It's not ideal, but for your purpose, I can understand Make sure you watch Hobby Lobby's website, they often have a 40% off coupon, so then its $6 for 2 pounds rather than $10 for 2 pounds. When I first started, I bought some from Hobby Lobby to play with and was not crazy about the regular clear, but the ones with additives are a bit better - I can't remember the brand name, but they have Olive Oil, Shea Butter, etc and they are suspending bases, so you could play with some additives too. Obviously the best plan is to order some base from a supplier, but if time is of the essence and it's just for play time, the base from HL will work in a pinch