CLAY & DOUGH

Dough is for play, not for keeping. Soft, reusable, and used with tools — rollers, cutters and moulds.

Teddy Dough is the ready-made range — soft, pliable, reusable and gluten free. Dala rates it for ages three and up and states it will not dry out when stored in an airtight container.

Air-drying clay hardens in air. Dala's air-drying clay dries to a rock hard finish with no baking or firing required, which makes it the practical choice for a school without a kiln. Available in terracotta and white, and finished pieces can be painted.

Polymer clay hardens by baking. It holds fine detail and colour, which suits older students working on small pieces. Check the packaging for temperature and timing before a class uses it.

Modelling clay never hardens. It stays soft indefinitely and is reused rather than kept — good for modelling practice, sculpture exercises and anything where the same material is worked repeatedly. Not for work going home.

Clever Clay is air-drying, lightweight and elastic — a softer alternative where the finished piece needs to be handled.

Fun foam air dries to a hard finish and is self-hardening. Lightweight, already coloured, and shaped rather than modelled.

Decide first whether the work is going home. Dough is not; air-drying clay and fun foam are. That single question resolves most of the ordering.

No kiln required for the air-drying ranges. Dala's air-drying clay states this explicitly — nothing needs firing.

Air-drying clay needs somewhere to dry for a day or more, undisturbed — a real constraint in a shared classroom.

Buy tools once. Rollers, cutters and boards outlast many batches of dough.

Made in South Africa. Dala manufactures its clay and dough ranges in its own factory rather than importing them, which means shorter lead times and no exchange-rate exposure on repeat orders.

Dough keeps if it is sealed. Dala states its Teddy Dough will not dry out when stored in an airtight container. It is also gluten free and reusable.