Working with the Different States                              Back to Art Home                                          back to ceramics

  • Moist clay: This is the easiest for children to work with and manipulate. Most projects will require clay right from the bag and should be soft and moist. Larger projects may need harder clay at the base to support weight (i.e. a tall coiled vessel); however for classroom purposes, most projects are not large enough for that to be necessary. Moist clay would also be used for projects that start with slabs rolled from the slab roller – primarily used in the younger grades for slumping shallow bowls or making impressions.

  • Stiff clay: This is clay that is dried just enough to stand on its own without sagging. This would be used for constructing boxes and upright items. Stiff clay will have cleaner lines/edges when cutting, using cookie cutters, or carving than moist clay. To work with stiff clay, it must be rolled and left out for several hours or more depending on humidity levels in the environment. If clay is left out too long and becomes too stiff, you can spray it with water, cover it and let it stand until the water is evenly absorbed.

  • Leather hard clay: This is clay that is too dry to bend without cracking or breaking, but is still flexible enough to carve into.

  • Bone dry: Items take 14 days to be completely dry. They MUST be bone dry and room temperature before they go into the kiln – they will feel warm when held against your cheek. Items are VERY fragile at this state!

Wet Clay Methods

Pinch Method: Primarily used for bowls and small sculptures. Basic pinch pots begin with a smooth ball of clay. Squeezing and pressing your thumb into the center of the ball with one hand, supporting it in the palm of your other hand, rotate the ball and work the walls of the bowl outward, gently pressing/squeezing small amounts while rotating.

Coil Method: This is one of the oldest ways of forming pottery. The coil method allows you to make larger vessels than with the pinch method. Vessels or bowls can be formed by wrapping a rope of clay around a base, stacking and joining the coils to the shape and height desired. Students will create coils in the diameter that is most comfortable for them. Discourage coils that are as thin or thinner than a pencil. Be certain to join the coils by scoring.

Slab Work: Slab work is created with a rolling pin and can be used for shallow bowls, tiles, and dimensional images. Students should pat out the clay into a flat shape before beginning to roll. Rolling gently from the center, outward, the slab is thinned a little at a time. After each round of thinning the slab, lift the clay and flip it to the reverse side. This makes rolling the slab easier, maintains an even thickness, and keeps it from sticking and distorting when removing it from the placemat.

Joining Clay

Clay pieces will adhere to each other better if they are moist and also have the same moisture content. Because some projects need stiffer clay for structural stability, you need to familiarize yourself with which moisture level works best for the project you are working on

Slip: A mixture of clay and water used to attach pieces of clay together. Slip can be used to repair artwork that has broken before the first (bisque) firing.

Score: Use a tool to scratch/hatch the surfaces that are being joined.  Hatch marks ///// vertically and horizontally to create tic-tac-toe marks ### must be made on both clay pieces before being joined together.  Add water to the scored surface, slide and wiggle them together until slip is developed and the pieces take hold well and do not separate when tugged.

Lute: Most often used to join coils together, and used in conjunction with scoring. Using a finger, squish and smooth the clay from each of the joined pieces together at the contact point.

Tips for Working with Wet Clay

  • When possible, have the students gentle carve their initials on the bottom of their piece.  Often multiple classes load into the kiln so it's sometimes useful to have a "class stamp" and student # instead of initials (also helping with duplicate initials)

  • Piece should be no less than ¼ inch thick. Pieces that are too thin become extremely fragile when bone dry and can break. 

  • If items are too thick, it is difficult to determine if the center is completely dry. Wet or overly thick pieces (are more likely to contain air bubbles) that will explode during firing.

  • If the clay project contains a hole to string twine through later for hanging, be sure the hole is completely cleared of clay before it dries.

  • Clay and sediment do not go down the sink. When cleaning up, slip must be tossed in the trashcan.

  • Please tightly seal clay you do not use in a ziplock bag and leave it in the kiln room.
    Some projects use scrap clay for their projects.

The PTSA is the school's Parent Teacher Student Association. We are a registered not-for-profit comprised of parent volunteers, just like you, who help provide many programs and events at Creekside.