You're likely already familiar with polymer and pottery clay. Maybe you were like me and thought it was just something you had to do in elementary art class. Personally, I don't like the glossy look of clay people typically do. It reminds me of garden gnomes and tacky knick-knacks (no offense to those who like it LOL). I also find the whole process of sculpting, oven-baking, and then painting too cumbersome, and I feel like that kind of process wouldn't produce results fit to my taste. I dismissed clay art entirely for most of my life, up until a couple years ago when I saw some artists online making the coolest figures I'd ever seen. I finally felt that my tastes in clay art were recognized.
In this article, I attempt to enlighten the mystery of figure-making clay. You have probably seen it on YouTube or Instagram, an artist crafting the nicest anime figure with just clay. But surprisingly, there is little information out there about it in English, or even the West in general. If you look carefully enough though, you can find treasure and make your own clay figures!
Disclaimer: I'm by no means an expert on this kind of clay lol, and am working on my accumulating observations, personal experience, and speculation. I will update this article from time to time as I learn and gain more personal experience.
This is my first ever figure made with super light/ultra light clay! I had an absolute blast making this. Later in this article I'll detail more about it, but for now, this is one of the same types of clay Asian clay artists use for their exquisite figures, as you've likely seen before. In case you have never seen them or don't know what I'm talking about, here are just a few videos of them.
Here are a few examples of this Cambodian artist I really love, they're an inspiration for me! They're Kon Khmer Art online.
Really though, they're literally all Asian artists. They tend to be Chinese, but they're from all over Asia - China, Korea, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc. I say this with confidence as I've yet to see any Western artists using the clay they use or do the process they use, nor any who can enlighten this clay mystery to the rest of the world outside Asia. (Even with the minimal amount of "tutorial" videos that DO try to give insight into them, they're literally not in English and don't appear to be catered to an English audience... and they hardly give information of substance anyway.) I'm looking to be that long awaited spokesperson so anyone else who wants to dive into air dry clay figure making won't have to sift through unhelpful responses and gatekeeping. And no, I'm not talking about the typical Das air dry clay you get at Michaels, or oven-bake polymer clay. These types of air dry clay are entirely different than any clay you can normally get in-store or even online.
Observations
A recurring pattern of figures like these that are posted online are they're often just videos showing the artist assembling clay pieces together without showing their particular work process, only showing bits of it sparingly, making it particularly difficult for viewers to learn how to make their own figures/clay art and leaving them in the dark to guess. Often, there are slews of people asking in the comments what kind of clay they use, with people sometimes asking what they do for particular parts of the process, to no real replies of substance from the creator - often they literally just say "air dry clay" even when someone asks for what specific brand(s) they use. For a curious person looking into doing clay art like them, this can be very frustrating trying to look for ounces of info into what kind of clay to get and what they specifically do during the figure-making process.
What's peculiar is that from all the (rather obscure) videos I've watched across all these air dry clay channels on YouTube, I've managed to discern that they effectively all use the same processes and techniques. They mold out all the individual parts, drying them each accordingly before sticking them together, and stick metal rods into them for support.
As someone who obviously loves art and wanted to dive deeper into making figures with this kind of clay, and as many others have experienced, it is very frustrating trying to find useful information regarding even basic stuff, like the aforementioned clay brands and the techniques and steps used. What's the most damning in trying to learn more from these artists is that they can sometimes direct you to their own store to buy their own branded clay or tools for higher than what you can actually get them for. It's not wrong trying to earn some money from trying to give people access to your craft and learn from you, but it is shady and frustrating when they effectively refuse to tell you what exact brand they actually use and even more so when they literally put their own logo and resell from existing Asian clay brands where you can get them for cheaper.
Luckily, I've sifted through comments and websites and reverse-image searched clays enough to find out what they actually are and where these artists actually get them from, and where now you can too!
What are these air dry clays, anyway?
To clarify, I'm specifically talking about the clays that Asian artists typically use. These types of clay are professional quality and are exclusive to Asia and to online Asian markets anyway, but I wanted to clarify in case. I will explain further soon.
