mixture again.
Keep repeating these steps till you achieve the needed softness of the play-doh.

4. Can you wash play dough?

You can remove the play-doh from clothes, carpets, and couches rather easily without remaining. A few gentle detergents would wipe off play-doh forever. You only wash it out and it will come back to normal.

When you work with play-doh in a small quantity, you should wear one apron to prevent the clothing from sticking to the play-doh.

Related: How To Make Ice Cream Without Cream

Conclusion

Some of you may be wondering how to bake playdough. If you take interest in preserving the beautiful play-doh sculptures, baking the clay in the oven with a covered baking sheet is the optimal option.

You can use a foil covered baking sheet to keep the play-doh from sticking. Still, you have to be cautious as overheating is likely to break and burn the sculpture.

Other three methods can also get play-doh to harden. Drying the play dough in the microwave is doable but it could harm your health.

The freezer cannot make the play-doh hard for a long time and air dry play-doh can cause it to become moldy.

Now, let’s bake bright and energizing play-doh models to decorate your house!