VIDEO 4 tools

08/03/2025

Now you need to wedge the clay and/or knead it, or run it through your pug-mill to finish the process and remove air bubbles. Wedging and pug-milling create a smooth consistency in case of drier edges and softer centres which will cause warping and cracking as your wares dry and fire.

So, it’s no simple process and you need to be sure you have viable clay before you start, so obviously it’s wise to work a small handful first and test fire.

In the end I found it easier to just buy the bagged clay from the suppliers, though that was partly because our local clay was low on Bentonite and was very ‘short’, rather than ‘elastic’. When you are throwing 5 tons of clay in a year you don’t want to spend half your working week processing clay.

The only kind of “clay” that can be homemade is air-dry clay (which is water-based), but there are zillions of types of air-dry clay and recipes and techniques for making them. Some of the most common types of air-dry clay are salt dough or bread slice clay, “cold porcelain” (cornstarch-based clay), and toilet paper clay (and other clays using some form of paper as a main ingredient).

You can google recipes/techniques for any of those types to get loads of info re recipes/techniques for making, amount of shrinkage and smoothness, strength, coloring, etc, just using the terms I used above (e.g., salt dough clay, bread slice clay, cold porcelain clay, toilet paper clay, paper pulp clay, etc) plus the word *recipe* or *how to*.

It really depends on what you mean by “high quality”. We pottery people dont tend to all think shiny is best, or blue is best, or whatever.

But…

You can control your clay formula to a very large degree by buying bags of silica, kaolin, etc etc and mixing them to your own requirements, textures vitrification temperatures etc.

These products are all readily available from pottery supply stores, as are premade clays that might meet your requirements. It depends on what you want. A guy I used to work for spent ages making a glaze that didnt make horrible noises when you you scraped a knife across a dinner plate (think fingernails on a blackboard) but it all depends on what you think is a “high quality clay”.

08/03/2025

If you have access to a viable deposit of usable clay, it does require some processing before you can ‘throw’ it on the wheel, or hand sculpt it.

Usually it is fully dried out to a porous state rather than beginning damp or ‘leather hard’, as it will remain lumpy in that condition. So the dried clay is then placed in a ball mill with water added and processed until it has reduced to a fine slurry. An old concrete mixer makes a great ball mill. Usually large ball bearings are used to pulverise the clay, but I’ve known potters to use hard agate rocks that do not chip. The last thing you want is stone chips in your clay, but the rocks or ball bearings are necessary to reduce the clay into a slurry as the mixer rotates for several hours.

The next stage is the settling of the slurry in a large tub after pouring it from the mixer through a fine meshed sieve. After a couple of days the clay will have settled at the bottom and clear water sits above ready to be siphoned off. What you cannot siphon can be soaked up with sponges, squeezed and soaked again until just the thick slurry remains.

The clay can now be slopped onto dry plaster batts (slabs). We used to make these by pouring plaster of Paris into cardboard boxes about 10cm (4 inches) deep and allowing to dry. Finish drying to a full dehydration, either out in the sun or on top of your kiln. I’ve known wood fired kilns to be designed with a clay drying bed on the top of one chamber. A rim of bricks one 10cm brick high right around the perimeter of a flat top. The bricks are totally dehydrated after a firing and will absorb all the moisture from your slurry. Whether using the kiln top or plaster batts, the idea is to absorb the water from the slurry, turning each slab over after 12 hours or so. Depending on the dryness and therefore absorption rate of your batts / bricks, 24 hours should have your clay at a similar consistency as bagged clay bought from a potters supplies store.

08/03/2025

Tips for High-Quality Clay:

Consistency: Ensure that the ingredients are mixed thoroughly to avoid lumps.
Storage: Keep your clay in airtight containers to prevent it from drying out.
Coloring: You can use natural dyes or acrylic paints to color your clay after it dries or before baking.
Conclusion

These methods will allow you to create different types of clay suited for various projects. Experiment with these recipes to find the one that works best for your needs

The only kind of “clay” you can make at home is one of the air-dry clays that doesn’t come from the ground.
The ones that come from the ground (earthen clay, ceramic clay, pottery clay, etc) are dug up and collected, although some can be modified afterward or only certain types of clay might be dug up.
Air-dry clays come in all kinds of ingredients, as long as they contain water, and many types/brands though, and from high to low quality. Many can be made at home, generally the ones based on flours or paper, etc (e.g., salt dough clay and bread slice clay, cold porcelain clay which is cornstarch based, paper clay/papier mache clay, etc).

Polymer clay, epoxy clay, and plasticine clays may be high or low quality, but they generally require a lab to “make” and are purchased instead.

Clay is something you look for and find. You do not make it. This could be an interesting adventure for you to look up nearest and best mineral deposits. Sometimes they are just in the excavated cuts for roadways. There very famous and sought after locations for clay, with properties desired for very specific and unusual uses.

Good luck sleuthing in your geographic area!

Clay is difficult to make and much better to harvest as it is a naturally occurring material that is very abundant. You may be thinking about a clay body which usually adds different materials to the clay to give it different properties. Two basic clays are ball clay and kaolin. You can add things that have a higher melting point like silica to raise the maturation temperature. You can also add things that have a lower melting point, also known as fluxes, to lower the maturation temperature, such as iron. In many ways making your own clay body is similar to making slip or glaze. There are many potters who mix multiple commercial clay bodies together to get one that is somewhere between the two.

08/03/2025

To “make” clay at home, you typically order the dry ingredients from a ceramic supplier.

Instructions:
1. In a saucepan, combine the baking soda and vinegar. The mixture will fizz.
2. Once the fizzing subsides, add the cornstarch.
3. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring continuously until it thickens into a dough-like consistency.
4. Remove from heat and let it cool. Knead the dough until smooth.
5. Store in an airtight container when not in use.

2. Salt Dough Clay

Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water

Instructions:
1. In a bowl, mix the flour and salt thoroughly.
2. Gradually add water, mixing until a dough forms.
3. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it’s smooth and elastic.
4. Shape your creations and let them air dry for 24-48 hours.
5. Optionally, you can bake the shapes at 200°F (93°C) for about 2-3 hours to speed up the drying process.

3. Homemade Polymer Clay

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- Food coloring (optional)

Instructions:
1. In a bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, and vegetable oil.
2. Gradually add water and mix until a dough forms.
3. If desired, add food coloring to achieve the desired color.
4. Knead the dough until smooth. This clay can be shaped and then baked at 250°F (121°C) for about 30 minutes to harden.

12/05/2024

The general weight of an average-sized cargo ship is somewhere around 165,000 tons, while smaller vessels weigh about 50,000 tons and larger vessels 👈

09/04/2024

Making fine even pieces by cutting wood is the job of a carpenter. Whether it is the dining table with specific height requirements or a wooden photo frame that fits perfectly, they require taking measurements at every corner to be able to map out proper length, width, and depth.

Proper measurement is a key to produce a product that is not only aesthetically valuable but also well-integrated structurally. It only takes practice and good measuring and marketing tools that are easily available in the market.

Wood drilling might sound like an easy skill to do even as a beginner, but handling the weight of the drilling machine and drilling even holes is not a task for a beginner to perform very easily. Depending on the project’s requirement a carpenter makes holes of different sizes and depths.

Drilling holes by avoiding imperfections and irregularities can only be achieved through a professionally trained carpenter. So, make sure to learn every basics of drilling before you consider building a chair or a bookshelf for your house.

09/04/2024