Clay making at home

My summer project involved clay making at home, it takes time but is greatly satisfying and shouldn’t cost you a penny. To make clay you will need tools and materials you may already have at home,

What you will need:

·         Spade

·         2 buckets/containers

·         Hosepipe

·         Metal or mesh sieve

·         Old bedding

·         Newspapers

·         Bin bags or plastic sheeting

·         Concrete/pavement stone

·         Spatula

·         Scales

So where do you find the clay? I found mine next to a river a mile from my house, you are likely to find clay near water as there is plenty of moisture in the soil, but you can find it almost anywhere. If you dig around 30cm’s down, you should start to see marbling in the soil, the clay can be spotted by a brown, orange or grey colouring and it should be quite pliable compared to the soil. The more you collect the more clay you are likely to make from it, as you will lose some to stones and dirt.    

Method:

1.       The clay I collected at the time was quite dry but once I added a little water it became more pliable and clay like. The clay I found was a good mix it was quite orange in colour with some grey streaks, they grey parts helped to hold the clays shape even more. Sometimes mixing two types of found clay can make your clay more flexible and less likely to crack when moulding. 

 

2.       Once the clay has been dug up, I bagged up the clay and then brought it home to the place in a bucket outside. I then used a hose to fill it with water ensuring all the clay was covered, and left it over night covered with a plastic bag.

3.       This allowed the clay to be soaked thoroughly and added moisture to the mix, I then used my hand to mix the clay with the water to create a clay slip, smoothing out the clay and removing any large stones. This can take a few hours, but if you have any form of handheld mixer you could use that.

4.       You then need the other bucket to transfer the slip through a sieve to get the rest of the stones and grit out of the slip. If you are still not happy with the consistency you can repeat this step again into a clean bucket, but I do sieve the clay again in its drier state.

5.       Then leave the clay slip covered with a plastic bag for 48 hours to allow any excess water to rise to the top of the bucket, you can then drain off with a cup. The amount of water you get will vary depending on the amount of clay you have to the amount of water you add.

 

6.       I then poured the slip onto an old folded up sheet that had newspapers piled underneath and then left it to dry into a thicker clay slip. I had to dry my clay outside so plastic sheeting was needed to keep it covered from rain and dirt. If you have a garage that you can store your clay in to dry, it may be more useful to speed up the drying process. I left the clay for around 4 days it took a while to dry because of the cold weather, but uncovered the clay during sunny days. 

7.       When I tested the consistency of the clay it still felt grainy so I used a finer metal mesh sieve and used a spatula to push the clay through bit by bit and spread it out onto a concrete slab, which helped to take out the excess moisture from the clay to the point in which I could ball it up. I then left the clay for another 24 hours in a carrier bag indoors until it was ready to build with. Times will differ depending on your clay, you will know when it is still too wet as it will stick to your hands and table and won’t be very mouldable.

8.       You can then tie off the plastic bag and use your clay when you want. I made 1.97kg of clay it had a great consistency and could be twisted and rolled out without cracking, a good sign of good clay. From the clay I created rock formation inspired models, which I will fire at home.