As said earlier, these clays are entirely different than polymer clay or pottery clay - clays that are typically used in clay art in the West. I've discerned that these Asian figure artists generally use two types of clay in their work: super/ultra light soil clay and resin clay.
Now let's talk about what their general similarities are.
Both...
- Are soft to use
- Are easily malleable and does not dent easily; smoothness is easily achievable
- Have a matte texture when dried
- Air dry, meaning no oven-baking is required
- Have properties similar to each other but are different to others, so techniques are a little different
- Are probably not water resistant
- Are less susceptible to dust and fingerprints
- Non-sticking to hands; not dusty, no staining
But what about their differences?
As the name implies, it is an incredibly lightweight air dry clay. Just 105 grams of XiaoGeBi's ultra light clay is a lot lighter than 105 grams of Sculpey Premo, a popular oven-bake polymer clay in the West. Seriously, it feels lighter than holding a Samsung s24 Plus phone, for reference.
Although supporting rods are still needed to support figures, the lightweight properties of super light clay is great for making figures as they won't be heavy and you can easily position parts to be suspended in the air (with additional temporary support of course, as it still can droop down because of gravity when drying).
Depending on the brand you get, some brands dry faster than others. Once it starts drying, it is difficult to get small specific details and continue molding it without creasing and wrinkling. You can add a little bit of water if it starts to dry before you want it to. You also can't roll the clay out thin enough to achieve transparent visibility, unlike resin clay.
Because of how super light clays are made, certain brands may have the risk of expanding a bit when they dry.
Many of the brands I've viewed boast about this kind of clay being more eco-friendly and made with natural materials, and I speculate that this is also why it's also sometimes called ultra light "soil" clay. Currently, I have not been able to confirm this, so take it with some grain of salt.
Super light clay is cheaper than resin clay.
Now, I haven't had personal experience with resin clay yet, but I know that Asian clay figure artists also use resin clay in addition to ultra light clay.
From my impressions, it is thicker, denser, and more resilient than super light clay. It may have the risk of a tiny bit of shrinkage when drying, but it seems to be more suitable for finer details and adds durable hardness and weight to your figures.
Some artists - and certain brands recommend to - mix super light and resin clay together for ultimate effect of each clay complementing the other's properties.
As with super light clay, depending on the brand you use, drying time may be longer or faster than another. Many also note about the clay being eco-friendly and made with natural material.
Transparent options are offered, which are great for achieving certain affects and for certain aesthetics, particularly for the effects of clothing.
Where can you get it?
For super light clay, some people have said that you can get it on Amazon. I can't attest to the quality and properties of them, and I'm not sure if they are probably of the same quality as the ones Asian artists get. You can probably try, but you won't be using the ones that Asian clay artists use and therefore might not be able to take advantage of the same properties of the clay they use.
Searching up 'resin clay' on Amazon brings you the same results, lol.
I found out about Taobao after finding out about Superbuy, a Taobao/Tmall proxy site, while browsing for lolita clothing. I'm surprised I didn't know anything about Taobao sooner, though at the same time it makes sense - Taobao is catered to a Chinese demographic, but also to the entire continent of East and Southeast Asia as well, hence why I've ever only seen Southeast and East Asian artists using these clays and posting them online. It's an Asian-centered online marketplace full of items and brands local to China.
Essentially: Taobao is the jackpot for professional quality super light and resin clay. It is literally where all these Asian artists get their clays and tools, not to mention the excellent selection of lolita stuff. Taobao has an excellent selection of items in general, and has a wider selection than AliExpress. Since these are typically, if not all, local Chinese brands, everything is cheaper than you could ever get on Amazon, WITHOUT sacrificing quality like *shivers* Shein or Temu. You are getting Chinese items as they come locally in Asia or China.
Although I've yet to have personally purchase off Taobao directly, I've read that the cheaper prices aren't without a caveat, however, as the shipping can be expensive, and is often more expensive than not. Granted, it is an Asian-centered market and you'd be shipping internationally. I'm not sure if it would be cheaper for those residing in Asian countries, but Taobao does allow you to switch to most East and Southeast Asian countries, aside from "global". There's no discernable way to switch the language to English though without automatically translating everything yourself.
