Tip 5: Clay Preparation
Alright, it's the moment you've been waiting for. You've got your clay and essential tools ready to go. What comes next? Well, the next step is to prepare the clay for your pottery project.
But hold on, before you dive into working with the clay, there's something called "wedging" that needs to be done.
So, what exactly is wedging? To make clay usable, a few key tasks need to be done:
Removing air bubbles from the clay
Waking up the clay
Aligning the clay particles
If ceramics with air bubbles are fired, they risk cracking or even exploding in the kiln. This is because as the kiln heats up, the moisture in the clay turns into steam at 212°F. As the steam forms, it expands into air pockets within the clay, leading to cracks as the air pockets expand under pressure.
To prevent ceramics from bursting in the kiln, it's crucial to eliminate air bubbles from the clay. Additionally, your piece should be completely dry before firing.
Wedging clay is the process of eliminating air bubbles from the clay. Some potters liken wedging to kneading bread dough because the action is similar. However, while kneading dough pushes air into it, wedging clay removes air from it.
In addition to removing air bubbles, wedging also revitalizes the clay, making it more malleable. It also aligns the clay particles, making them easier to shape on the wheel or by hand.
There are various wedging techniques to choose from. You can check out this helpful video for an overview of different methods.