Dry Clay Problems?

Any artist that has worked with Polymer clay, or any clay for that matter, has run into the dry clay issue. It happens just so; you sit down to sculpt a nice piece, open up a fresh new brick of clay and start rolling it between your fingers. But unlike normal, this particular clay doesn't roll into a nice ball as you intended, instead it crumbles in your hands like week old toast.

Who's gonna clean this up?

This will not do at all. Now usually I will spend several hours kneading the clay until it is more pliable and I can finally make something with it; although that usually is followed by blistered palms and sore digits. But I finally met my match, a clay that was just too dry to knead at all. I LOVE Premo Sculpey brand, I pretty much only use it but this one brick was not making it easy on me.

This one here was the week old toast kind!

I have never used clay softener before so I was pretty skeptical about giving it a try but it was either that or toss this batch of clay out and open a new brick, NAY I SAY! THIS CLAY SHALL NOT BE DISCARDED!!! I may have not been quite so dramatic about it...okay I totally was. :P  
I was able to find this clay softener at Michael's Art Supply Store. Sculpey Clay softener.

Oh yeah, that's the good stuff.

I am totally hooked now, it worked like a charm. Just a few drops of this stuff, a few minutes of kneading and molding and Voila, clay just like new. It is a bit greasy at first, it needs to be to soften the clay but after just a few moments of rolling the clay in your hands and it is soaked in.
This brand worked just great for me so I have not tried any other brands but it wasn't too expensive either so I will most likely keep this little miracle worker on hand from now on.

Can't make cuties like this little guy using dray clay. :)

I just wanted to share my little find with you all, I hope this blog can help others dealing with dry clay. Don't throw it out, work it out. :)
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn