Air Dough Poos

These brown, perspiring sausages are fake animal poos, sculpted out of a children’s modelling clay variously called air dough, cloud dough or foam clay. Along with substances known as gak, smud, floam and silly putty, air dough is one of a number of tactile, stretchy, sticky and malleable substances that appeal to kids as much for their sensory and stress-relieving properties as their creative potential to model everything from toy cakes to figurines and jewellery. 

This powdery, velvety-smooth, spongy, air-drying putty is extremely light-weight and often described as ‘cloud-like’, unlike much denser traditional air dry modelling clays. Air dough feels both slippery and silky to the touch, retains its shape when it is sculpted and drying in room temperature air in 24-48 hours. It keeps its spongy texture when dry and tends to be stronger and less prone to cracking than denser and stiffer non-foamy modelling materials. 

The term air clay covers a whole host of substances with different consistencies, malleabilities and tactile and mechanical properties, ranging from Das’s grainy cellulose fibre and clay mineral combination to Play Doh’s nostalgic special salt dough recipe. Recipes aren’t always freely available for these slimy yet foamy air doughs, but those that are suggest it is crafted from some of the same components as slime. Ingredients include PVA, which gives it its stretchy, gooey long polymer chain ‘backbone’, and the faint whiff of vinegar you can smell as it cures and releases acetic acid. Ingredients like cellulose gum, styrene or methyl methacrylate (also used in acrylic nails and dental prosthetics) give it its viscosity and strength. Glycerin, which is a plasticiser and humectant, keeps the clay moist and allows it to stay pliable for long enough to make your model.  

These air dough poos were made at our Delight and Disgust open day, as part of an animal poo modelling activity. The air dough we used then was from Newclay Products in Devon, but the company has since dissolved, with numerous competitors like Crayola and Bohs now making very similar products. This air dough was probably popped in a jar before it was fully dry, hence the sweaty film that has formed on the inside of the glass.