Clay bowls really work!

[Arpolis]

Hello there All!

A long while back I started a thread and I was asking about using clay bowls for my snakes. The PetCo water bowls are so expensive and they dont ever look they way I would like for them to look. There was not a lot of opinions thrown at me so I continued researching and I have found a nice product to use. I wanted to share these findings hoping some one else would like to try this. The Product is called "Sculpey III oven bake clay" The Sculpey company makes soooo many different colors and most of my bowls consist of only 4 1once blocks of the stuff. I just rolled out long strands and twisted the colors together and then coiled the strands in spirals to make the bottom and sides. Super easy to make and I think they put a more personal touch to your snake habitat. So with out further delay here are my current bowls in use.

This one is for my pink snow yearling.
C:\Documents and Settings\owner\Desktop\pictures\Water bowls 1.jpg

This one is for my Amel.
C:\Documents and Settings\owner\Desktop\pictures\Water bowls 2.jpg

My Classic het Hypo Plasma enjoyes this one.
C:\Documents and Settings\owner\Desktop\pictures\Water bowls 3.jpg

This one is for my opal.
C:\Documents and Settings\owner\Desktop\pictures\Water bowls 4.jpg

Finnally this one is for my RO
C:\Documents and Settings\owner\Desktop\pictures\Water bowls 5.jpg

[Arpolis]

Hmm I guess I am new at posting images give me a sec i'll get it.

[Arpolis]

Well how about attaching the files. Lets see if this works.

[CodeRed]

They look great! I really like the natural, earthy toned ones myself. I'm a bit of a natural look buff :D Do they hold water well, or do they eventually start to leak? Also, are they really fragile? I'm a bit of a kultz, so it wouldn't do good to have bowls that break every time they slip from wet fingers.

[Arpolis]

When you take them out of the oven "30 - 45 min when the oven has cooled to room temp" they are nice and hard but not brittle. They hold water very well and dont really seem to soak any water up at all. The bright red one has been in use for about two months now and it is still going strong. The pink and white one I made a little thin because I was making that one as large as possible and there is a little bendability in the bottom but it still holds well. So from my experience with these as long as you keep the thickness about 1/4" you are fine and if you drop them they should hold well.

[luckycharm318]

I'm using a pot I made in high school ceramics as a hide, but this is a good idea! I hadn't thought of using the FIMO Clay to make a bowl... oh the possibilities...:crazy01: Thank you for the new project idea!
I actually found my clay stash the other day while on a cleaning spree too so this will give me something to do.

[SquamishSerpents]

very cool idea!

though my concern would not be the water leaking out, but chemicals from the clay leeching INTO the water? is this a concern or not?

if not, i may just have to fashion some of those!

[Arpolis]

I choose the sculpty product because it said it was non toxic. Now most clays need a glaze to be water tight and mast glazes have some toxicity before being baked. I did not use a glaze and these Bowles work great.

[bapkate]

This is so cool! I've thought about experimenting with sculpy clay for hides, but I never thought about using it for water bowls. These look great!