One caveat though: the signup process can be tricky, and there are a number of scenarios that can get your account suddenly frozen or blocked. It is very, very hard to get your account unfrozen if this happens. I will probably detail more on how to sign up properly, as I do believe it's worth it to have an account on there and shop!
If you want to shop on Taobao but you don't want to directly use Taobao, this is where the next couple online marketplaces can come in handy!
Ok, Superbuy isn't actually its own marketplace lol. As mentioned earlier, it's a Taobao/Tmall proxy site, meaning you can still order directly from Taobao (or another Chinese/Asian marketplace that they support), except agents order them on your behalf. They then allow you to store your goods in their warehouse for up to 90 days for free as you decide how you want it to be shipped to you.
Unlike the typical online ordering process where you just pay and at most pick your shipping line and time, on Superbuy, you decide how you want each step to be done. You purchase your items, decide how you want them packaged, then pick your shipping line.
Shipping can be QUITE expensive, as it's Superbuy's main source of profit. You get items from Taobao for the same cheap price as they are sold natively, but on average, shipping costs around $25/0.5kg per package. The cost of shipping depends on the weight of your package(s) and how fast you want it to be shipped. This is why Superbuy allows you to pick your way of packaging in order to keep the weight down and bring costs down. They have shipping rehearsal aka shipping expert service in the case you want them to do the shipping planning for you.
Get unavailable items - Sometimes there are items on Taobao that are unavailable to ship internationally from Taobao's warehouse and the same items can be sold for more expensive on AliExpress than you could get on Taobao. You could still get it via Superbuy for the same price natively sold on Taobao, and that in combination with the shipping can be a better deal than for the same listing on AliExpress. Even though shipping can be quite expensive, there are definitely scenarios where using Superbuy gives you the better deal.
For someone new to Superbuy or proxy sites like these, it can be quite jarring and confusing trying to navigate through the process, but luckily this pretty much summarizes the steps. For more specific questions, there's the Superbuy subreddit and discord that both always have employees and experienced customers answering inquiries. Superbuy's service is excellent overall as well!
AliExpress is a great online marketplace where you can get international items not available on other places (like Amazon), many of them if not most of them just being the same Taobao listings themselves. It really is a great alternative to any of the other giant marketplaces like *blegh* Amazon, *vomit* Shein, *fart* Temu... I highly recommend using this over any of those.
It is generally reliable. I've never had any issue with the site or the sellers on it, but as with any marketplace with individual sellers, every once in a blue moon people can get an issue. There's not really anything different to worry about and it's not anything unlike what can happen with any other marketplace, but just do your due diligence and look at the store reviews just in case, as you hopefully would anywhere else.
AliExpress has a good selection of international items and you can get the same Asian-made super light and resin clay as sold on Taobao. They will be for more expensive than natively sold on Taobao, but usually it's a better deal on AliExpress than getting the same on Superbuy because of shipping. The bigger expense will be in the items rather than in the shipping as opposed to Superbuy and maybe Taobao.
As said earlier, AliExpress has a great selection from Taobao, but not everything from Taobao. Therefore, you won't find as many selections of lolita dresses or Asian-made clay on AliExpress as you would on Taobao. This doesn't mean you won't find professional, high quality items on there, but you just won't have as many selections as on Taobao.
Clay Brands
This section includes brands that are popularly used with good reviews and is not in order of better quality.
Get it here: AliExpress, Taobao, Superbuy
Ah yes, XiaoGeBi! This is the clay I got earlier this month and I've been having a lot of fun with it!
As you can see, when it dries, the texture is matte, as is the case with every other super light clay. It feels almost rubbery and soft to touch, but is definitely firm enough to stop deformations. It retains shape well.
One con is that it does start to dry out kind of fast after you take it out of the plastic, so it's not as beginner friendly as other brands. I'd say about two minutes of being out, you can feel it already starts to dry.
There are a few clays of Nuwa you can get.
Get it here: AliExpress, Taobao, Superbuy
I will finish writing the rest of the brands soon~
