This week at studio sprout we explored clay. In our master’s classes, we made clay wall pockets which are a sweet little hanging hybrid of cup and envelope that may hold succulents or pencils.
Materials Needed:
- Clay
- Acrylic Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Paint Stirrers
- Rollers
- Newsprint
- Sponges
First you will roll out a slab of clay. To control the thickness we straddle the clay with stir sticks from any hardware store paint department. The larger stir sticks create a perfect 1/4 in thick slab. We use a damp sponges to smooth the edges of the clay.
After the clay is rolled out into an oval shape, we fold the two edges towards the center over a wadded up piece of newsprint or newspaper. We scored the overlapping areas that touched themselves before we folded over. Sometimes it takes a few times practicing folding the sides over to get the taper right. You want the top to be a little more open than the bottom but make sure to leave a little opening for water to flow out.
We used water to smooth the visible crease.
Because we use air dry clay at the studio we get to pain directly on wet clay. I’ve found all types of pain works but for this project because it will possibly get wet in the future we are used acrylic.
Students love to embellish their clay work. This week we used cut up mardi gras necklaces, shells, and buttons.
It takes about a week for air dry clay to fully cure. Once they were dried we mod podged the inside and outside. Our wonderful intern Julia assisted the students with planting succulents.
