Working with Clay

On February 26th, two students from our Saturday Studio class were finally able to take home their finished clay projects.  They had been working on these pieces for several weeks, allowing time for the clay to completely dry before it was fired in the kiln, then glazed and re-fired. Clay is one of the mediums with which I am least familiar.  So, not only was this a learning experience for our students, but it was also an opportunity for me to learn as well.

The first week, one of the girls decided she wanted to make a clay rattle; the other made a relief-like sculpture of an eye.  Both projects required attaching two or more separate pieces of clay.  I learned that in order to ensure the clay parts stay together, you must score, or scratch, both sides in order to give them texture.  It is very similar to how velcro sticks together.  Then, just before joining the two parts, you must add slip.  Slip is a combination of clay and water and it has the consistency of slippery mud.  It acts as the glue that keeps both sides sticking together.  In this photograph, you can't even tell that the rattle was once made up of two separate sides.  This is because she scored and added slip before smoothing the parts together with her fingers.  Before closing the pieces she added smaller balls of clay wrapped in tissue to create the parts that make the rattle have sound.  After she was finished, she then poked a few small holes in the rattle to allow air in.

Both projects had to dry completely before they were fired.  This can take one to two weeks.  When everything is completely dry Kathryn takes the sculptures home where the kiln is housed.  After firing, the clay changes from grayish-brown to pure white.  Then the pieces are ready to glaze.  The glaze can be painted on with a brush.  It is important to add at least two coats of glaze.  Many times the color that the glaze appears while wet will drastically change after the second firing process.  As you can see in these images, before firing, the glaze appears light green and pink.  After firing, it becomes darker green and blue.  It also changes from a matte to a glossy finish.

Working with clay is a long process often spanning over a period of several weeks, however with a little patience, I believe most will find the final product extremely rewarding.