Treebeard

I have had reasonable success with the clay/oil mix. The key I think is getting the two ingredients well mixed. You can't just splash some cooking oil over the clay and be done. The oil will run off and the clay will then dry out. Try putting a smear of the raw clay on a sunny bit of fence panel. Within days it will have dried out and be hell to remove. The oil slow this drying, and if applied with care (ie not all over the bark) the mix does work.

If you want to use the clay/oil mix, what you need to do is mix, knead, pummel and scraunch the two ingredients for about 20 minutes, until you achieve the consistency Matt says the real stuff is, ie toothpaste. Your hands will be covered in it, all under your nails etc. Wrap it in cooking foil and leave for a couple of weeks. After this time, it should harden a bit, almost back to the old consistency of the raw clay. Then, apply carefully. After that, do what I will be doing soon, and buy a pot of the real thing... much easier and cleaner.

Regards,

TB

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