The Joy of Metal Clay: Oymaru Molding Material

Oymaru Molding Material, is a funky type of molding material that you can soften using hot water impress with texture or a item you want to mold, cool and then use as a mold or texture. I bought this stuff, about three years ago and it has sat in my studio waiting to be used for about three years (please tell me I am not the only one to do this, buy something to find that that it gets squirrelled away to be forgotten). Anyway, I had a student a couple of weeks ago bring some to one of my classes and asked if she could try it out during the class. Yes, I told her and sure enough it worked easily and fine, so this weekend I decided to bring out my package and see what it could do.

Funny enough package does not have any directions in English, I am not sure if this is the case if you buy it now but back in 2007 when I bought mine it did not come with English directions, so I can't give you exact directions.

Here are the directions from the package...I can only make out the numbers!

Luckily there are directions on the Art Clay World USA website: "Heat softened molding material. Reusable. (1.4oz)Directions: Dip the Oyumaru into hot water (more than 176ºF) for 3 minutes. Take the Oyumaru out of the water with a pair of tongs and wipe it dry with a towel. While it is still soft, press the material you wish to mold into the Oyumaru. If the Oyumaru gets hard while you are working with it, place it back in the water and begin the process again."

All I did was boiled water in a kettle, poured it into a container and added the pieces of material and timed it for 3 minutes. After three minutes, I pulled it out and impressed texture into.

Here is a sample of the molding material in which I rolled various leaves in it.

Here is what the texture looks like in clay.

Here it is with a key impressed in it.

The material comes in numerous coloured blocks they can be rolled and can be squished together (after heating) to make a larger piece. One thing though is that it can stick to stuff, I tried putting a peanut shell into one piece and pieces of the peanut shell stuck to the texture. Yes it can be reheated and used again with a different texture. It is kind of fun and remarkably easy.

Go forth and mold!