Tips & Tricks for working with clay
Table of Contents:
www.theclayandglass.ca
Rules of working with clay:
Scratch & Attach
If you don't scratch & attach, it will fall apart when the clay dries.
How to scratch & attach:
Rules of working with clay:
2. Thickness
Thickness:
Your clay should be:
No thinner than 1 pencil
No thicker than 2 pencils
Rules of working with clay:
3. No air bubbles
No air bubbles
If you create a hollow shape, poke a hole so the air can escape.
Hot air & moisture expands when clay is fired in the kiln. If your piece has air bubbles trapped inside, the air will expand during firing and your piece could explode!
We let items air-dry for 1 week before firing. This allows some moisture to leave the clay and makes items a lot less likely to explode. The gallery fires more than 3000 objects each year and only about 1 or 2 items explode per year.
Bonus rule:
Don’t overwork the clay
Don’t overwork the clay
Clay will crack if you squash it and try to start again.
Embrace imperfection and work with the shape you've created.
3 minute
Clay Basics Video
Tips for Painting Clay
Clay turns white when fired
When wet, clay is grey in color, but it turns white when it is kiln fired.
If you want to have any white areas on your clay piece, you can simply leave them unpainted and they will turn white when the clay is fired in the kiln.
Wet clay
Kiln fired clay
Source: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/reference/images/pictures/zuhjruhamu-400W.jpg
Don’t paint the bottom
Do not paint the bottom.
Some underglaze sticks to the kiln during firing.
Keep 3mm clear near the base.
Workshop FYI: Painting
Mixing colours:
Primary Colours:
Red, Yellow & Blue
Secondary colours
Red + Blue = Purple
Blue + Yellow = Green
Yellow + Red = Orange
Tertiary colours
Purple + Red = Magenta
Purple + Blue = Indigo
Green + Blue = Teal
Green + Yellow = Lime
Orange + Red = Vermilion
To mix brown:
Blue + Orange
Purple + Yellow
Green + Red
Source: https://usabilitygeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/colour-theory-colour-wheel.jpg