Oh my, what fun I had with this one! Definitely a Blast From The Past...and our material of choice is bread dough! Like baked beans, it seems that everyone had their own particular recipe, although the two basic ingredients were always the same...white bread and white glue. It was how you put them together that made the difference. But for all the ways we did it then, this is the way I do it now. Much easier. Much faster. Materials:
fresh white bread
white glue *
blender or food processor
plastic bags
acrylic paint
rolling pin or pasta maker
fishing line (monofilament)
long needle
6" embroidery hoop
foam board
anaglypta or other textured/relief wallpaper
surgical gloves (optional, for mixing bread and glue)
* I've always preferred using Sobo glue. Many folks prefer using Aleene's. I also use Elmer's on occasion. I find that Sobo results in clay that has a slight bit of flexibility to it. Elmer's makes more brittle clay. When making mobiles, I don't think it makes one whit of difference what glue you use as far as the final results are concerned. The slight difference will be in the making, because the glues vary in thickness, so you may need to use a bit more or a bit less to get the results you want.