Post #343754 by Babalu on Tue, Nov 13, 2007 7:31 PM

Hello Clarita,

He doesn't look to thin to me. There could be a couple of reasons why this little master piece cracked.

One, might have been in the drying out of this little guy. When you have areas that are thinner than other areas, those thinner areas will dry faster. Clay shrinks a little as it dries, so cracks will form where the thin areas meet the thicker areas. to avoid this problem, dry the work more slowly. Wrap it in a plastic bag (garbage bag)...every day (or so) pull the work out of the bag a let it sit exposed to the air a little (hour or two). You will notice as you remove the plastic bag, that moisture has dissipated from the clay and is in the bag...after you have let him sit out for awhile, turn the bag inside out, and wrap the work back up. Just repeat this until you start to notice that not very much moisture is showing up inside the bag. At this point your clay work will be in a "leather hard' type of stage. At this stage you can start to let it sit out longer...it might even be ready to not have to be wrapped any longer. Just let it dry out. When you can touch the clay piece to your cheek and it feels about room temperature, the piece is dry and ready to be "fired" (it's not called cooked). In a leather hard stage the clay can be easily handled...when the clay is dry, it is in it's most fragile stage so be careful not to break it. When you have clay that is the same thickness in a piece, like all of these cast mugs you see people doing, it is very easy to dry. I don't cover my cast mugs at all after I have pulled them from a mold...I just let them air dry right away. Still, it is sooo much fun playing with clay, that these cast pieces just don't cut it somehow for me.

Two, you need to make sure all the air is out of your clay before you start to sculpt with it. When little air bubbles get trapped in the clay, and as the clay dries, and begins to shrink, the air will force it's way out to the surface causing a crack. this is easy to avoid by prepping the clay first. This action is called "wedging" the clay. Wedging is when you take a mass of clay and aggressively fold it into it's self many times over using both hands on a table top. It does not take long. If you Google "clay wedging" you will be able to see how this is done.

I hope this helps a little. Some of this information you might have already known? Clarita, you are a natural with clay. I think you will find it very enjoyable. You might consider taking a college type ceramics class, or a ceramics class anywhere for that matter just to clue you in on some of the basics of clay, but design wise...kiddo, your there...just keep on keeping on.

if you need anymore info, just let me know.

Peace.