Kutol was no longer needed for its original purpose, but it was about to enter its second phase thanks to a resourceful New Jersey nursery school teacher. As reported by New Jersey Advance Media, Kay Zufall had read in a magazine that Kutol could be used to create art projects. By that time, Kutol was no longer being produced and marketed, but she found one old can left in stock at a local hardware store in Dover, New Jersey. In a wild coincidence, Joe McVicker — one of the original inventors of Kutol — was Zufall’s brother in law, and he reassured her that it was safe for children to handle the putty, as it was made of non-toxic ingredients: flour, salt, water, boric acid, and mineral oil.
Kutol was a hit with the kids in Zufall’s class, and she was able to convince McVicker that he should start manufacturing it again, this time marketing it as a children’s toy. McVicker and his partner, Bill Rhodenbaugh, set out to rebrand their product as Rainbow Modeling Compound, but Zufall and her husband convinced them to instead use the shorter, more memorable name they’d come up with: Play-Doh.
