Funny feel to my clay

Jul 30, 2005 2 Replies

Hi again all you lovely people!



Was in the workshop again today and had some clay (reclaimed) that had gone too dry and I had rolled thin and sprayed with water, layered and left in plastic to soften up.



When I kneaded it today, it seemed almost like plastecine/plastelina - really plastic-like on the surface, and didn't seem to want to adhere to itself - when I cut it, there were still stripes from the layers, even though I had bashed it HARD on my table.



What's going on?



uhhh - stoneware clay with teeny stones in (chamotte).



Marianne


i think you need to wedge it for a little bit. possibly add-spray more water on, and wrap for another day.

see ya

steve

A quick way to dampen off clay that is just a bit too dry/stiff is to slice it into one inch slabs. Dip each slab into a bucket of clean water and set aside for 10 to 20 minutes. Because the water is clean it is quickly absorbed into the clay. Slip seals the surface of the clay and if you wet and wedge at the same time you sort of work it up and make slip, which gets messier and is less effective.

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